Name This Fish Illness

[MollyFresh]

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Tank size: 10 gallon
pH: 8
ammonia: 0
nitrite: no test kit
nitrate: no test kit
kH: 107
gH: 53
tank temp: 78-80

Fish Symptoms Bloated stomach (when you look closely there is a clear bubble in the inside of her body) Discolored fins, no popping scales, dirty, dark crud in scales, had white poop but not anymore.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 3 times a week, 25-50%

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: AmQuil Plus, epsom salt, Aquarium salt, Erythromycin powder, Tetra Parasite Guard, Tetra Start Zyme, Maracide.

Tank inhabitants: One Red wag platy, One tiger platy, One unknown platy

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): 2 platys, I had added live anubias when the symptoms started. Have since taken them out.

Exposure to chemicals: I use to be lazy and never changed the water much, So the effects of that are quite possible

 

[KittyKat]

It's probably all that medication and salt you've added. If it's all mixed in there now, you should get it out and use *only one at a time* for most cases.

Why did you take the plants out? How old is the aquarium?

 

[MollyFresh]

The plants were a risk. They probably brought in the illness. Attatched already to rocks unboiled. My fault. Shes bloated again, after having it go down a little. This was here before the medications, so unfortunately its not "all of the meds mixed in" I honestly doubt it will make it worse, but maybe if i knew what it was, i wouldn't need to add 10 different medications to see which one will work. So what does anyone else think it is??

 

[colleen0309]

All of those meds may not be the problem, but they can certianly make it worse. And if something works, how will you know what helped? If it was me, I would do a couple really big water changes to get rid of all the meds and start by using just a med for internal parasites.

 

[Caprichoso]

The plants were a risk. They probably brought in the illness. Attatched already to rocks unboiled. My fault. Shes bloated again, after having it go down a little. This was here before the medications, so unfortunately its not "all of the meds mixed in" I honestly doubt it will make it worse, but maybe if i knew what it was, i wouldn't need to add 10 different medications to see which one will work. So what does anyone else think it is??

Mixing meds will make things worse. Unless you are absolutely sure what the fish is suffering from, the best course of action is daily water changes for the next week or two of about 25%. When you decide to medicate your fish it's best to think of it in these terms; if you were feeling sick, would you take 10 different medications? Probably not. The interaction of all those meds is most likely toxic and I can't even imagine the side effects that will result. Water changes are best because they are the gentlest way of treating and preventing disease in fish. Did you rinse off your plants before putting them into the tank? I can't see plants being a cause of disease, usually disease happens because of exposure from other sick fish, poor breeding stock and from poor water quality. I have always seen plants as helpful more than anything as they help to remove pollutants from the tank. I have only used medication a handful of times and it was without much success, so, IMO water changes are more effective than medicating.

Good luck

 

[KittyKat]

The plants were a risk. They probably brought in the illness. Attatched already to rocks unboiled. My fault. Shes bloated again, after having it go down a little.

Boiling rocks before adding them to an aquarium is futile, as you do not boil the plants (which would, of course, kill them). And removing plants after the problem has started will also not make a difference because whatever could have been on them is already in the water, so one may as well disinfect them too, while treating the problem. It is also very unlikely that any disease would come in on rocks and plants, but not impossible. One option which may work for disinfecting both plants and rocks is soaking them in a strong anti-bacterial solution, using a medication (or a combination of two, as recommended by manufacturer) which will cover gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Another option is dipping in a mild bleach solution, but this does not work with all plants.

This was here before the medications, so unfortunately its not "all of the meds mixed in" I honestly doubt it will make it worse, but maybe if i knew what it was, i wouldn't need to add 10 different medications to see which one will work.

Yes, mixing different medications will often harm the fish. Many medications are already harmful to the fish when dosed on their own (they work because they are a lot more harmful to the bacteria or whatever else one is treating), which is why fish in poor condition will rarely survive a full medication treatment. Mixing numerous medications (as has been said above) can make some of them outright toxic and the harmful effect of others will add up, it is also possible for some medications to not work altogether, if mixed with others. The other problem is that many real medications (I'm not talking about the tea tree oil stuff) will harm the filter bacteria, so by using more than one, you could be putting the filter at risk.

Until the problem can be correctly identified, the best course of action is usually to increase water changes and maybe use a generic anti-bacterial medication. Given the nature of your problem, something against internal parasites may be a better option.

 

[MollyFresh]

Thanks guys. Ill do a big water change. Is there anyone who knows how to get rid of the clear bubble? or could maybe diagnose me?

 

[MollyFresh]

Also, how does 50% water change every day half in the morning half at night, with only Medicated Parasite and bacteria food. And maybe Some Aquarium, or epsom salt idk which one is best.

And i cant take it anymore, Im gonna take a picture of the fish im talking about. Gosh i got so lazy

 

[MollyFresh]

I cant get a good enough picture, you cant even see anything.

 

[KittyKat]

50% twice per day is a lot, but if there was any problem with the water itself (which there probably is not), that would almost definitely fix it.

What about a video? Sometimes those will show more than a photo.. just try to keep the camera/phone steady.

Is the fish having any trouble with anything? How does it act? Normal?

 

[MollyFresh]

Well, The one platy is a male and is agressive, but not always. She gets chased around from time to time. She Has Black Crud like all over her body, i think its from the high ammonia in the past but Im not sure. She eats normal, swims all over, Shes kinda bloated, They stay at the surface just a tad more than i would like. But They generally use the whole tank. I have not noticed anything out the the normal. I took her out yesterday and tried to take a picture but like the ninja she is, she jumped right back in the tank within 3 flops hahaha I will try a video, good idea. The water is a tad cloudy and i dont know why. its mostly her appearance that gets me worried, she doesn't seem to notice at all.

 

[KittyKat]

Cloudy like milk mixed with water? That's usually a bacterial bloom, which indicates ammonia (can be so little it won't register on the tests).

What do you feed them?

Do you have good surface movement for aeration?

 

[MollyFresh]

Yes I have heavy aeration almost constantly. I could understand if there is ammonia. I rinsed out my filter recently and Might have gotten rid of some of the beneficial bacteria, plus i added a fish so my poor girl wouldn't be harassed as much, figured it get rid of the stress. I feed medicated fish food, for parasites and bacteria. not too much, and they always eat every bit of it.

 

[KittyKat]

Aeration with good surface movement? Filter outlet pointing across it to create ripples? Or some sort of venturi/air pump set-up?

Are you saying you feed only medicated foods?

 

[MollyFresh]

Yes lotS of movement and only medicated food