Sick fish? I'm not sure what to do.

T

tbirdie

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May 6, 2008
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Hi guys, me again. One of my rasboras from my new (well, still new to me. Started it about 4 weeks old from my old established tank water, media, gravel, oto cats, and shrimp) planted aquarium looks like someone tried to rip one of her fins off. It's bleeding/red at the base and she's not using it. I've been keeping an eye on her. Today, I noticed another female that was just swimming slowly and then slooowly flipped over upside and then back up again, and then slowly upside and then swam off and was fine. She's not near a plant and no one is spawning at the moment, so I don't think that's it. She looked like, though I realize this is NOT what it is, she was falling asleep lol. Any ideas?

I did a water change yesterday and some trimming and maintenance.

Water levels today are consistent with every other test I've done :
77 degrees
ph: 6.6
kH: 2 dkh
gH: 11 dkh
nitrates: 0
nitrites: 0
ammonia: 0

Other tank info:
Planted, lo tech.
36 watts of T5 lighting, Coralife Aqualight
9 harlequin rasboras
1 bolivian ram
2 otto cats
shrimp

The rasboras have been spawning quite frequently. There seems to be some male agression due to this, so that's why I thought the first fish might have just gotten injured. Help? If treatments are suggested, I would appreciate brand/name suggestions as well so I can get the right thing.

UPDATE: One of my oto cats is dead. Just found him. Help please!
I know he was fine yesterday because he was cleaning up yesterday after I finished cleaning the tank. I got him out and disposed of him. His belly was pretty bloated and one side of it was a dark color, the other side, quite pale. I have had my oto cats for over a year.

The only medication I have here is LifeGuard, but I can go out and get anything, just need some help.
 
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I don't know what's going on. I thought they were peaceful fish, but they are chasing each other ALL over the tank right now. Being very.. not peaceful lol.
 
Well, now the bleeding/red fin rasbora is dead. Could really use some help before I lose my whole tank. I added 1/2 the recommended dosage of aquarium salts the tank, hoping that might help.
 
The second rasbora is dead now. The one that had the bleeding/red fin. I wish I could get some help with this before I lose my whole tank. Anyone?

I added 1/2 the recommended dosage of aquarium salts the tank, hoping that might help or atleast slow things down.

the rasboras are still demonstrating aggressive behavior right now.
 
On 4/23 I moved my old tank and tank stock into the new tank. I moved over the old water, filter media, gravel, and fish. There were 2 oto cats, 2 amano shrimp, and 1 ghost shrimp.
A week later, I added the school of rasboras to my stock. They were a new purchase. There were 9 of them. They started spawning almost immediately. Everyone seemed to be getting along just fine. They were still spawning a week later, and suddenly the two smallest fish seemed to be staying away from the group and not looking so hot. I thought they might be sick and the LFS offered to exchange them. They gave me 2 more females, also small, and that's when I realized the rasboras were starting to pick on each other. The bleeding/red fin problem showed up on Friday, and I thought it was just a small injury. Then the other small fish started staying towards the back, and the rasbora aggression seemed worse and worse. They just wont leave each other alone today. The red/bleeding fin rasbora died today, and right before he did, so did one of my oto cats. That might just be a coincidence, but I don't know. Does this help?
 
The male is doing barrel rolls again. Got a feeling he's not going to make it through the night.
 
I'm not an expert on meds so i'll stay out of that part. the salt should help with any injury or illness. I would rearrange the tank and turn off the lights for now. Hopefully this will help reduce any aggression until you get more feedback.If you have more males than females may be if you can up your female count. Best of luck.
 
Thanks for the response. I have 3 males and 6 females. Well, now 5 females. I thought that was a pretty good mix?
 
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