Dying Danios

[easthillcomputers]

Hi all.

I hope you may be able to help me.

I've had my 48l tank now for 5 weeks and suddenly I'm losing danios which are supposed to be hardy! I've taken samples of water down to my local specialist and he is as perplexed as I am as all my water readings are very good - the only exception being the water hardness is high due to the area.

The symptoms are that my danios are OK for about 3 days then seem to get red marks behind the gills and sometimes the tail. They can be OK for a couple of hours then I go back and dead

My tank also has 2 small frogs, 2 small shrimps, 3 neons & 3 glow neons.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could help as all my other fish are apparently healthy, with the exception of a small golden loach which died after a week.

I look forward to a reply.

Thanks
Simon

 

[fifefish]

to me it sounds like the fish are stressed..
either from exposure to too much light..
getting harrassed by the tank mates..

 

[WILDER]

Water stats would of been good.
take a sample of your water to the lfs and tell them this time to write the readings down for you.
I would sttrongly suggest investing in some liquid test kits of your own.
Don't buy the test strip cards as they are not that accurate.

Do the gills look inflamed.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Laboured breath or gasping near the surface of the tank.
Swimming in a jerky movement.
Any sores on the body of the fish.
Do the fish spit food out.
Does the body of the fish look opaque with excess slime.

The tail where about it the red.
Any red streak or red edging to the tail.

 

[easthillcomputers]

Water stats would of been good.
take a sample of your water to the lfs and tell them this time to write the readings down for you.
I would sttrongly suggest investing in some liquid test kits of your own.
Don't buy the test strip cards as they are not that accurate.

Do the gills look inflamed.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Laboured breath or gasping near the surface of the tank.
Swimming in a jerky movement.
Any sores on the body of the fish.
Do the fish spit food out.
Does the body of the fish look opaque with excess slime.

The tail where about it the red.
Any red streak or red edging to the tail.

Thanks for getting back to me.

I've bought an amonia kit today to check that as its the only test I dont have so will let you know those results later.

I already do liquid test as opposed to strips as they are better.
The gills dont look bad but there is a rednes behind them. Also there is sometimes a red stripe to its belly.
They dont seem to be flicking or jerky. They do sometimes seem to spend quite a bit of time towards the top of the tank like they are on the lookout for food.
There seems to be no opaque colour or slime on the body.
The redness has only been noticed on the last one to die and was from where the tail/body meet but not much.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

 

[Amunet]

Hi all.

I hope you may be able to help me.

I've had my 48l tank now for 5 weeks and suddenly I'm losing danios which are supposed to be hardy! I've taken samples of water down to my local specialist and he is as perplexed as I am as all my water readings are very good - the only exception being the water hardness is high due to the area.

The symptoms are that my danios are OK for about 3 days then seem to get red marks behind the gills and sometimes the tail. They can be OK for a couple of hours then I go back and dead

My tank also has 2 small frogs, 2 small shrimps, 3 neons & 3 glow neons.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could help as all my other fish are apparently healthy, with the exception of a small golden loach which died after a week.

I look forward to a reply.

Thanks
Simon

Did you use the danios to cycle the tank? If so, then the cycling process probably weakened them a great deal to the point of it finally catching up w/ them and causing the deaths.

Have you added anything new to the tank? If so, something could've brought something nasty w/ it that the danios caught.
Red streaks sounds like septicemia? From what I've read, it's caused by a bacteria that attacks the fish's blood vessels or can be caused by parasites. Bacteria is usually caused by poor water quality.

Until more is known, I'd definitely start doing some small water changes.

 

[SharonCC]

If the frog and the neons are fine, I'm doubting there is anything wrong with the water quality...

 

[Amunet]

If the frog and the neons are fine, I'm doubting there is anything wrong with the water quality...

Was just throwing out ideas on what could be wrong... and I did say USUALLY.. not always.
I would still suggest to start doing small water changes.

 

[SharonCC]

I wasn't meaning to sound critical...just thinking out loud...

 

[easthillcomputers]

Thanks for the help.

I've been doing weekly changes of about 25% but didn't want to do much more as I did not want to stress the other inhabitants.

I'll be doing some more chem tests tonight and will post the results.

Thanks again.

 

[WILDER]

Red streaking on fish can be due to bad water quality to septicemia.
If you have lost quite a few fish maybe add a bacterial med.
Same as someone has said a cycling tank causes stress and weaken the fish immune system.

 

[easthillcomputers]

Hmmmmm.

Just got home to find ANOTHER danios dead. Will fish it out and take a closer look. This one's only been in since Sunday(

Will run some chem tests later and post results.

 

[WILDER]

U). One fish, or many fish appear to have red streaking through the body and/or fins Your fish are affected by Bacterial hemmorrhagic septicemia.

 

[easthillcomputers]

Thanks for the info.

I've now tested my water with an ammonia kit and its showing between .25 and .50 which I believe is high. I've just done a 50% water change to try and improve matters.
PH is 7.2
KH is 15
NO3 IS 50
NO2 IS 0
GH IS 10

Hope this helps with my problem.

I only have 1 danios left which I reckon ain't gonna last the night as this one is also showing inflamed gills.

I've tried to attach a pic but can't get the image size small enough to upload but the belly has a red line between the lower rear fin and body. I can send anyone a pic to an email addy if that helps.

Cheers

 

[WILDER]

Ammonia poisoning causes red inflamed gills.
Keep up with water changes and increase aeration as fish find it hard to breath in bad water quality.
I wouldn't bother with the med now if the last danio looks like he not going to make it.

What do you have left in the tank.

 

[easthillcomputers]

I hace 3 neon tetra, 3 glow tetra, 2 frogs and 2 shrimps which all appear happy and show no abnormalities.

Will water changes be suffice or can I get something to help?

Thanks again.