Hello to all 👋

[Smithing]

Hello to everyone from London

I'm relatively new to fresh water tropical fish. And I'd greatly appreciate help with a few problems I'm having. My Pleco despite all researched in forums etc has a very swollen stomach, and my black ghost knife has developed dark circles on its skin that seem to irritate, presenting so by rubbing and scuffing.

Any help very greatly appreciated thank you

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello to everyone from London

I'm relatively new to fresh water tropical fish. And I'd greatly appreciate help with a few problems I'm having. My Pleco despite all researched in forums etc has a very swollen stomach, and my black ghost knife has developed dark circles on its skin that seem to irritate, presenting so by rubbing and scuffing.

Any help very greatly appreciated thank you

Hello. Tell me about your water change routine. I can tell you that most tank problems, if not all of them, have to do with the tank water. This is because water makes up the largest percentage of everything that goes into making up a fish tank.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Smithing]

Hi, I've had white spot, pop eye, swim bladder problems and now my Pleco is like a balloon, and the ghost knife, usually fine, isn't now.

I'm worried I've over medicated for the various, but have been careful to read instructions, scaleless fish etc, but nothing has worked. But all other fish are fine. But have lost a couple in recent times. I change the water as instructed by medication cycles and have done 25% of a 240L tank, or a third yesterday, again after meds. Generally it was once every two weeks, or longest a month

 

[Smithing]

I've got API master test kit, just done and all fine. Temp is 27-28C

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello again. I've never medicated my fish, so all I can say is perform a little bit larger water change once a week. Work up to the point you're changing half every week. I would also, reduce the amount you feed and only feed a little every couple of days. These two things will clean up the water fairly quickly and clean, stable water conditions are the biggest step toward a solution to any tank problem.

 

[Smithing]

Hello again. I've never medicated my fish, so all I can say is perform a little bit larger water change once a week. Work up to the point you're changing half every week. I would also, reduce the amount you feed and only feed a little every couple of days. These two things will clean up the water fairly quickly and clean, stable water conditions are the biggest step toward a solution to any tank problem.

I've always fed morning and evening, two cubes of blood/glass worms etc. So you advise fasting the fish for a couple of days as well as the water changes?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Hello sorry to hear you're having troubles! Have you got pictures of the ghost? Do you have any other fish apart from the 2 you're having problems with?

Your Bristlenose should be eating more of a plant based diet like your standard algae wafers, you can pop in cucumber and blanched courgette slices as well. That may be why its ballooned up like this, I really have no experience with them particularly because I HATE THEM

 

[Smithing]

Hello again. I've never medicated my fish, so all I can say is perform a little bit larger water change once a week. Work up to the point you're changing half every week. I would also, reduce the amount you feed and only feed a little every couple of days. These two things will clean up the water fairly quickly and clean, stable water conditions are the biggest step toward a solution to any tank probl

Hello sorry to hear you're having troubles! Have you got pictures of the ghost? Do you have any other fish apart from the 2 you're having problems with?

Your Bristlenose should be eating more of a plant based diet like your standard algae wafers, you can pop in cucumber and blanched courgette slices as well. That may be why its ballooned up like this, I really have no experience with them particularly because I HATE THEM

Hi,

I do feed the pleco wafers etc. I can't get a good pic of the ghost as yet but will post when I do thanks.

I have an angel fish, dwarf rams, Cory's, and Congo tetras (none are small enough to be threatened by the ghost)

 

[Smithing]

Hi,

I do feed the pleco wafers etc. I can't get a good pic of the ghost as yet but will post when I do thanks.

I have an angel fish, dwarf rams, Cory's, and Congo tetras (none are small enough to be threatened by the ghost)

All other fish are fine, just those two.

 

[Smithing]

Hello sorry to hear you're having troubles! Have you got pictures of the ghost? Do you have any other fish apart from the 2 you're having problems with?

Your Bristlenose should be eating more of a plant based diet like your standard algae wafers, you can pop in cucumber and blanched courgette slices as well. That may be why its ballooned up like this, I really have no experience with them particularly because I HATE THEM

This is the best pics I can get of the ghost, hopefully you can see the marks it has a couple of

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

it looks like it's covered in excess slime coat to me? What meds have you been using? Just for future reference though, don't medicate unless you're absolutely sure you know what you're medicating for.

I'm not that clued up on fish illnesses to be honest, he definitely looks irritated though and if he's scratching himself on stuff he'll likely cause himself an injury. I would increase water changes to at least 50% so that whatever it is that's upsetting him can get gone.

@Colin_T is the man you want

 

[The603]

Welcome to the forum, hope all goes well.

 

[Ellie Potts]

Welcome to the forum! I agree that unless you are 100% sure you know what's going on, don't medicate. Medications can make fish sicker. I'm not entirely sure what the illnesses are, but if it were me I would up water changes. 25%-50% daily or every other day. And try to watch their behavior--see if there's something that could be stressing them out and how you could eliminate it to aid in fast recovery.

Also, adding some more natural veggies to the plecos diet could help, like what was suggested already.
Hopefully someone who knows more can give you info on the knife fish markings.

 

[Aqua John]

It looks to me like your knife could have a parasite problem possibly worms. I would try to confirm this before medicating though.

 

[emeraldking]

Welcome to our forum...
The thread you've started, is something you could post in the emergency section.