I have a 29 gallon freshwater tank, lightly planted, stocked pretty moderately. Ammonia = 0, nitrite = 0, nitrate = 10, pH = 8.0.
I currently have two sick swordtails, but I think I need to start with a backstory to show my confusion here. A couple months ago I had an ich outbreak(last time I make the mistake of buying from Petco). I treated it with coppersafe and heat, and managed to save all the fish except for 4 marigold swordtails(a mother and 3 of her babies that were about a year old). The thing about the swords was that they never really had ich(or only had it very minimally), but when the outbreak happened they all started to appear very sick, with a whitish coating on their bodies. I'm not sure if the coating was a disease or if it was simply excess slime secretion. So I used Pimafix & Melafix in addition to the Coppersafe, but the swords never responded to anything and just slowly got sicker and sicker until they died. The whole time they really never showed any external symptoms apart from the whitish coating.
So about a month ago I bought 2 more marigold swords(a male and female) to replace the ones I had lost. They were both doing fine until about a week ago when they both started to appear the same way that the previous ones did, i.e., a faint white coating. Faint enough that if you look from a side-view you can't really see it, but if you look head on then you can. And they started to slowly get sicker and sicker just like the last ones had(fins clamped, hanging near the bottom, rapid gill movement).
I haven't added any new fish this time, and every other fish in the tank is acting perfectly fine. This includes a couple other big grayish, female swords that have shown no symptoms whatsoever. I also just tested my water to make sure nothing went haywire and the results were fine.(my pH is pretty high but that is how it's always been and it's been stable).
I'd really hate to see these 2 die the same way the last 4 did, so I broke out the big guns this time and treated with coppersafe, maroxy, and maracyn plus to cover all my bases. I think this did help some because they at least stopped getting worse and it seems like they might have made some improvement. But today the female sword that is sick is flashing like crazy and rubbing it's left side against every surface in the tank. I've looked closely and I can't see anything.
So anybody have any clue about what gives? Why does a certain strain of swordtail seem to always get sick when every other fish, and even other swordtails, are perfectly fine?
I currently have two sick swordtails, but I think I need to start with a backstory to show my confusion here. A couple months ago I had an ich outbreak(last time I make the mistake of buying from Petco). I treated it with coppersafe and heat, and managed to save all the fish except for 4 marigold swordtails(a mother and 3 of her babies that were about a year old). The thing about the swords was that they never really had ich(or only had it very minimally), but when the outbreak happened they all started to appear very sick, with a whitish coating on their bodies. I'm not sure if the coating was a disease or if it was simply excess slime secretion. So I used Pimafix & Melafix in addition to the Coppersafe, but the swords never responded to anything and just slowly got sicker and sicker until they died. The whole time they really never showed any external symptoms apart from the whitish coating.
So about a month ago I bought 2 more marigold swords(a male and female) to replace the ones I had lost. They were both doing fine until about a week ago when they both started to appear the same way that the previous ones did, i.e., a faint white coating. Faint enough that if you look from a side-view you can't really see it, but if you look head on then you can. And they started to slowly get sicker and sicker just like the last ones had(fins clamped, hanging near the bottom, rapid gill movement).
I haven't added any new fish this time, and every other fish in the tank is acting perfectly fine. This includes a couple other big grayish, female swords that have shown no symptoms whatsoever. I also just tested my water to make sure nothing went haywire and the results were fine.(my pH is pretty high but that is how it's always been and it's been stable).
I'd really hate to see these 2 die the same way the last 4 did, so I broke out the big guns this time and treated with coppersafe, maroxy, and maracyn plus to cover all my bases. I think this did help some because they at least stopped getting worse and it seems like they might have made some improvement. But today the female sword that is sick is flashing like crazy and rubbing it's left side against every surface in the tank. I've looked closely and I can't see anything.
So anybody have any clue about what gives? Why does a certain strain of swordtail seem to always get sick when every other fish, and even other swordtails, are perfectly fine?
