RodgerRodger
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2020
- Messages
- 2
Hello, I think I may have a pretty serious illness that's started in my tank. So far I've seen it in 2 fish, a dwarf gourami and a swordtail. It started in my gourami, I noticed a bend in his spine that looks almost like an S-shape from above. He seemed fine for nearly 2 weeks after I first noticed this, but eventually he started having a difficult time swimming. About a week later he is basically laying on the floor of the tank and only moves to get a gulp of air, only to sink back down like a rock. The guy at my local fish store said it looked like a gut infection, so I've been treating the tank with Metro MS for about a week and a half and I haven't seen any improvement.
I noticed my swordtail has developed a very similar bend in his spine, which I only noticed about 2 days ago. He is still swimming around and acting perfectly normal, however I am worried he will start to go downhill too if I don't figure out how to treat this. I've had both fish for nearly 2 years in the same tank. I haven't changed my maintenance habits at all. It's a 30gallon tank with an aquaclear filter, I do water changes 2-3 times a month (I replace about 5 gallons each time) and I use half tap water half ro water since I have very hard water where I live. I have lots of plants and have never had any sort of diseases be a problem before. I can't find anything like this online and am at a loss. I attached some pictures of how they look from above and from the side. I don't see any skin afflictions or redness, it's just the spine bend and the trouble swimming.
I noticed my swordtail has developed a very similar bend in his spine, which I only noticed about 2 days ago. He is still swimming around and acting perfectly normal, however I am worried he will start to go downhill too if I don't figure out how to treat this. I've had both fish for nearly 2 years in the same tank. I haven't changed my maintenance habits at all. It's a 30gallon tank with an aquaclear filter, I do water changes 2-3 times a month (I replace about 5 gallons each time) and I use half tap water half ro water since I have very hard water where I live. I have lots of plants and have never had any sort of diseases be a problem before. I can't find anything like this online and am at a loss. I attached some pictures of how they look from above and from the side. I don't see any skin afflictions or redness, it's just the spine bend and the trouble swimming.
