Giant Danio Lost Its Tail

[Michelleuk]

1. Water parameters. (ammonia = 0, nitrate 100, nitrite 0, PH 6.8, temp 24 degrees', Hardness no idea - hard water)
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms. lost its tail whitish at tail end
3. How often you do water changes and how much. weekly 45%
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water. stress coat
5. What tank mates are in the tank. community tank
6. Tank size. 190 liter trigon 190
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish? yes


Digital photo - http/photobucket.com/danio

 

[afremont]

1. Water parameters. (ammonia = 0, nitrate 100, nitrite 0, PH 6.8, temp 24 degrees', Hardness no idea - hard water)
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms. lost its tail whitish at tail end
3. How often you do water changes and how much. weekly 45%
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water. stress coat
5. What tank mates are in the tank. community tank
6. Tank size. 190 liter trigon 190
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish? yes


Digital photo - http/photobucket.com/danio

It looks like it could be fin rot. I'd start by changing 25% water changes per day for a few days to get those nitrAtes down to less than 40. As long as the bony part is not damaged, the tail fin should grow back. Clean, fresh water will go a long way toward curing it. Tell us what other fish you have in the tank. Is it possible that another fish bit it off, or did you notice it gettiung ragged over several days time?

 

[Michelleuk]

the danio died

i have checked my cold tap water - 10ppm

could the high nitrates be because i use the hot water tap? would it have more nitrates?

I dont normally use the hot water tap but as I have fry in two net breeders i had to move them to a bucket while cleaning the tank and then putt them back and i wanted the temp to be about the same.

I going to do another water change now using cold water but I not sure what to do about the 2 x fry net boxes?

any ideas? The water will take a while to warm up??

 

[afremont]

the danio died

i have checked my cold tap water - 10ppm

could the high nitrates be because i use the hot water tap? would it have more nitrates?

I dont normally use the hot water tap but as I have fry in two net breeders i had to move them to a bucket while cleaning the tank and then putt them back and i wanted the temp to be about the same.

I going to do another water change now using cold water but I not sure what to do about the 2 x fry net boxes?

any ideas? The water will take a while to warm up??

It's not unusual for some to have some nitrAtes in their water supply. 10ppm is not dangerous, but 100ppm is widely accepted as being quite toxic in the long run. It can also shock the fish to remove them all at once as the fish has gradually become acclimated to the high levels over a long period of time.

I personally don't use water from the hot tap, but I also don't use the cold tap inside. I get my water outside from a tap right by the supply line into the house to avoid my plumbing. I use a spare heater to warm the water in a plastic bucket, the bucket will not melt as long as water covers the tube.

Since your water is cold, you want to be careful that you do not add to your problems by using water that is supersaturated with air/oxygen. By rapidly warming water, you run a risk of the gases getting into the fish's blood stream and then bubbling out, like divers getting the bends. You can easily avoid this by running an airstone in the buck as you warm it, this is called air-stripping or degassing. I know it's counter intuitive, but bubbling air in the bucket helps remove the dissolved gasses that are in supersaturation and it should only take a few minutes. At any rate, you should be ok warming your water with hot tap water. Just try to get the temperature matched to within a couple of degrees before adding it in. Other people don't believe you need to match the temps, and you might not actually need to, but since you have fry I'd advise doing it. When you pour the water into the tank, do it from several inches above the surface and that will further help to remove any excess dissolved gasses will also ensuring that the water is 100% saturated, or very close to it.

As long as you keep the ammonia 0 and nitrItes 0, I'd just do 25% changes daily to bring the nitrAtes down somewhat gradually to less than 40ppm. Do you have other fish in distress?

I assume that you don't have any other fish showing signs like the danio had. What did the danio look like when it died, was it covered with a thickish film that looked like a fungus?

 

[Michelleuk]

I dont have any other ill fish. I think her tail had fungus on the ends.

i just done a 40% wateer change and use the kettle to raise the water temp up. I know put the fry boxes back in. I used tetra easy balance (as it says is lowers nitrate) and stress coats as water conditioner.

hopefully this will help.

 

[afremont]

I dont have any other ill fish. I think her tail had fungus on the ends.

i just done a 40% wateer change and use the kettle to raise the water temp up. I know put the fry boxes back in. I used tetra easy balance (as it says is lowers nitrate) and stress coats as water conditioner.

hopefully this will help.

How are they doing so far?

 

[Michelleuk]

seem to be ok - breathing a little heavy - got the bubbles going.

just relooked at my results of my tap water and its gone darker. I think its 20ppm.

 

[afremont]

seem to be ok - breathing a little heavy - got the bubbles going.

just relooked at my results of my tap water and its gone darker. I think its 20ppm.

I assume you are talking about your nitrAtes, right? They won't rapidly increase so you really don't have to constantly monitor them. Just keep them below 40 with regular water changes, but ammonia or nitrItes can rapidly increase and they are far more toxic to the fish. If your reading is 20ppm on nitrAtes, and 0 on ammonia and nitrItes then you shouldn't really need to change any more water for a few days as long as the ammonia and nitrItes remain at 0ppm. I change so much water in my tanks (~25% every five or six days) that I rarely check the nitrAtes. I check the other values before I change the water or anytime I see anything unusual, daily in tanks with sick fish.

 

[afremont]

seem to be ok - breathing a little heavy - got the bubbles going.

just relooked at my results of my tap water and its gone darker. I think its 20ppm.

I assume you are talking about your nitrAtes, right? They won't rapidly increase so you really don't have to constantly monitor them. Just keep them below 40 with regular water changes, but ammonia or nitrItes can rapidly increase and they are far more toxic to the fish. If your reading is 20ppm on nitrAtes, and 0 on ammonia and nitrItes then you shouldn't really need to change any more water for a few days as long as the ammonia and nitrItes remain at 0ppm. I change so much water in my tanks (~25% every five or six days) that I rarely check the nitrAtes. I check the other values before I change the water or anytime I see anything unusual, daily in tanks with sick fish.

EDIT: Sorry, you were talking about your tap water and not the tank, oops. Just strive to keep your tank below 50ppm and you should be fine. It should take more than a week to get there. I have a book that says to not let them increase more than 40ppm above the starting reading from the tap so that would allow you to go to 60ppm. I'm a little more paranoid and not much afraid of changing water so I'd make a point to keep them below 50ppm and still shoot to keep them as low as possible. Fish love fresh water.