Dear friends,
One of my swordtail tangerines is excreting a whitish-grey string like poop. I have outlined the details below as requested in the sticky thread.
I regretfully accept that the details given below about our tank set-up are far from ideal, in fact to be avoided by all newbies.
To read the gory details of how this situation came about to be, please refer to my horror story http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211492
1. What is the size of your tank?
A. Length 24 inches Breadth 12 inches Height 15 inches. ~16 Gallons
2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.
A. I live in a rural town in India and am unable to procure testing kits. The ones I found are prohibitively expensive.
3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
A. Freshwater.
4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
A. On 1st November 2009, we set up our first ever tank.
5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
A. Seven fish. One pleco, 2 angels, 2 swordtail tangerines, 2 silver dollars. They are about 2 inches each and were bought and added to the tank on the first day itself.
At the beginning, along with the above, there were also 2 wag-tail platys, 2 half-back angels whom we returned for aggressive behavior.
There were also two snails, one who died and the other, we returned.
We lost one pleco and one goldfish in the first week (?ammonia toxicity).
There is another fantail goldfish whom we have kept in a quarantine tank (because he may mess up and increase the ammonia levels in the Main tank). Also, he has recovered from Ich and is recovering from ammonia burns (black patches on his back).
6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
A. No.
7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
A. 84 degF
8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
A. No.
9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
A. One biosponge and undergravel. Daily, we siphon as much of the debris on the floor (during the water change).
10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
A. None. One air tube to aerate the tank.
11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
A. The room is well lit and ventilated, but there is no direct sunlight falling on the tank. We use an Aquarium lamp for our viewing pleasure for about 8 hrs per day. We switch off the lamp and darken the room completely during the night for about 7-8 hours.
12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
A. Since we had no idea of tank cycling, and our LFS did not guide us about the same, our tank is cycling with all the above fish in it. Hence we are doing 20-25% water changes daily to remove any excess ammonia and reduce the nitrites being formed.
13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
A. We feed them once a day. We rotate between protein flakes, fish food balls and frozen dried worms. Today we got vegetarian flakes which we have added to the rotation.
14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
A. Please excuse the photos, they aren't exactly great...
Since 2 days, the female swordtail tangerine seems to have a long whitish-grey string like (?poop) attached to her anus (see figures above). It gets long as 2-3 inches and then she either rubs it off or it decreases on its own. It may be itching/ irritating her because once in a while she rubs her abdomen on the pebbles on the floor of the tank. I also noticed her rubbing her pectoral fin once in a while. But I have observed her closely and she does not have any signs of Ich.
Other than that, she is alert, her mood seems fine and appetite is excellent
Could this be due to internal parasites? If so, what should be the treatment and diet for her?
Of note may be the fact that in the first week, the goldfish, silver dollars and one of the wag-tail platys had developed Ich. In the first week, we treated the tank with Pot.Permanganate and Methylene Blue. We also have added salt 2.5 tsp per gallon and increased the temperature to 84 degF which we have maintained for the past 2 weeks to eradicate the Ich. We now intend to stop adding salt and gradually decrease the temperature.
15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
A. We have not yet given any treatment.
Any suggestions welcome
Thanks in advance...
aquamate
One of my swordtail tangerines is excreting a whitish-grey string like poop. I have outlined the details below as requested in the sticky thread.
I regretfully accept that the details given below about our tank set-up are far from ideal, in fact to be avoided by all newbies.
To read the gory details of how this situation came about to be, please refer to my horror story http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211492
1. What is the size of your tank?
A. Length 24 inches Breadth 12 inches Height 15 inches. ~16 Gallons
2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.
A. I live in a rural town in India and am unable to procure testing kits. The ones I found are prohibitively expensive.
3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
A. Freshwater.
4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
A. On 1st November 2009, we set up our first ever tank.
5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
A. Seven fish. One pleco, 2 angels, 2 swordtail tangerines, 2 silver dollars. They are about 2 inches each and were bought and added to the tank on the first day itself.
At the beginning, along with the above, there were also 2 wag-tail platys, 2 half-back angels whom we returned for aggressive behavior.
There were also two snails, one who died and the other, we returned.
We lost one pleco and one goldfish in the first week (?ammonia toxicity).
There is another fantail goldfish whom we have kept in a quarantine tank (because he may mess up and increase the ammonia levels in the Main tank). Also, he has recovered from Ich and is recovering from ammonia burns (black patches on his back).
6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
A. No.
7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
A. 84 degF
8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
A. No.
9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
A. One biosponge and undergravel. Daily, we siphon as much of the debris on the floor (during the water change).
10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
A. None. One air tube to aerate the tank.
11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
A. The room is well lit and ventilated, but there is no direct sunlight falling on the tank. We use an Aquarium lamp for our viewing pleasure for about 8 hrs per day. We switch off the lamp and darken the room completely during the night for about 7-8 hours.
12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
A. Since we had no idea of tank cycling, and our LFS did not guide us about the same, our tank is cycling with all the above fish in it. Hence we are doing 20-25% water changes daily to remove any excess ammonia and reduce the nitrites being formed.
13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
A. We feed them once a day. We rotate between protein flakes, fish food balls and frozen dried worms. Today we got vegetarian flakes which we have added to the rotation.
14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?
A. Please excuse the photos, they aren't exactly great...
Since 2 days, the female swordtail tangerine seems to have a long whitish-grey string like (?poop) attached to her anus (see figures above). It gets long as 2-3 inches and then she either rubs it off or it decreases on its own. It may be itching/ irritating her because once in a while she rubs her abdomen on the pebbles on the floor of the tank. I also noticed her rubbing her pectoral fin once in a while. But I have observed her closely and she does not have any signs of Ich.
Other than that, she is alert, her mood seems fine and appetite is excellent
Could this be due to internal parasites? If so, what should be the treatment and diet for her?
Of note may be the fact that in the first week, the goldfish, silver dollars and one of the wag-tail platys had developed Ich. In the first week, we treated the tank with Pot.Permanganate and Methylene Blue. We also have added salt 2.5 tsp per gallon and increased the temperature to 84 degF which we have maintained for the past 2 weeks to eradicate the Ich. We now intend to stop adding salt and gradually decrease the temperature.
15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
A. We have not yet given any treatment.
Any suggestions welcome
Thanks in advance...
aquamate
