Congo Tetra Panting.. please any suggestions welcome.

[dirty_bishop]

Hi there,
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Video for viewing symptoms here ... ---- > https://drive.google.com/open?id=11pk4uaWGyot6dgUkeyZ1iiTUUU9fsT79
The Congo in question is at the bottom of the group at the start of the video - easy to spot - the gasping one.

His jaw must be so sore it's been going on for perhaps 5 days now. He is a little less interested in eating as the other 5 but still has a nibble. Whether he's actually ingesting is difficult to tell.
He seems to have no other symptoms, color is good he's still fairly fat.

55Gallon
PH 7.5ish
Zero ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
KH 3
GH is hard to tell - the colour didn't change, it just starts off light yellow/green and gets darker and darker as I add drops. I'm wondering if my GH is zero !
I perform weekly 20% water changes.

Anyway I know this fish is not so well and I'm wondering what to do. Thanks for any suggestions. I have metronidazole on hand from a previous successful Cichlid treatment but that is all the med's I have currently.
Worth noting roughly a month ago I lost quite a few newly introduced Harlequin Rasboras of which some showed white mouths, with only one showing any other white areas (on the spine). Some showed no symptoms and still died. When this settled I introduced another 15 Harlequins from a different supplier and they have all survived. I wonder if this Congo has picked up the same disease and is now fighting it. He's about 6months old, a great size and shape - it would be sad to lose him.

Thanks again for any time invested to help me and my congo out. And happy to provide any further info that may help.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Do a 75% water change.
Your nitrate is zero? That suggests to me that the tank is not cycled.
Someone else will come along and help with the disease but the water change is the initial step

 

[dirty_bishop]

Do a 75% water change.
Your nitrate is zero? That suggests to me that the tank is not cycled.
Someone else will come along and help with the disease but the water change is the initial step

My Nitrate has always read bright yellow on the chart. Tank is 3.5yrs mature. I don't think I'll do a 75% change at this stage thank you though.

 

[JuiceBox52]

@Colin_T @Retired Viking @Deanasue @Fishmanic
@AbbeysDad

 

[Byron]

Diagnosing fish disease/problems is very difficult because so many symptoms can be part of various different issues. Do not use medications unless you can better ID the problem. I would do the water changes suggested above. And going forwarde, you need much larger water changes every week. Change 50-70% once (meaning at one time, not spread out) a week. This does make a big difference.

I would not worry about zero nitrate, with those plants that are obviously growing this is not at all a problem. And it is extremely good, keeping nitrates as low as possible is always better for the fish.

 

[dirty_bishop]

Diagnosing fish disease/problems is very difficult because so many symptoms can be part of various different issues. Do not use medications unless you can better ID the problem. I would do the water changes suggested above. And going forwarde, you need much larger water changes every week. Change 50-70% once (meaning at one time, not spread out) a week. This does make a big difference.

I would not worry about zero nitrate, with those plants that are obviously growing this is not at all a problem. And it is extremely good, keeping nitrates as low as possible is always better for the fish.

Yes it sure is difficult to diagnose. Ive been reading about illnesses but with just the one symptom i cant work it out. I'll keep watching his gills for inflammation etc.
Ok, well two people have suggested a massive water change. I thought this could bring on a mini cycle but maybe that's old school ?
Perhaps I'll do 60% then. And any thoughts on salts/minerals ?
Thank you

 

[Byron]

Yes it sure is difficult to diagnose. Ive been reading about illnesses but with just the one symptom i cant work it out. I'll keep watching his gills for inflammation etc.
Ok, well two people have suggested a massive water change. I thought this could bring on a mini cycle but maybe that's old school ?
Perhaps I'll do 60% then. And any thoughts on salts/minerals ?
Thank you

Water changes cannot cause mini-cycles. The nitrifying bacteria live on surfaces, and they are very sticky and adhere quite well. Water currents certainly will not remove them.

If this were my tank/fish, I certainly would not add any salts/minerals (I assume you mean as treatment for whatever this is).

 

[dirty_bishop]

Water changes cannot cause mini-cycles. The nitrifying bacteria live on surfaces, and they are very sticky and adhere quite well. Water currents certainly will not remove them.

If this were my tank/fish, I certainly would not add any salts/minerals (I assume you mean as treatment for whatever this is).

Yes - for treatment and/or preventative.
I'm trying to work up the courage to change 50% or more and do a large gravel vac. I've just never changed more than 25% and read countless articles suggesting large changes can stress fish and possibly do more harm than good.

Thanks again

 

[Byron]

Yes - for treatment and/or preventative.
I'm trying to work up the courage to change 50% or more and do a large gravel vac. I've just never changed more than 25% and read countless articles suggesting large changes can stress fish and possibly do more harm than good.

Thanks again

Yes, there is quite a lot of false information and long-standing myths in this hobby. And it can be scary ignoring them. But your fish would thank you if they could talk, and they will certainly be healthier. No fish ever got sick from clean water. And if you knew all the bad stuff that exists in all aquarium water, you would cringe.

 

[Retired Viking]

I agree with @Byron, I do a 50% water change every week to all 3 of my freshwater tanks and a 90% to my RES turtle tank. Once a month I try and do a 75% or more just to make sure I am flushing out the system.

 

[seangee]

+4
my 3 tanks each get a 75% change every weekend.

 

[Colin_T]

So basically you have a congo tetra that started breathing heavily about 5 days ago, and no other fish have problems.

What did you do to the tank 6 days ago just before this started?
Did you add anything new to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

--------------
Fish breath heavily for several reasons including: gill flukes, gill infections caused by fungus or bacteria, poor water quality, chemicals in the water, whitespot & velvet.

This is unlikely to be whitespot or velvet because they have other symptoms that would have shown up by now.

Poor water quality is unlikely but poisoning is a possibility if you did a water change just before this started. If you had any creams, grease or soap residue on your hands it might have caused this, but some of the other fish should have been affected too.

Chlorine/ chloramine might be the cause if you don't dechlorinate the water before adding it to the tank. That fish might have got a mouth full of chlorine/ chloramine and its gills were damaged, whereas the other fish might not have been exposed to as much and didn't suffer any major damage.

Gill infections and flukes are a possibility. These can usually be treated with salt, however I would suggest doing some water changes and gravel cleaning first, as well as cleaning the filter to see if this helps. If it doesn't then add some salt.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt, or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres of water. Keep the salt in there for 2 weeks and see how the fish goes.
If you do water changes while using salt, add salt to the new water before adding it to the tank so the salinity (salt level) in the aquarium remains stable.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[dirty_bishop]

Thank you for all the information.

One thing I didn't mention, because I'm unsure of the timeline. I did a canister filter clean but I think he was showing these signs prior(not completely sure). Canister was cleaned about 4 days ago. A lot of beneficial bacteria flooded the tank upon restarting the filter(I may close the circuit with a bucket next time) - which could certainly have stressed the fish. It cleared completely within a few hours.

I use prime to condition the water.

Well - I actually did a 50-60% change and heavy gravel vac, and the tank seems a little brighter.

24hrs later, the congo in question is still panting but his mouth movements are a lot less pronounced. He even rested his mouth for a few seconds.

I will report back and thanks again for the info.
Perhaps I will stick to 50% weekly changes.

On a side note - I wonder if since introducing my congos six months ago, where I lost my red cherry shrimp population, perhaps a lot of the waste has not been processed and the water quality may have dropped without regular vacs. I liked the shrimp, but I also like the congos. I think next time I will re-introduce shrimp and go for smaller species.

Thanks - I think he may be on the mend - let's see.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Did any of your fish died recently? And if yes, are they having the same symptoms?

Usually if there is a disease like parasites or bacteria infections, you will see a few fish affected within the few weeks before and after.
It could be the beginning of parasitic infection (gill flukes) or bacteria infecting the gills.

Did you overclean your canister filter? Overcleaning your filter can cause your filter to lose too much beneficial bacteria(BB).
And losing too much BB can cause your ammonia and nitrite to rise especially if you have heavy stocking in your tank.
Ammonia and nitrite can also cause your fish to breathe very fast.
But this will affect most fish and not just one fish.

You mentioned that your shrimps died after you introduced the Congo Tetras.
There are two possibilities.
Shrimps are easily affected by water quality more than fish. So, there is possibilty that your high bioload(with Congo Tetras) killed the shrimps.
Another possibility is the Congo Tetras may also attack the shrimps.
I'd seen a a fish store where the Congo Tetras attacking smaller fish.

 

[dirty_bishop]

Did any of your fish died recently? And if yes, are they having the same symptoms?

Usually if there is a disease like parasites or bacteria infections, you will see a few fish affected within the few weeks before and after.
It could be the beginning of parasitic infection (gill flukes) or bacteria infecting the gills.

Did you overclean your canister filter? Overcleaning your filter can cause your filter to lose too much beneficial bacteria(BB).
And losing too much BB can cause your ammonia and nitrite to rise especially if you have heavy stocking in your tank.
Ammonia and nitrite can also cause your fish to breathe very fast.
But this will affect most fish and not just one fish.

You mentioned that your shrimps died after you introduced the Congo Tetras.
There are two possibilities.
Shrimps are easily affected by water quality more than fish. So, there is possibilty that your high bioload(with Congo Tetras) killed the shrimps.
Another possibility is the Congo Tetras may also attack the shrimps.
I'd seen a a fish store where the Congo Tetras attacking smaller fish.

Yes - as I mentioned I had a bad batch of Harlequins as many of them died off some with white mouths. This settled and about 7 of the 15 survived. About 3 weeks later after it settling I bough another 15 Harlequins of which all survived. It seems to me the Congo got the same disease as the Harliquins though he may have been a little stronger. It seems his upper lip is a little retracted/worn away, though he has since settled into a lesser gasping action, good colours and shape, and eating more enthusiastically now.
I wonder if he got permanent damage, beat the disease, and will be permenantly impaired. Time will tell.

I think I'll continue with 40-50% weekly water changes as this seems the new norm ? And I can see why it may be beneficial..

Thanks for your input.

Oh - re canniser clean - I did give it a good flush out, though it was cleaned in the tank water and I didn't lose excessive bacteria(I don't believe that was a problem). Will continue to test Ammonia/nitrites/nitrates.. 0 at the moment).