Black Skirt

[Fake_widow]

Hi all. I just have a question about one of my black widows.

I have 4 black widow tetra. 3 are new to the tank and one is about a year old. The older one is maturing and greying off, but is being he bullied by the new three. I noticed this the other night , and it has continued.(especially during feeding) Just today i noticed he had an extremely red spine. Is this stress or physical abuse??? i lost an older widow just the otherday with no visable problems. He was swimming in circled and upside down. Maybe a fatal blow by the other younger ones??? please help

ph 7
nitrites 0
nitrates 10
amonia 0

 

[WILDER]

Red spine do you mean it look like a red patch along the spine, does it look like blood underneath.
Sounds like septicemia to me, but just want to make sure with not keeping black widows its not breeding colours or something like that.
But with the other one dying of a bacterial infection it dosn't sound like it.

 

[Fake_widow]

Tanks for the reply wilder. As they mature they go from a dark silver with dark black fins, to really light silver and alot more transparent. Ill keep an eye on him. see how he goes. BTW i posted a nitrate reading of 10. Its alot more like 60 Im working to lower it atm. I hadnt tested in a week.

 

[WILDER]

Has the fish bloated up or darkened in colour.
Look under septicemia.
http/www.goldfishinfo.com/ailment2.htm#sepsis

 

[fishdawg]

i have 6 black skirts and the other night i wanted to see how fish sleep . and when i turned on my light all of my tetras were almost transparant. with the red along the spine. do you have low lights or really bright lights?