FishChannel Forums / Freshwater Emergencies / Freshwater Forums

damaged gills

Rabid Puffer — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:23:12 GMT

When I got home from school today I took a look at our Pimelodella blochii catfish and noticed there was a noticeable sliver of white/pink tissue taken out of his left gill. It is a relatively small slice, but not too small. If it were not for the one end still attached to the underside of his mouth it is likely that I would have never noticed the injury. The cut is clean so it's not like there is a huge chunk taken out of his gill but rather just an outer sliver.

Immediately I dropped a few shrimp pellets in the tank to see if he would eat and he did. I dropped in one capful of stresscoat (aloe solution) to help. I only added one capful because the tank has only been running for a couple of weeks(no water changes done yet as both nitrite and nitrate are at zero) so there is still plenty of the aloe in the water from when I first filled it.

His overall behavior is normal, but his breathing is a lot heavier than before the injury. He sometimes swims wildly at night,swimming laps around the tank, so I suspect he hit a piece of driftwood, tearing off the small piece on his gill. When he breathes I can see a little bit of red from his gill, but he is not bleeding.

My main concern is that it will lead to infection. What can I do to help this, or is it best to just let it heal naturally? He is a catfish however, so my options for medication are limited. I can remove the other fish if needed even though they are not part of the problem. I have an empty 29 gallon that will fit them comfortably until the wound heals.

Ich Help!!!!!

Finny — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:36:19 GMT

Hey Guys,

So I have ich, eww right. Anyway, Its not getting any better. I read on another forum that I needed to boost the temp to 82 for 2 weeks, do every other day water changes and that should take care of it. Something about the free swimming stage not being able to handle the high temperatures. However, it seems to be getting worse. Should I be medicating with something or is this normal? Am I just worrying too much?

Tadpole situation; looking for advice

UCSoftball15 — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:21:05 GMT

Hi, I caught some tadpoles for my kids to watch turn into frogs, then planning to release back into same pond. We got about 40 tadpoles, tiny ones. No legs yet. I took a bunch of the pond water too. Set them up in a 10 gallon tank with a light. No filter. Rocks from the pond. Room temperature. Fed them a few pieces of boiled romaine. They looked awesome, were eating the lettuce, everything. The tank water looked horrible by night so I replaced about half of it with tap water that I treated with dechlorinator. Also gave them a few disks of algae which they loved. The next morning about 2/3 of them were dead. Currently it's been 3 days. We have about 15 that are still going strong. I discontinued the algae disks wondering if there was an additive in them that killed the others. So far I am using a turkey baster to clean the bottom of the tank of glunk when needed. Using a small sihpon to clean out bigger glunk when needed. I am hoping these 15 or so make it, but does anyone have any advice for me in general? Any ideas as to why the others died? I am a fairly experienced fish owner, not an expert by any means, but we have another 55 gallon tank with Sarassa comets and Corey cats we've had for 5 years. Thanks for any help anyone could give me.

Cloudy Tank

stephyykinss — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:10:59 GMT

I have 3 new otto cats and 1 (older) small apple snail in a 5 gallon MiniBow5 tank.
Both the otto cats and snail eat thawed peas, and sinking algae pellet.
The water keeps getting EXTREMELY cloudy really fast and stays that way (after a water change) no matter what I do!
I do frequent water changes(with water conditioner), have a filter(MiniBow5 i think, i rinse it off), and air stone.
What am I doing wrong???
Please help!!!

minnows with tail rot in tanks with fry and turtles

cyborggirl — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:21:18 GMT

a guppy and a platy had babies, and i have them in a breeder net inside my feeder tank. since it's my feeder tank i have my feeder minnows, guppies, platys, and some bottom dwellers and a betta in there. apparently the minnows i recently bought have tail rot and now they're infecting one by one in the tank. i want to make sure my medications won't be too harmful to my fry.
i'm using melafix.
also i put some of the minnows in my turtle tank, is it safe to use melafix with my turtles, as 3 of the minnows are now showing symptoms of tail rot?

bloated catfish stomach!

Rabid Puffer — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:53:37 GMT

Hello. Our 10 year old pimadella catfish which we plan to move into a larger 75 gallon tank in a couple weeks suddenly now has a very bloated stomach and he is breathing so heavily that I occasionally see CO2 bubbles come out from the back of his gills.

My first reaction was that a younger sibling had irresponsibly dropped way too much food in the tank, but that does explain his heavy breathing or the fact that he has never been overfed this much in the 10 years that we have had him.

What can I do to help our poor fish?

DEAD SNAIL?

stephyykinss — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:03:58 GMT

My apple snail has been floating since this morning. I had read that this is normal so I waited a while before I started worrying. She is still floating so I scooped her out of the tank and put her in a bowl with some tank water. Little bubbles have been drifting out occasionally (only one at a time) She hasn't moved at all... PLEASE HELP. URGENT

Swimming upside down!

MRBLUBS — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:13:47 GMT

Mr:Blubs my red ryukin goldfish is acting really weird. Sometimes i go into my room and he is floating upsidedown! I then tap the glass and he springs back into reality. IS this a problem? Hes done it about 7 times.

Thanks

water analysis problem .. need advice

CMJohn79 — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:14:44 GMT

I came in from work five days ago to find my 55 gallon tank very cloudy. I immediately did a complete clean on the tank and changed cartridges in power filter. This tank has been established for over two years. Two days later it started to cloud again. I changed 95% of the water and vacuumed the gravels. The following day I did a 50% water change. Today it is starting to cloud again. I did a water test and the results were PH 7.6, Nitrite 0.25, Ammonia 0.0, Nitrate 7. Water temp is 78F. I have treated for algae and added water conditioner to each change. We have well water which tests fine with a PH 7.2. I have not added any fish or changed anything in the tank. I actually reduced feeding over past two days and changed cartridges again today. Does anyone have any incite on this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

One of my goldfish died of septicemia I believe D:

LilMsColonelTee — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:57:42 GMT

I have a 10 gallon tank (ps I have a 55gallon on the way) and I had 2 fish. I was a fancy butterfly tail goldfish and a oranda goldfish. I test my water everyday. Yesterday my butterfly tail started to act funny and didn't eat. I tested the water everything was normal except the ammonia was a bit high but on my tester it said Caution. So i did a immediate 25% water change. After that everything was running smooth. EXCEPT my butterfly fish he now had red around the fins and it looked like a red dot in his eye. I got pretty worried and rushed to get some medicine. Only one problem there was no internal parasite medicine in town apparently some guy bought all of them at ALL 3 Pet stores in are area T_T. Next morning my fish was dead my Oranda is acting completely fine but I am still worried about him what should I do?!? I did manage to get some API T.C. Tetracycline and API Aquarium Salt. Should I treat my Oranda?

Help!!!! Can't get rid of ammonia and my fish are dying!!!!

eva10051 — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:32:25 GMT

Hello

Can someone tell me what i can do? I have a 12 Gallon tank, i got it in January and did everything i was told by the store... I put 6 fish in there and only have one left... the problem is my ammonia. Can't get rid of it... I have the tester and it's testing 8.0 all the time... the problem is that i just found out that i also have ammonia in my tap water. I have been doing water changes but i guess im just adding more ammonia to the tank. I'm using the Prim water conditioner but it's not helping either... yesterday i did a 50 % change took out some gravel and all the plants . the tank was very cloudy and stuff floating everywhere. I added new water that i had sitting out for a couple of days, i also boiled water(left it to cool first) and added that to the tank to along with the Prim conditioner. Today i tested the water and it's 8.0 again.

I just don't know what to do anymore... anyone has any advise???

sick shark:-(

texasbeth — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:47:22 GMT

I have two sharks ( he is really some type of catfish) but he looks like a small great white!. He , the sick one is just laying of the bottom of the tank. He looks fine, no symptoms but he and the healthy one are usually always moving, pacing! Any ideas on what might be wrong?

New tank Cycle

justpeachy — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 10:44:24 GMT

Hello, and thank you ahead of time to any replies. I'm sure this subject has been beat to death! I have done everything wrong to start off my tank and not sure where I am at in the process at this point. I thought I was doing a fishless cycle at start up. I set up my tank added the chemicals top fin conditioner and bacteria. I took a water sample three days later to pet store and was told i could now add fish. 3 neon tetras, Larry, Curley and Moe. Then my new pump was falling apart so I bought a new one and also changed the filter. Mistake! Then read never to start with neons so I added three Zebra Danios. They all died within a week. One actually died before I could transfer it to the tank. I then bought test strips that said my tank was fine. So I then did a water change because of the dead fish thinking it would save the Neons for sickness. I took everythimg out of the tank cleaned it all vacuumed the rocks and changed the filter again. Mistake! Took another water sample in for testing, they said its good so I add 2 Red tail black Variatus.This is within two weeks of start up. Then my water started getting cloudy so I added a top fin clarifier. Was then told I just needed bottom feeders so I added two Cory cats. Then I had one Neon die and yep, I did a water change and vaccuumed the rocks. I knew something wasn't right, I had foam at the top of the tank and a strong odor. so I bought a API Freshwater testing kit. I had ammonia at .05 and added amino lock, then took water to be tested again a week later and they said it was good. So I bought 4 more neons. Thats when I have really had the ammonia spikes to 0.50. So after more research I realize im killing off all my good bacteria. Then started water changes with just water 25% everyother day for two weeks. No drop in ammonia so was then told to add prime. no change was made in lowering it so was then told to add cycle. Well that spiked it to 2.0. this is at 4 weeks into start. I am now into week 5 am doing daily water changes with prime and it is still reading from 2.0 to 4.0. The ammonia smell is not as strong the fish are all still alive and acting happy. I can't imagine how! This is week 6. So I am wondering If I am getting false readings with the freshwater kit because it isn't as high when using the strips. So I know have 6 neon tetras 2 cory cats and 2 Redtail variatus. I know iv'e made a mess out of this start up, I had good intentions. Plz. ~~Help~~ my fish.

Who is eating my Bettas fins...???

Zombie Fish — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:07:18 GMT

Someone please help me solve this mystery.

I have, in a 12 gallon aquarium:

1 Male Betta Splendens (Victim)

5 Rasbora Hengeli

4-5 Ghost shimp (Primary suspects)

1 Small Pleco

Are Ghost shrimp known to nip? This is happening over night and I just took my betta out of quarentine for treatment of any secondary diseases due to previous fin loss. I can't see it being any of the other tank mates and they seem to be taking big chunks of fin, maybe sneeking up on him while he is sleeping.

If anyone has any info about shrimp snacking on Bettas and not the other way around... Let me know

Thanks

Sudden Death

crs1945 — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 07:18:57 GMT

I have a 5 gal Marineland Hex tank that held 3 Platy juveniles ( until we could ID their sex ). NH3-0, NO2-0, NO3-0 ( tank was fully cycled),temp-78,pH7.6, water changes every week 1-2gals.Fish had been in it 7-9weeks. Fed brine shrimp and were growing. Then Yesterday my wife noticed the larger of the three to be at the top of the tank just stationary. No spots,ulcers bloating or decrease body mass,no lumps,etc. then last p.m. found hem dead on bottom of tank. Other two fish appear normal ( behavior ). Any ideas as to what could have caused his ( or her ) demise??? Thanks

Chuck

breeding fish problem

aqua101 — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:07:28 GMT

Right now, I have two sunfishes mating but it looks like the female is eating the eggs while there spawningso what should I do?

Help!!

Sam-Sam — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:26:16 GMT

Hey,

I have a fresh water tank of 2x1x1.5 ft with a filter in it and marbles as gravel. I filled it with water and put some fish food in it for few days. I added 12 small guppies, three yellow Mollies and 3 Platties in it on Saturday 24th of March. One of my guppies died on the very first day as it was already damged from fins. On sunday I also added a big female guppy and a Red tailed shark. All of the fish seems to be doing well except for the guppies. I have already lost 8 of them. What could be the reason behind that? I cant check the ammonia or nitrate level etc as kits are not readily available here. But the ammonia level seems to be fine as I change the water on daily basis (approx 25%) and the water has no smell at all.

Cloudy water after change

curly55 — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:17:25 GMT

My tank has been up for over 2 years and I haven't made any changes to the setup. But after the last few water changes it's getting cloudy for a day or two but it never did that before. Any idea why the change when I am doing everything the same as always.

9 Pristellas, 3 Neons, 1 Betta, 1 Oto, Hornwort, Lutea and Mopani wood.

Holy Snails

rae3937 — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:12:34 GMT

How can I get rid of all my snails. they are every wear.

Cloudy water what to do?

AquariumBrandon — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:57:12 GMT

Well I've had my aquarium set up for about two weeks...

I'm doing cyclying with fish... I'm doing 2-3 30% water changes per week during the cycle period... then will go to ever week to week and a half water changes for my discus tank after the initial cycle is done..

I've got good filtration, regular water changes, light feedings, etc..

My water is still cloudy.. It was really bad the first couple of days, but has seemed to have leveled off... Don't get me wrong...its not bad, its just kind of slightly milky looking...

I know what I did wrong, I didn't rinse the gravel... Does anyone have any suggestions to this, or will regular water changes/gravel suctions eventually correct this problem over time?

My gravel is very very sandy gravel because I'm considering a fresh water stingray possibly at somepoint.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much.

Leopard danio

daynefishtank — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:06:07 GMT

Can someone take a look of this pic. He's on his way out but I wish I knew what was wrong with him. My danios are still very small and I lost 6 within 24 hours of getting them, but 7 are going strong, swimming fast and eating food, but the 7th has been abit of a loner and now looks really ill. Any advice? I've dont all the tests water is perfect and there no other fish to harm him.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/DemoUK_photos/leo.jpg

Whilst writing this he took a turn for the worse and died.

Is my Lobster dead ?

DIZZY.KITTY — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:41:27 GMT

Hi Every one,

I am really distressed, I just found my Lobster on his side half in and half out of his cave, I touched him and no movement, and put him back on to his legs but he has not moved at all, He was fine and feeding last night, and the water is completely fine as follows

Nitrate 25 mg

Nitrite 0 mg

Ammonia 0 mg

Ph 7.5 mg

I have not changed anything at all in his tank or added anything, he has been fine and happy until now, He was small when i got him and i have had him 2 years, Can some one tell what has happened I am so upset,

Many Thanks, Diz

Apistogramma Eye Problem

Dawnielle — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:12:05 GMT

I have had him in my 90 gallon planted tank since the middle of October. He has been doing fine. A little over a week ago, I noticed a white spot by his eye. I moved him to my quarantine tank and treated with Maracyn Plus. The white has not gotten worse, but his eye started swelling. I have not noticed any changes in the size for about 4 days. He is still acting normal and eating like a pig. Is there anything I can do for him?
I will post pics tomorrow when I find my camera. Thank you for any help.

Fish dying, I need help.. Please!

alkemist — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:06:59 GMT

I am completely stumped, as I have been steadily loosing fish of the catfish variety over the past month. I have a 29 gallon freshwater tank with a sand substrate. I have one live plant, the rest plastic and 2 pieces of store purchased driftwood. I've done ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests and everything is fine. PH is high, at about 8.3 but we have hard water here, even with a water softener. I've had this setup for close to a couple of years, including the live plant and driftwood and never had any problems. However we did move last September to a house that now has a water softener though there were no immediate issues with the fish using the softened water. I recently installed a powerhead, removed the air stone but fed the line air line to the powerhead and it is released by the powerhead.

I have not noticed any odd behavior from the fish. I first lost my last 2 ghost cats, then 2 of my cory cats. They were about 1.5 to 2 years old. I did notice that the cories that past away had small round objects in their underside (eggs maybe?) but they never spawned. I then tried restocking with young julli cories last week and all 3 of them died within days of taking them home. I have one cory thats probably about a year old, and my last that seems to be holding on by a thread. My Upside Down Catfish looks like he's on his way out. He was fine yesterday, today he looks like he's about to die.

My other fish are 2 adult angels, a female betta, pleco and a few random snail varieties. It's been months since I've brought a snail home from the fish store and that's the only change I've had in the tank in regards to livestock. I've done massive water changes and cleaned the plastic plants. I don't know what else to do. Please help!

Weird Fish behavior help?

b52mitchell — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:02:28 GMT

I have a red tailed shark in my 37 gallon aquarium. He gets along fine with all of my other fish and eats normally. The light is only on about 10 hours a day. For some odd reason, every now and again he will swim into my filter and swim around on the bottom. It doesnt seem to harm him, and he is capable of removing himself without help, but is there a reason why he does that? Is this normal? any comments are appreciated

Skin Peels?

PandaOranda — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 15:50:06 GMT

I just got a two new Orandas at the local Petco today. One had a little string off skin peeling off her eyelids, but I didn't think anything of it. Now skin all over her body is peeling.

Please help!

Fungus is killing my fishes!!!

arashiko28 — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:57:13 GMT

About 8 months ago I moved and had to empty my fish tank and start all over. I've noticed that where I live now the water is harder and leaves stains in the glass, where I used to live, never had that problem.

Now turns up a fungus infestation, 5 fishes sick. I first noticed one of my tetras with bulky eyes, 2 days later, a goldfish with a black thing on it's only healthy scales*.

I emptied the tank and placed them in a infirmary tank with fungus medication. Left all of them there for 24 hours while I cleaned (noticed white/yellowish slime attached to the inside silicon, never saw before), treated the water, changed filter and started to cycle the tank. Then I moved back first the zebra's, all healthy and lively and the healthy tetras and goldfish.

The tetra with bulky eyes died yesterday after an electrical blackout, another tetra died and I have no idea why, it was healthy in all of the aspects.

Today I see the Buenos Aires tetra healthy and no signs of fungus, still will medicate again before changing tanks. And the 2 goldfish and 1 black spot Tetra still shows cloudy eyes (goldfish with the black spots) even though today is the fourth day of treatment.

I'm I doing something wrong? Should I change medication? What is this black stuff?

Currently I use Nutrafin ChlorXchange (1 drop per gallon), 0.5ml methilene blue, 1 spoon of salt...

*Just to make it clear: The goldfishes and the Buenos Aires tetra, are a gift from a friend who couldn't take care of them anymore, her fish tank broke and the fishes were sick, with, fin roth, red gills and the biggest one lost the shine in all of it's scales, except for 6 or 7, the ones that shows the black thing now).

I have a 40 gallon tank:
4 zebra neon
3 goldfish
3 Black spotted tetra
1 Buenos Aires Tetra
1 Golden India Cleaner

Please help!

my 55 gallon went haywire

rickett141 — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:16:39 GMT

So here i have had my 55 gallon tank at my mothers house and it has been fine as i live in an apartment and it will just not fit well i got a call today saying that the she went to feed the fish and most of them are dead so i drive to her place to find all my equipment had stopped working and that the power strip had malfunctioned so all in all i lost all my fish other then two buenos aries ... i took these two fish out of the tank and have transfered them into a 5gallon just to try to see how they are doing these fish are normally super energetic but are now just sitting on the bottom and not moving or responding to my attempt to feed them please help all my fish had been previously purchased for my from a friend 3 years ago and he no longer lives in the area they mean alot to me and i would really like to try to keep these two healthy any ideas on why they are now no longer active and if i may need to look at if they have some sickness i have no clue how long the tank was actually out of power and the other deceased fish occupied the same water as the buenos

help please have large attachment to these fish and would hate to lose them

Pleco... sick??

Rhianna — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:43:09 GMT

Ok..... well I have one pleco in a ten gallon fish tank and he just sits in the corner under my filter... he comes out every night, but that is not the problem. He has these discolored spots on him. He has had them for a while, but I don't know what they are or if they are harmful. It doesnt effect the other fish..... but Im getting concerned now. Anyone know what this is??

fish passing slime

marcs tank — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:15:38 GMT

My gold molly seems to be passing slime. it is also passing red stringy poop.It seems to be very bloated. Is it pregnant? is it ill? i have other fish in the tank including molly's, neon's guppys etc which all seem fine. I am getting concerned for her health and also the health of the other fish in the tank. Can somebody help me.
Thank you in advance

Unfriendly Oranda? Please Help!

TheFishMama13 — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:40:37 GMT

I have had my red capped oranda, Jalapeno, for about a year and 10 months and he's always been kept with other fish but all of the fish kept with him have died. I have another fish, a calico fantail named Pizza, in a different tank due to a swim bladder problem so the other fish won't pick on him and he's been living for over 2 years. Could Jalapeno be killing my other fish? my mom talked to a guy at Petco who said that in general ALL goldfish get along pretty well, However he did say that once in a while, you get a goldfish who's not accepting of others and I'm wondering if this is the case with Jalapeno. Any advice would be VERY helpful. Thanks!

Crazy Snail Infestation

Buxguy83 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:38:50 GMT

I really need some suggestions here. I have a huge snail infestation now, there are literally hundreds in the tank. I have tried the lettuce trick, but they prefer eating my live plants instead. I'm really nervous about using copper sulfate as I don't know the effect it would have on the two baby corydoras I no have in the tank and I know it will cause a massive die off that would effect the stability of the tank. I read somewhere that freshwater puffers eat snails, but they are also nippers and would go after my tetras which make up the bulk of my population in the tank. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Zebra danio with red spot

zebraben — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:07:08 GMT

One of my bigger zebra danios has a red spot near the anal fin, it looks bloody in color and it seems as though it might be a wound that is underneath the skin. Advice please.

Female Guppy tail nipped off

xplodinjones — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:03:51 GMT

Hello, I came home today to find my female guppy with most of her tail bitten off. She is having trouble swimming especially if I put an airstone in. It's hard to tell from the following pictures maybe, but her gills are extremely inflamed. I have since put her by herself in another 1gal tank.

She has given birth 3 times and all of her babies were in the tank with her. I was going to take them to a fish store to donate them tomorrow.

She was the only female in there with only 1 other male and 4 ghost shrimp and a single snail. Could it be the shrimp or the babies or the male guppy? She was fine this morning. Please any help would be appreciated.

CAMALLANUS! Again...

plecodiscus — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:30:36 GMT

So my blue gourami has recently developed ONE, just one, camallanus worm hangin' from his anus. I'm trying to figure our what I should do about this... I have no access to de-wormer such as levimasole, etc.
However, last time one of my fish had camallanus, it was an angel of mine, and He too showed only a single worm.

Does this mean that if there's only one worm, there will be no future problems because these worms can't reproduce asexually?
If this is true, i guess I can just wait it out for this worm to die.

I need responses ASAP so this doesn't annihilate my stock, thanks in advance!

Another dead oto!

zebraben — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:31:16 GMT

Just this morning I found one of my three oto dead at the bottom of the tank with no signs of injury and then I found another one with red marks all over his stomach area I am almost sure something is trying to kill this oto. I think my pleco is trying to eliminate the competition.

? Dropping dead

trumpet103 — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:15:54 GMT

My water tests fine but there is something wrong. I dont know what disease it could be or what else could be in the water or out of balance. The fish will literally drop dead. I have a few groups of tetras and rasboras and stuff like that, all compatible. Fish just drop dead with no signs. no panting, occassionally i can see one having trouble swimming shortly before their demise or in some cases some coat over there scales. i dont know.

IMMEDIATE HELP PLEASE URGENT!

rainylove — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:12:24 GMT

Hello,

My fancy goldfish is floating on her side, she is slowly "gulping", she is totally incapable of moving. She is five years old, is it just her time to go? She is at the top of the tank. We did a 40% water change. Trying to feed her bites of pea but she's refusing. Please help, I love her to pieces and would hate to see her go. :'(

giant gourami has swollen belly on one side

Crystal2 — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 08:18:15 GMT

One side of my giant gourami's belly is noticeably swollen, its having trouble swimming but it still does swim, its belly tends to pull him upwards

rummy nose caught in siphon

boet — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:07:13 GMT

Hi, today I was doing my weekly water change on my 50 gal planted tank that has been setup since 2009. I attempted to semi vacuum under driftwood (cave like area) and did not know my rummy nose tetra were hiding there. I accidentally sucked one up and it became caught in the "squeeze ball" of the siphon. It is the kind sold with biorb tanks. I held it under water and took both ends off the bulb hoping it could swim out. Kne of the red flaps prevented that at one end and the red flap came out other end. The rummy nose was not able to swim out. I tried scaring him into it with a small stick (gently) inserted in the end with flap. Still could not get him out. I ended up holding it in such a way that his tail came out. I had to pull using my fingers . he did not feel like he was too stuck when he popped out but now these are my observations:

He is not joining the others, belly slighty abbraded, and dorsal took a beating. Nose bright red (thought being stressed the red would go...)

tank water is soft well water with a current PH of 6.8, EC meter reading of 147 (low dissolved solids) Nitrate 10 with zero Nitrite or Ammonia. Just finished 50 % WC. Heavily planted since 2009 . Stocking is approx. 5 different schools of fish with the largest being the rummy nose and Pristella. One Ram, Pygmy cories, Oto's and Kuhli loaches. Two licorice gourami.

Is there anything I can do right away to prevent bacteria or fungus to take hold? A quarantine salt bath? Melafix? I feel terrible causing this.

Kathy