Dale_I
Aquarium Advice Freak
Blind fish euthanized, symptoms familiar?
First, this is why you quarantine fish before adding them to the community. If you don’t have a QT tank, please get one.
I picked up 3 Boesemani Rainbow and 2 Turquoise Rainbow at the LFS last night. I came home and acclimated them to new the QT (20g long, Fluval U3 filter) and took Biomax out of the main tank’s 304 filter for the bacteria. Current conditions:
0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate, 8.0 pH, 78.6 degrees.
The water is a little cloudy, but I don’t have any polishing pads in. There is a thin film of blue-ish schmutz looking like it is floating on the top, so I turned the bubbler on and it is breaking it up.
All fish are as expected, getting some color back and adapting, but I had to euthanize one of them a few minutes ago. When I put them in last night, they expectedly where low on color and immediately shoaled in a corner behind some wood. However, one swam to the top and over to a corner. I didn’t think much of it at the time and thought they would calm down after a bit.
Later, I noticed he was still near the top and swimming into the corners of the tank. Every now and then he would get a spurt of energy and swim mid to low tank, but would come back up, looking almost like a Gourami.
This morning, everyone was calm and getting their color back. I fed them lightly and everyone ate, but he looked like he was skimming the top for food and definitely appeared to be blind. He got himself stuck in between the filter and heater and didn’t seem to be able to figure out how to get out, which is not hard at all and any other fish would have been free with a swish of the tail.
I freed him by moving the heater, then he did it couple more times. All of a sudden, he starts swimming in loop-the-loop fashion, running into the sides, bottom, etc, swimming upside down, absolute random movements with brief periods of no movement and went to the bottom motionless, only to do it over again.
After 5 minutes I grabbed some ice in a container and added some water and scooped him out and euthanized him. When I netted him he was motionless with no movement.
He wasn’t gasping, didn’t have any cloudiness of the eyes, tumors, bumps, bulging, etc. He looked normal. Didn’t appear to have buoyancy issues, but definitely couldn’t see or balance at the end. He was one of the Boesemani.
Anyone have or hear of similar circumstances? The other 4 appear to be well and I will continue to watch them over the next several weeks. But this is where QT tanks come in handy and I would rather take care of any problems, or potential issues, before more die or I transfer them to the main tank.
First, this is why you quarantine fish before adding them to the community. If you don’t have a QT tank, please get one.
I picked up 3 Boesemani Rainbow and 2 Turquoise Rainbow at the LFS last night. I came home and acclimated them to new the QT (20g long, Fluval U3 filter) and took Biomax out of the main tank’s 304 filter for the bacteria. Current conditions:
0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate, 8.0 pH, 78.6 degrees.
The water is a little cloudy, but I don’t have any polishing pads in. There is a thin film of blue-ish schmutz looking like it is floating on the top, so I turned the bubbler on and it is breaking it up.
All fish are as expected, getting some color back and adapting, but I had to euthanize one of them a few minutes ago. When I put them in last night, they expectedly where low on color and immediately shoaled in a corner behind some wood. However, one swam to the top and over to a corner. I didn’t think much of it at the time and thought they would calm down after a bit.
Later, I noticed he was still near the top and swimming into the corners of the tank. Every now and then he would get a spurt of energy and swim mid to low tank, but would come back up, looking almost like a Gourami.
This morning, everyone was calm and getting their color back. I fed them lightly and everyone ate, but he looked like he was skimming the top for food and definitely appeared to be blind. He got himself stuck in between the filter and heater and didn’t seem to be able to figure out how to get out, which is not hard at all and any other fish would have been free with a swish of the tail.
I freed him by moving the heater, then he did it couple more times. All of a sudden, he starts swimming in loop-the-loop fashion, running into the sides, bottom, etc, swimming upside down, absolute random movements with brief periods of no movement and went to the bottom motionless, only to do it over again.
After 5 minutes I grabbed some ice in a container and added some water and scooped him out and euthanized him. When I netted him he was motionless with no movement.
He wasn’t gasping, didn’t have any cloudiness of the eyes, tumors, bumps, bulging, etc. He looked normal. Didn’t appear to have buoyancy issues, but definitely couldn’t see or balance at the end. He was one of the Boesemani.
Anyone have or hear of similar circumstances? The other 4 appear to be well and I will continue to watch them over the next several weeks. But this is where QT tanks come in handy and I would rather take care of any problems, or potential issues, before more die or I transfer them to the main tank.
