Sick Danio.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

rvijay07

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jun 13, 2003
Messages
326
Location
Canada
I have 7 Danios and one Minnow in a long 20 G tank. A few months ago most developed red marks. I treated them with Melafix, E.M. Tablets and finally Maracyn II. They got healed.

For a past few days, one of the blue fin danios (the oldest) seems more black/dark compared to all the others. Moreover, he is swimming stationary for extended periods of time and not going over the whole tank as he used to do before. However, he seems to be moving his fins a little bit more than the others, even in this stationary position.

There is another fairly large but slight red mark close to his belly.

Any suggestions/advice appreciated.

Vijay
 
Nitrates - 10 ppm approx. Don't test for others.
Water change - 25% every week to two weeks.
Also have potted plants in this tank.
 
Today, I closely examined my sick Danio again. He doesn't seem to be eating much, eventhough he swims close to food. Most of his fins are all drooping down, probably due to weakness. He was slightly more active today. The red marks close to this belly are also more prominent. According to the info. I gathered, it says that this is an internal infection and needs the use of Maracin 2.

Vijay
 
I tried to remove this sick guy from the tank to quarantine him. Unfortunately, he is still very active and tricky. He hid inbetween the Java moss and other plants. After trying for sometime, I gaveup. Looks like this is better attempted in the night.

Vijay
 
I examined him again now. He seems to have a hard time swallowing. He is opening and closing his mouth all the time rapidly and this is visible clearly. Moreover, just below his mouth, the body drops in an almost crooked V shaped form quite a bit more than before. This is also the portion that is red.

Moreover, I just now noticed that there is a vertical red streak on his caudal fin as well. This seems to be new. He is still moving fairly rapidly to catch him.
 
This sick danio is also swimming at an angle to the bottom. I took a closer look today. He has several scales protruding out. It is almost certain that he has Dropsy. For this to happen inspite of the recent treatment with maracin 2 is sad. Looks like he might have to be culled as all the infection seems to be causing him great pain. However, he is still very active and hangsout with all the other fish. This certainly is a concern.

Catching a small sick fish in a large tank with plants is not an easy task at all.

http://www.petfish.net/health.htm
 
I still haven't taken the initiative to Quarantine this guy at night. He is hard to catch still and loves to school with his mates. Maybe he knows the end is near. I hope thsi delay doesn't infect his mates.
 
I was able to catch this guy and quarantine him. As long as he is not in pain and able to swim freely, I feel I should let him live.

Vijay
 
Im not sure but I think your fish has ammonia poisoning or external bacterial infection which would cause those red streaks on the body.

Ammonia Poisoning

Symptoms: Red or bleeding gills. Fish may appear darker in color and may gasp for air at the surface.

Treatment:Ammonia Poisoning can be prevented but is impossible to cure. Avoid adding expensive fish to new tanks. New tanks must sit for two to four weeks until the bacterial level is sufficient to handle the tank load; add a few inexpensive fish at this time. Purchase an ammonia and nitrite test kit. Test the water until the ammonia drops to nearly zero. At this time, you should notice an increase in the nitrite level. When the nitrites are gone, it will be safe to add fish. Note that the bacterial phases will not take place unless the tank is initially stocked with feeder fish which can be removed after treatment. For larger biological loads, purchase a wet/dry filter (marine only) or a freshwater biological filter such as the Penguin Bio-Wheel by Marineland. For the immediate removal of ammonia, purchase an ammonia detoxifier such as Kordon's Amquel. However, it is best left alone until the bacterial load is sufficient.

Information: Ammonia Poisoning is common in new aquariums, especially when immediately stocked to full capacity. Ideally, the level of ammonia should be zero. Although trace amounts are generally harmless, they can still lead to problems over time. Understanding the nitrogen cycle is essential for the keeping of any aquatic life. In essence, try to maintain your aquarium with no traceable ammonia present. The amount of ammonia present is usually accompanied by a rise in pH. As ammonia is a strong base, it is stabilized by alkaline water. It can cause damage to the gills at a level as small as 0.25 mg/l.


External Bacterial Infection

Symptoms: There are a great deal of possible symptoms associated with this disorder. There may be spots on the body which appear red or orange. Watch for red streaks on the surface on the body. Dropsy (bloating) is also a sign of a bacterial disorder. "False Fungal Infections" look like fungus but is actually a bacterial infection known as Columnaris. These symptoms may include a white or gray film on the body.

Treatment: There are a number of effective treatments for many stains of bacterial infections. Three of the most common are tetracycline, penicillin and naladixic acid. Salt baths are another effective treatment.

Information: Bacterial infections are often difficult to diagnose due to the many different types. Orange or red streaks on the body is usually the only fool-proof method for the determination of a bacterial infection.
 
Thanks for the detailed response.
This is a well established tank. Hence, certainly ammonia poisoning is not the issue. More evidence for this is that only one fish is affected.

All symptoms confirm that this fish has Dropsy. This is very hard to cure. :(
 
Have those red marks developed into sores? I have had that happen to My dianos also...first what appeared to be small oval shaped marks near the belly turned into sores. I transferred the fish in a 10 gallon tank and treated them with quick cure and also added stress coat. All the dianos recovered after about 3 weeks. I don't know if this is some type of bacteria but it scared me and I decided to take the rest of my fish and put them in another 10 gallon and let the main tank sit for about 3 weeks without any fish. I turned up the heater to 88 degrees in the fishless tank hoping it would kill of what ever bacteria might have had a role in developing those sores. I also cleaned up the whole tank...cleaned the gravel real well...the walls of the tank with a sponge and also did a 35% water change. I then added all the fish back and they have been doing great with no problems for about a month now.
 
Did a little research, and you poor guy sounds like he has something that usually discus and salmon get:

"Fish afflicted with Cryptobiosis may become thin, lethargic and develop a dark skin pigmentation. Other important symptoms include exophthalmia, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, general edema and abdominal distention with ascites. Infected fish are highly susceptible to environmental hypoxia, and their metabolism and swimming performance are reduced. "

Your guys has 2 of the 3 initial symptoms, and obviously has "general edema and abdominal distention with ascites" aka dropsy and possibly "environmental hypoxia" which would explain the heavy breathing.

Unfotunately, it also sounds like he has gone way past the basics and picked up a case of septicemia as well (the red markings).

I grabbed the info from: http://www.fish-disease.com/diseases.htm . You may wish to take a look and see what they say. Good luck with your little guy.
 
Thank you very much for your time, research, the web-site and this excellent post. The information was very helpful. :D

Vijay
 
i3k said:
I then added all the fish back and they have been doing great with no problems for about a month now.

As I said in one of my prior posts, at one point all my fish had the red streaks. I treated them with Melafix, then with E.M. Tablets and finally with Maracin 2 as well !! They all recovered very well. Then now recently, just this one seems to have this infection.

Vijay
 
Your welcome rvijay07; I often refer to that site to look stuff up (like trying to figure out why my new angelfish wanted to hide in the loach's little log! Wondered if my guy had anything that would cause him to be photophobic. Turns out hes just a weirdo LOL but was a great site to go thru and check).

Sounds like Maracyn2 is your drug of choice for whatever this is (since it worked so well for the others). I'd still want to know why your poor guys are having such a hard time. Do you gravel vac often? Maybe its something sitting in the gravel and needs to removed regularly? Just a guess. If your tank parameters are fine, and no new plants or fish have been added, I'm assuming its something IN the tank you know?
 
Yes, I gravel vac regularly. Sometimes, I feed a little bit more like thrice a day, two servings for each meal. However the weekly water change must take care of it.
Not sure what else it can be. 0X

Vijay
 
I started treating this guy with a heavy dose of maracin 2. This treatment will be over by the end of tomorrow. He is eating with great interest these days. However, there is still a huge red spot close to his belly. He also seems to have improved. Any other suggestions on what to do next ? I feel quite lost at this point.

Vijay :?: :?: :?:
 
I gave this Danio a super dose of Melafix. The recommended dose is 3.5 ml for one Gallon to be given slowly over a one week period. I gave him almost 7 mls (4 times the needed amount) for a 0.5 Gallon tank. All at the same time. The reason I did this was that first he had dropsy and I wished to treat him. Second, I have salt in the tank, this reduces the effect of antibiotics. Hence, added more to compensate this. I also did a 60% water change before adding the medicine. I feel all this was too much for him and he died. There is a big red cut across his stomach. I am glad he survived as long as he did.

Here are my regrets:
1) Perhaps after the water change I should have waited a day or two before adding the medicine.
2) I didn't feed him today.
3) I should used a much less intensive dose of Melafix (such as 2.5 mls or so).
 
Aww :( I'm sorry he didn't make it.

It may or may not have been the Melafix overdose. Melafix is great for minor stuff, like minor cases of fin rot, but just doesn't have the antibacterial strength for major infections. It can be irritating in high doses as well.

I doubt it was the water change; as long as temps and Ph are the same, and its been dechlorinated, good clean water is always a good thing. As long as the tank was fully cycled, and you didn't change the filter at the same time, a 60% change shouldn't have spiked ammonia/nitrites.

Not feeding him wouldn't have really affected things either. Even sick fish can go a couple of days without food and not starve.

My guess is he never fully recovered from his initial infection. Sometimes they just aren't strong enough.
 
Back
Top Bottom