A little confused...

[millipede]

Wow, I haven't posted here in YEARS... We haven't had a fish tank in a long time but not toooo long ago we got back into having a few fish. I'm a bit of a lazy pet owner(lazy isn't quite accurate, unmotivated, difficult doing things, procrastinator)... kept fish tanks a bunch of times and never had any big issues. But this time around, something is going on and I need to find out what soon. Kind of been ignoring it. :/ Whatever is going on is likely my own fault since I tried to introduce some plants from a local river(a couple months ago). Those plants are all gone now but I have a feeling this is where the problem started. We had a couple fish die that we never were sure what happened. Oh, it's a 10 gallon tank with a few guppies, 2 ottos, and 2 khuli loaches. I know some of those are supposed to have a bigger tank but I love them... Anyway... We had a guppy or two die a few months back. We noticed one male had what looked like damage to his tail fin. I tried treating with some general parasite stuff from walmart but it said to treat for a few days or til symptoms got better. I didn't see any symptoms most of the time so that was hard to judge. Guppies had babies... we separated the babies and added them back in later on when they were big enough. Over the course of a month or two at least, no deaths... Oh... some time ago I noticed something on our little amazon sword... almost like strands or something small, evenly spaced apart on some of the leaves. I'll get back to that in a moment... Last week, our last original guppy started looking bad. At one point it looked like there was something on her or scales sticking up but that was only for a day. Then she developed what looked like a sore or inflamed area on one side of the body. Thought maybe someone was picking on her too much. The area was pinkish red. A day or two later she was dead with a hole in her side. :/ All the other fish looked fine. Two nights ago one oto was laying on its side... its side. It was breathing and it was bed time. I went to bed expecting it to be dead in the morning. Next morning, it was fine. Odd... he or she has been fine since. I'll have to go back and look the fish over some more and see if I can't find any symptoms. I am worried something is going on... Now back to that sword... Like I said, it was some time ago I noticed these things very evenly spaced out on the leaves of the plant. I thought maybe they were eggs for something or spores for the plant? Today I was looking in the tank with a flashlight which allowed me to see them better. I don't think my camera would be able to capture them. They remind me of some sort of coral or polyp or something from the ocean... something sticking off the plant with bristles or something at the end. Tried to see if I could find pictures online of what it was but haven't had luck yet. Anyway, I want to find out what they are. Want to make sure I'm not BREEDING parasites or something in there... and if there's something in there to worry about, I need to get it taken care of quickly and accurately. Any thoughts? Anyone still visiting the forums that remembers me from like 7 or 8 years ago? Oh... The past few days I've been hearing the gravel being disturbed and I know the khulis are active so I kew it was them... but tonight I was watching and one of them keeps going to one corner of the tank and just about buries itself in the gravel. It's half sticking out of the gravel right now. I noticed the other one swimming near it... either something is irritating it or, maybe they're mating or something? Odd. Will have to investigate...

 

[Fishman88888]

Wow, I haven't posted here in YEARS... We haven't had a fish tank in a long time but not toooo long ago we got back into having a few fish. I'm a bit of a lazy pet owner(lazy isn't quite accurate, unmotivated, difficult doing things, procrastinator)... kept fish tanks a bunch of times and never had any big issues. But this time around, something is going on and I need to find out what soon. Kind of been ignoring it. :/ Whatever is going on is likely my own fault since I tried to introduce some plants from a local river(a couple months ago). Those plants are all gone now but I have a feeling this is where the problem started. We had a couple fish die that we never were sure what happened. Oh, it's a 10 gallon tank with a few guppies, 2 ottos, and 2 khuli loaches. I know some of those are supposed to have a bigger tank but I love them... Anyway... We had a guppy or two die a few months back. We noticed one male had what looked like damage to his tail fin. I tried treating with some general parasite stuff from walmart but it said to treat for a few days or til symptoms got better. I didn't see any symptoms most of the time so that was hard to judge. Guppies had babies... we separated the babies and added them back in later on when they were big enough. Over the course of a month or two at least, no deaths... Oh... some time ago I noticed something on our little amazon sword... almost like strands or something small, evenly spaced apart on some of the leaves. I'll get back to that in a moment... Last week, our last original guppy started looking bad. At one point it looked like there was something on her or scales sticking up but that was only for a day. Then she developed what looked like a sore or inflamed area on one side of the body. Thought maybe someone was picking on her too much. The area was pinkish red. A day or two later she was dead with a hole in her side. :/ All the other fish looked fine. Two nights ago one oto was laying on its side... its side. It was breathing and it was bed time. I went to bed expecting it to be dead in the morning. Next morning, it was fine. Odd... he or she has been fine since. I'll have to go back and look the fish over some more and see if I can't find any symptoms. I am worried something is going on... Now back to that sword... Like I said, it was some time ago I noticed these things very evenly spaced out on the leaves of the plant. I thought maybe they were eggs for something or spores for the plant? Today I was looking in the tank with a flashlight which allowed me to see them better. I don't think my camera would be able to capture them. They remind me of some sort of coral or polyp or something from the ocean... something sticking off the plant with bristles or something at the end. Tried to see if I could find pictures online of what it was but haven't had luck yet. Anyway, I want to find out what they are. Want to make sure I'm not BREEDING parasites or something in there... and if there's something in there to worry about, I need to get it taken care of quickly and accurately. Any thoughts? Anyone still visiting the forums that remembers me from like 7 or 8 years ago? Oh... The past few days I've been hearing the gravel being disturbed and I know the khulis are active so I kew it was them... but tonight I was watching and one of them keeps going to one corner of the tank and just about buries itself in the gravel. It's half sticking out of the gravel right now. I noticed the other one swimming near it... either something is irritating it or, maybe they're mating or something? Odd. Will have to investigate...

No offence or anything

But if you're too lazy to clean a 10 gallon, maybe this isn't the hobby for you brotha

 

[Fresh2o]

What you are seeing on the sword appear to be hydra. Probably introduced with the plants from the river. Just like fish, a quarantine or disinfection procedure is always a good practice. Regarding the other things going on in the tank, hard to tell. What are the parameters like? How often and what percentage for the water changes?

 

[Fishfur]

Hydra work like jellyfish do. They will sting anything that gets close enough and if you have a number of them, they may be responsible for what you are seeing. Multiple stings could cause death, though normally they prey on quite small things, tiny crustaceans or protozoans. But fish getting stung repeatedly might get sick, or seem stunned, but then recover. Fish getting stung too often might die eventually, if not from toxins, from stress.

You will need to treat for the hydra, or get something to eat them. Gouramis eat them, so do Spixi snails. But if you can't be bothered to do regular maintenance, I agree with a previous poster, maybe fish aren't the best pet for you to keep.

Those loaches need at least one more loach to be happy, and do best in groups of six or more. Ottos also prefer their own company in the same numbers as loaches. Not so much tank size but numbers of fish. A ten is not large enough for the numbers you should have to keep the fish happy.

Guppies are hardy and don't care much about company, and do breed relentlessly, so you always have some new ones coming. They also do not live long lives.. a couple of years at best, I believe, so older ones are not going to last forever.

Be aware. Hydra are immortal. They do not die if you crush them, they just turn into many more hydras. Medication or being eaten are the only ways to get rid of them. They are reproducing constantly.