rubbing and hard breathing

[bob0]

In most of my tanks the fish have been rubbing against the rocks and sand. The water parameters are good. There seem to be a lot of "colonies" of something on the glass. Whenever these get worse the fish are more insistent about the rubbing behavior. The last fish I lost also exhibited tail wagging and clamped fins, but didn't porcupine like dropsy. I can usually stem this behavior by scraping all of the colonies, but this never completely eliminates the problem. I am not sure what disease is causing this. It seems to be related to the numbers of infusoria in the tank b/c when there are babies in the tank the parents stop this behavior. How can I get rid of it?

 

[Devilishturtles]

What do the "colonies" look like? Are they little white worms? Also, what fish did the wagging and had the clamped fins? Could be a external parasite affecting you fish that seems to be living in your tank... When was your last water change?

 

[Allivymar]

I have a coupla thoughts.

The colonies; do they sorta wave in the water? If you look very closely do they seem to have a bunch of fingers or fine filaments coming off a stem thats attached to the glass? If so, you have hydra. Its possible they are causing some of the irritation when the fish swim by them, although I doubt it; adult fish aren't really bothered by them.

My guess is the flashing, heavy breathing and rubbing is likely caused by something else. Either a parasite (possible ich or velvet) or something in the water thats irritating them. What are your water parameters exactly?

Heh, and I don't mean to laugh at your concern, but your subject title sounds like a couple teenagers home alone

 

[Menagerie]

Heh, and I don't mean to laugh at your concern, but your subject title sounds like a couple teenagers home alone

It made me read it!!


I agree with Alli (about the water parameters). Once you post them, there will be more help on the way!

 

[bob0]

lol. I didn't notice the title.

Water Params
-------------------
Temp: 70-72 (im keeping us natives right now)
pH: 6.2
GH: ~2
Ammonia (ppm): 0
NitrAte (ppm): haven't checked
Water-change Schedule: 25% weekly last one 2 days ago
Any Water Additives: nada I use rain water over peat. Our area isn't bad for pollutants (according to my enviro sci teacher)
tons of plants

Ive had hydra before in this tank, but i haven't seen any since last year. They were green, and these "colonies" seem to be white.

 

[bob0]

no filtration I've never had a fish come down with ich. I have seen little white worms before.

 

[Allivymar]

Coupla thoughts.

What are the nitrite levels? They aren't listed.

What do you mean by "no filtration"?

Heh, never say never. Itching, flashing, rubbing and suspicious deaths are symptoms of ich infestations. Sometimes it infests only the gills and you can't see it.

I have to admit I'm a bit suspicious of using rain water. Just because its ok at one time, doesn't mean something isn't in it the next; quality control is difficult when mother nature is in charge, and humans are messing with her. Its possible, although not probable, a discharge from a smokestack has added something to the air, which was washed out in the recent rains. And may be affecting your fish.

Lastly, hydra are not limited to being green. The infestation I had a while back consisted off very tiny, white hydra. Nasty lil buggers. I used a goat deworming med called Panacur to get rid of em. Did the job, and doesn't affect the fish at all; my mated pair of angels are raising fry right now.

 

[bob0]

This problem seems to be in all of my aquariums. I have 11 aquaruims from 55 to 3 gallons. I dont usually test for nitrite unless something goes wrong & most of my tanks dont have filtration, no filters whatsoever (except the african featherfins in the 55 g & the baby grow out tanks.) They have small populations or are breeding tanks (w/ one pair of fish) and all of them have tons of plants. The SA & US tanks are on rainwater over peat.

Whatever this is has been happening for a while. The fish loss was a one year old male Apistogrammoides in January. The three gallon aquaruim has US natives in it who are displaying the same problems as the rest of my fish at home so i thought that now might be a good time to try and finally get rid of it.

The specific tank I have with me (I'm at school right now) has 7 fish 3/4-1/2 an inch in it; Its a 3 gallon eclipse. Yup, I know its temporarily crowded, but they were kinda a sudden acquisition. The water conditions posted were for it. I saw the hydra in this tank last year (i thought it was strange that they were bright green), but this tank was stripped, cloroxed, and sat empty all last summer. I dont know if they are resilient enough to have withstood this.

I was thinking about moving off rainwater but RO is expensive and a 30 min drive one way & we have a well so you cant get the water as soft. I dont know how much of a difference it makes but I usually wait a day after it starts to rain before I start collecting.

... goat dewormer, in what amount?