Tetra sick?
- Thread starter TetraHelp
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Please take a read through the "unhealthy fish" sticky and give as much detail as you are able.
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/before-posting-about-unhealthy-fish-read-this-32451.html
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/before-posting-about-unhealthy-fish-read-this-32451.html
Kinda busy. Don't have time to fill out every detail of my tank. I'll wait to see if someone can id from picture. It's pretty visible so I'm fairly sure someone will be able to figure it out without knowing my ph
Good luck with that.
Saul
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2022
- Messages
- 27
It is important to know the water conditions, because it may likely be the cause.
Saul
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2022
- Messages
- 27
The parameters of the water may be the cause. It may be ammonia for example.
It is important to know what behavior the fish is displaying as well. You are very unlikely to receive a diagnosis based on a photo alone.
I do not believe that it would hurt to use the medication that you have. There are medications that you are able to purchase that cover a wide range of different infections and diseases.
It is important to know what behavior the fish is displaying as well. You are very unlikely to receive a diagnosis based on a photo alone.
I do not believe that it would hurt to use the medication that you have. There are medications that you are able to purchase that cover a wide range of different infections and diseases.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
How long has the fish had the red line along the ventral side (bottom half) of its body?
How long has the fish had a cream muscle tissue for?
Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?
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Going off the picture, without more information, it is unlikely to be a bacterial blood infection. They tend to show up as red patches over parts of the body.
The muscle tissue appears to be cream/ opaque in colour and that is usually a microsporidian infection. The fish could also be dying from old age.
The best treatment for microsporidian infections is salt and cleaning the tank. See below for directions for using salt.
If there's no improvement after a week with salt, or it becomes worse during that time, post more pictures and provide more information about the tank.
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The Kordon Rid Ich plus contains Malachite Green and Formaldehyde. This will kill external protozoan parasites but won't do much to bacterial or fungal infections, and is unlikely to do anything for a microsporidian infection.
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Before you treat the fish, do the following:
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. This will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.
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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
How long has the fish had a cream muscle tissue for?
Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?
-------------------
Going off the picture, without more information, it is unlikely to be a bacterial blood infection. They tend to show up as red patches over parts of the body.
The muscle tissue appears to be cream/ opaque in colour and that is usually a microsporidian infection. The fish could also be dying from old age.
The best treatment for microsporidian infections is salt and cleaning the tank. See below for directions for using salt.
If there's no improvement after a week with salt, or it becomes worse during that time, post more pictures and provide more information about the tank.
-------------------
The Kordon Rid Ich plus contains Malachite Green and Formaldehyde. This will kill external protozoan parasites but won't do much to bacterial or fungal infections, and is unlikely to do anything for a microsporidian infection.
-------------------
Before you treat the fish, do the following:
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. This will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.
Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.
-------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
That salt is fine to use.
Ended up getting imagitarium salt instead. Should be the same stuff though. You mentioned keeping the same at a consistent level. How would I do that? I can't measure the actual salt levels so am I just adding a certain amount every so often? Also what does the muscle issue u mentioned have to do with the red line?
When I googled fish symptoms it looked like fin haemorrhaging or something.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
Any salt that contains Sodium Chloride and nothing else, is fine to use.
You add salt to the aquarium at the initial dose rate of 1 or 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. Use a tablespoon from the kitchen cupboard.
To keep the salt level in the aquarium at the same level, you simply add salt to any new water you add to the tank when you do a water change.
eg: You take 20 litres (5 gallons) of water out of the aquarium. You treat the new 20 litres (5 gallons) of water with salt before adding it to the aquarium. If you use 1 heaped tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of aquarium water, then you treat the buckets of new water with that dose (1 heaped tablespoon per 5 gallons/ 20 litres).
After the aquarium has had salt in it for a couple of weeks, you stop adding salt to the new water and just use fresh dechlorinated water to dilute the salt in the aquarium.
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The microsporidian infection has nothing to do with the red line. That is a separate issue. But if the red line is caused by a bacterial or fungal infection, salt should help treat that too.
Hemorrhagic Septicemia doesn't affect healthy fish kept in a clean environment. If your tank is clean and well maintained, and you haven't introduced any new diseased organisms, then it is unlikely to be this.
You add salt to the aquarium at the initial dose rate of 1 or 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. Use a tablespoon from the kitchen cupboard.
To keep the salt level in the aquarium at the same level, you simply add salt to any new water you add to the tank when you do a water change.
eg: You take 20 litres (5 gallons) of water out of the aquarium. You treat the new 20 litres (5 gallons) of water with salt before adding it to the aquarium. If you use 1 heaped tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of aquarium water, then you treat the buckets of new water with that dose (1 heaped tablespoon per 5 gallons/ 20 litres).
After the aquarium has had salt in it for a couple of weeks, you stop adding salt to the new water and just use fresh dechlorinated water to dilute the salt in the aquarium.
-------------------
The microsporidian infection has nothing to do with the red line. That is a separate issue. But if the red line is caused by a bacterial or fungal infection, salt should help treat that too.
Hemorrhagic Septicemia doesn't affect healthy fish kept in a clean environment. If your tank is clean and well maintained, and you haven't introduced any new diseased organisms, then it is unlikely to be this.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
The muscle tissue under the skin has a cream/ opaque appearance and this is typical of a microsporidian infection. The tissue shouldn't be that colour.
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
It looks like the fish in the latest picture has a cream discolouration to the tissue as well. The body colours are definitely faded out and the fish isn't that happy.
