Help! Gold Severum doesnt look well!

[Delapool]

Sad news on your fish.


IMO is "in my opinion". Systematic refers to through-out the body.


The pop-eye (mostly likely from internal fluid build-up or the growths) suggested there was more going on then we could see on the surface with the growths. That and the not eating point to internal problems in the fish.


Is there anything else in the tank? If there is, several small water changes so as not to stress fish by e.g. doing one large 70% water change. If not, several large water changes are fine.


That medication will target both good and bad bacteria / virus. If you have other fish, there is a chance it will kill them. The bacteria are always in your tank and fish are normally healthy enough that it doesn't bother them. So simply bombing a tank with meds doesn't work - I've tried that. Something as simple as doing a large water change using water not roughly at the same temperature is enough to stress fish to the point of infection.


Weekly water changes, a quality food and a water test kit (e.g. for nitrates) is the starting point here.

 

[bhavik95]

I know this fish I had for a good 1/2 years it's so sad :/ oh right thank you for clearing that up!

Do you think this Popeye and it being stressed may have been caused by the 2 parrotfish I have in my tank with them?

What do you mean by anything else? I was thinking of doing a tank flush? This way most of the water is changed and will get rid of anything else in the water as well as giving cleaner water. Is this not a good idea?

 

[Delapool]

What other fish do you have in the tank? Or plants, snails (you wish to keep), etc.

 

[bhavik95]

At the moment I have 2 parrotfish a couple of angels a ruby shark which is fine and not aggressive and a pleco

For plants I have Amazon swords some type of anbius

I do want to get a red spotted severum and maybe a fire mouth or convict cichlid

 

[Delapool]

I can't really comment on the stress from other fish as have never kept that combination unfortunately.

The tank flushing is a good idea, except if the tap water chemistry is different to the tank water chemistry (google old tank syndrome). Over time the tank ph / kh will tend to drop and nitrates/phosphates will tend to increase. Fish adapt to that and doing a large, rapid water change causes stress as the fish have to acclimatise and adapt to the new water conditions in a hurry. In this case doing several, smaller water changes is less stressful for the fish.

You can do large water changes if water chemistry / temperature is similar between tap and tank but your fish need to be in good health as it will stress them a little. Better off in my experience doing regular, smaller water changes rather than a big water change every so often.

 

[bhavik95]

Hi my water chemistry is fine some times I do 50% water changes as I have to clean the gravel and after that the fishes are fine so they don't mind the large water changes.

I was wondering you said to do small water changes regular. How much would you suggest doing and how often to get rid of all the old water and make the water perfect again?

Thanks

 

[Delapool]

Thanks for the information. Since they are fine with the 50% water changes, I'd do three of those over say three days to a week. Just see how the fish are looking after each one.

 

[bhavik95]

Ok so it would be better to do the 50 % water change over a space of a week then doing a tank flush?

Thanks

 

[Delapool]

Yes, three x 50% water changes over a week will be less stressful on the fish.

Essentially it's the same as bringing fish home from the store where they are acclimatised from store water to tank water by gradual mixing (rather than straight tipping of them from one lot of water to the other lot of water).