Female Swordtail Ill- In Need Of Expert Doctor Consultant!

[StaniFish]

Hi, i purchased 3 female swordtails maybe about 4 months ago-ish. One is bright orange, and the 2 others were grey. One female died shortly after her first pregnancy. They were originally in a tank with a aggressive male. They have both now had 2 batches of fry each. When they were both pregnant i kep the male in a net breeder until the fry were all inside another breeding trap. Then the orange fish got pregnant so i put her in the net breeder, then this grey swordtail became pregnant although i left her in the tank with the male. She was very stressed and i noticed one day she had her fry altho i could not see any because i think she gave birth next to the filter. Ever since she has been very stressed and thin, so i moved her into my tank downstairs because i did not want to put her in with my other pregnant female as she might of eaten some of her fry when they were born. Basically, she had her babies, but was getting beaten up. Downstairs she never settled in and was always always hiding, at the very surface or on the bottom. She was even thinner, and had red gills. She was not obviously feeding and she got too weak to even swim and was getting sucked into filter. So, this is the medical part..

I moved her into a little hospital (betta bowl) tank on her own. It has no filter, pump, heater or any decor although i am doing a water change every day. In this tank of her own i expected her to improve because she was not having any pressure to swim on her and she got get food easier altho she seems not to settle in again and basically crawls along the bottom and doesn't eat. I noticed she has a little tiny ball of white stuff on her head. There is also a greeny tinge on her fin. What's up with her and what can i do


Thanks¬

 

[kribensis12]

I would try Quick Cure as when you say red gill's, that could be gill fluke's. If she is extremely thin and not eating, that is probably internal parasite's, and the white stuff on her head is probably some sort of bacterial infection. The only slightly possible way that i know of for treating internal parasite's is either prazi pro( a very expensive medicine) or medicated food. Bacterial Infection's can be solved by adding Melafix. Sorry, but she dosent sound like she is going to make it!

 

[StaniFish]

no she hasn't made it, because i woke up this morning to find the poor girl dead Milly the swordtail

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Downstairs she never settled in and was always always hiding, at the very surface or on the bottom. She was even thinner, and had red gills. She was not obviously feeding and she got too weak to even swim and was getting sucked into filter. So, this is the medical part..

I moved her into a little hospital (betta bowl) tank on her own. It has no filter, pump, heater or any decor although i am doing a water change every day. In this tank of her own i expected her to improve because she was not having any pressure to swim on her and she got get food easier altho she seems not to settle in again and basically crawls along the bottom and doesn't eat. I noticed she has a little tiny ball of white stuff on her head. There is also a greeny tinge on her fin. What's up with her and what can i do


Thanks¬

The red gills could be a gill fluke or bacterial gill infection, while the fluffy growth on her head is most likely columnaris, which is a disease that tends to target stressed fish a lot (so would make sense why the female swordtail has got it in this situation from all the harrassment she has experienced from the male swordtail and having to give birth to lots of fry etc).

The best thing to do to treat the gill infection would be to treat the tank with marine/pure salt, this will kill of any gill flukes and will help heal the gills in the case of a bacterial infection- for the columnaris, an anti external bacterial med and regular water changes would be the best.
Its good that you are doing daily water changes because the tank has no filtration, but if you can get anything to raise the oxygen levels of the tank by creating some water movement like by adding a bubble pump or something that would be very good as it will help make her condition easier to bear etc.

Because your male swordtail is so agressive, ideally the best thing to do would be to rehome him (and maybe buy a less agressive male in the future at some point once the female sword is in much better health) and move the sick female back into your established main tank with the more peaceful female swordtails where you can treat her in the main tank .