curved spine whats wrong with my fish?

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smjmcomic

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
34
Location
Oxnard CA
I have a 55 gallon tank that has been set up for about 4 months. I'm having a problem with swordfish & mollys they are listless their spines are curved downward their not eating very much. I also have molly fry, three neons, three tetras, 8 catfish, 4 frogs and several ghost-shrimp. one of the neons looks like it lost it's blue.

Any help would be appreciated
thanks
 
highrange ph 7.5, ph 7.2, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, carbonate hardness 143.2 and total hardness very high could'nt get a reading with the drops, dip stick read 300. I don't know what this means. Is the tank sick?

Thanks
 
It could be a number of things, but your description of skeletal deformities immediately made me think of:
1 Bad genes
2 Fish tuberculosis http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#TB

If it turns out that either of these is the cause, I would humanely euthanise the affected fish.
If it's bad genes, you really don't want to be breeding with poor genetic stock.
If it's fish TB, then it is extremely difficult to treat, highly contagious, and your other fish are at risk. Also, in very rare circumstances, fish TB has been reported to infect human fishkeepers.

Do you have any pics?
 
I change the water about every six or seven weeks. I just did about a 30% water change. Their eyes don't look cloudy but their mouths looked a little funky. I called the fish store where I usually buy my fish they said it was a little known (wasting away disease) I'm new to fish, have you ever heard of it? It has effected four different kinds so I don't think it's genes.

Thanks
 
Yes, I just changed the water today, I put in more fresh water then usual because they looked sick. When I was changing the water more often I was having trouble keeping the levels where they should be.
 
Change the water 25% or so every two week. It sounds like your fish have TB. Take the sick ones out an put them out of thier misery. Hopefully the others have not caught it. What levels are you having trouble maintaining?
 
rich311k said:
Change the water 25% or so every two week. It sounds like your fish have TB. Take the sick ones out an put them out of thier misery. Hopefully the others have not caught it. What levels are you having trouble maintaining?




How do I put them out of their misery? Nitrate and water hardness. We live in So. Ca. the tap water is vary hard is it the same type? We have a water softener I've been told not to use the soft water. How do they get TB? And how do I prevent it.
 
I had a danio that I bought that had a curved spine, and he's perfectly fine now 8O

:? Good luck with your fish, Sorry if you have to kill it....
 
I just wanted to say that if all your test levels are as good as they appear, your water changing habits are probably fine. If it works for you, it works, all aquariums are different. Perhaps your bioload isn't that high, so you can afford to go longer without changing the water. I wuold think for the sanity of the fish, the less water changes you can do and still keep your water parameters in check the better. Fish get stressed out when you mess with the tank. I change 50% every week or two, but if you can get away with less, you're a very lucky person.
 
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