Help - I think this one is sick... :(

[yhbae]

This 25g tank has been up and running for almost 3 months. There are in total 16 fishes, including 2 female platies.

I noticed about 30mins ago that one of the female was swimming rather slugishily, shaking the body sideways rather slowly. All fins are moving pretty slow as well.

She looks like this:

Magnified view:

Notice that she has some white stuff on her side body - is this the "ick" that everyone has been talking about? Seems odd since all other fishes seem fine and I haven't lost any fish for over 2 months. Water parameters seem fine at pH 7.2, 0 ammonia and nitrite. (nitrate is at 5ppm) Temp is 77F. This female does get picked on by the lone male alot more frequently than the other female - could that have caused stress?

If this is ick, I guess I should take it out and treat it in a separate tank?

Appreciate some help!

 

[GoLdFiSh_GrL]

yhbae, i think that is ick, but i'm not completely sure. I got a good website describing what it is for you to look at. Here's the link:

http/www.nunnie.com/ick.html (ick info)

This site looked helpful, so here it is. Hope it helps! ( I know you're from AC, so am I, and since I AM doing research please don't think wrong of me as the others do)

 

[Alien Anna]

Ich looks like fish chicken pox. What you describe sounds more like a fungal infection to me (can't see your photo).

 

[yhbae]

It definitely doesn't look like a chicken pox - more like cottony infection - I guess this is a bacterial infection. What could have caused it? None of the other fishes seem to have any problem in the same tank. Perhaps she got heart trying to get away from the male? (She always darts away from the male when he comes near by).

Should I remove this fish ASAP? Unfortunately it's almost midnight now so I'll buy a smaller 5.5g or even 3g and try to treat her separately if she makes it past tonight...

 

[Feline]

Then it's probably the stress that caused her health to deteriorate In the mean time, try adding some aquarium salt in (like 1 tablespoon per 18.9L). Or do u have a tank divider? Hopefully she'll make it thru, good luck!

 

[yhbae]

Probably no salt since I have some panda cories in there as well. (Otos probably won't like salt either). Perhaps I should move it to the breeding tank with 4 platy babies? Will they get hurt by adding salt in there?

Oh, and I do have the bactierial medicine right now - just that I don't have any tank that has no fish for me to treat with... (Should have thought about having another tank for hospital/treatment purpose... Oh well, now I know... )

Oh one important question - will this infection spread to other fishes if I leave it there for long? Currently, I have the following in the same tank:

- 2 more platies
- 4 panda cories
- 5 harlequin rasboras
- 2 otos
- 2 blue rams

Thank you!

 

[Feline]

I can think of 2 choices for u:

1. Put the patient with the platy babies (only if the babies r big enough, like at least 1.2-1.5cm head to tail). The babies can do ok with salt in.

2. Do u have a floating breeding trap/net? U can put the platy babies in there just for now, so they'll be in the main tank. Then u can put the sick female in the fry tank for treatment.

Then u can run to the lfs to get a small hospital tank 2moro. I think u knew how to cycle the tank faster. Good luck!

 

[Feline]

If it's cotton wool fungus, then yes it'll spread. So if it's in this case, its better off treating the whole tank IMO.

 

[yhbae]

I bought a 5.5g tank and put some chemicals to treat her. I put all my spare plastic plants in there, and she seems to be much carmer in there than she was in the community tank, swiming slowly but not so ungracefully as she was doing before. Hopefully this will cure her...

Now the question for me is, even if she recovers, the same thing can repeat since the male is still in the community tank. Looks like I will have to buy another female... Does anyone know which sex determines the gene for the offspring, male or female? (or mix?) All my platies are sunburst tailwags. If I get a female blue tailwags, which offsprings am I going to end up with? (Assuming the female didn't come with any sperms from the previous tank mates). I can vaguely recall it is the male that determines this...

 

[yhbae]

Small update - she's been in that tank for few days and today is the first time I detected small quantity of ammonia (about 0.5ppm). I've setup a brand new sponge pump, added some water squeezed from my community tank filter sponge media, and added some gravel from the same tank. I put the whole bowl including the gravel so that I can take them out more easily.

Hopefully, this will kickstart the cycling process quickly...

She appears to be more healthy, moves much faster and more naturally now... I can't see her clearly since this tank is at a dark spot and I don't have any lights for it... I'll keep her there for the next forseable future - I might even let her breed in this tank...