Clamped find on endler

[JoeyB]

Hello!

I have two endler fish in a ten gallon with 3 amino shrimp and 2 apple snails. The tank has been cycled since May and all has been well until about two weeks ago. One of my endlers has clamped fins while the other one seems perfectly normal. No signs of ich, weekly water changes, heater at about 78.

I was wanting to be proactive and use imagitarium’s parasite remedy. It says for aquariums with invertebrates to use have the dose twice daily for six days.
Just wondering if anyone had any other advice?
He’s still eating normal and getting around okay, just wobbly, semi lethargic, and clamped fins. Photos attached.

thank you!
Joey

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Hello!

I have two endler fish in a ten gallon with 3 amino shrimp and 2 apple snails. The tank has been cycled since May and all has been well until about two weeks ago. One of my endlers has clamped fins while the other one seems perfectly normal. No signs of ich, weekly water changes, heater at about 78.

I was wanting to be proactive and use imagitarium’s parasite remedy. It says for aquariums with invertebrates to use have the dose twice daily for six days.
Just wondering if anyone had any other advice?
He’s still eating normal and getting around okay, just wobbly, semi lethargic, and clamped fins. Photos attached.

thank you!
Joey

Why would you use 'imagitarium's parasite remedy'?
What parasite does he have?

Never, ever guess a disease and then guess which chemical to throw in the tank...rather than be 'proactive', that's simply asking for trouble.

Any info on stuff like ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates? Water hardness? pH?
None of this is likely to be the issue, given the other fish is apparently fine, well and dandy, but you'll nearly always be asked for these before anyone tries to answer the question about the health of a fish.

Have you noticed what his poo is like?

 

[Ch4rlie]

One thing might help, endlers are social fish and like to be in groups, so the other endler may be picking on this one.

Are they the same types of endlers or mixed?
There are several varieties of endlers so if they are a different variety then the other may bully or nip the other causing it to be stressed, hence the clamped fins.

But that’s just a theory, may be something else entirely so the water parameters readings are quite important but not always that helpful particularly if the other endlers and shrimps are acting normally.

FYI shrimps are more particular about water parameter so if anything was up, you would definitely be seeing signs from the shrimps.

 

[JoeyB]

Thanks for the responses. I took a water sample to my LFS and have ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite at 0, ph is 7.8.
The employee told me it sounded like gill fluke or wasting disease. He gave me ParaCleanse and recommended separating the ill little guy to a hospital tank for treatment since most parasitic treatments can be risky with shrimp.
And they are two different endlers. I have four when the tank first was set up. One mysteriously died within a week of set up. The second one passed away from pop eye about a month ago.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thanks for the responses. I took a water sample to my LFS and have ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite at 0, ph is 7.8.
The employee told me it sounded like gill fluke or wasting disease. He gave me ParaCleanse and recommended separating the ill little guy to a hospital tank for treatment since most parasitic treatments can be risky with shrimp.
And they are two different endlers. I have four when the tank first was set up. One mysteriously died within a week of set up. The second one passed away from pop eye about a month ago.

Am sorry but this is pretty much classic from an LFS, they will say just about anything to make a sale. Not all LFS mind you but most of them will.

It is difficult at the best of times to make an accurate diagnosis in fish so for them to make such a quick diagnosis without much information leaves me sceptical.

For most LFS, profits come first!

 

[JoeyB]

I had the water tested there at the store. He said that gill fluke is common in guppies and wouldn’t necessarily be treated the same way ich would. I didn’t really get the feeling he was “trying to make a sale”. I go in there often (where I got the fish as well) I appreciate the input from everyone and will let you guys know how it goes.

 

[Colin_T]

Clamped fins are usually caused by poor water quality or an external bacterial or protozoan infection. Your water is fine so either bacterial or protozoan. try some salt, see directions below.

----------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.