Leopard Danio Curved And A Male Zebra Danio Breathing Heavily

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satu55555

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Hi,

My female Leopard Danio is swollen on her left side and therefore she looks like she's not totally straight. This has been a couple of weeks. A male danio is breathing heavily and his operculums are open, left one more showing the gills. This has been about a week. Otherwise both of them are acting completely normally. Here are the details:


1. Tank size: 140 L

2. Water parameters and brand of test kit used:
These are the parameters for the main tank.
Ammonium 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
pH 7.0
We use the API Master Testkit.

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?
Freshwater

4. How long the aquarium has been set up?
The aquarium has been set up for almost 4 years

5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?
5 Danios (one male about 2 years, about 3cm (= 1.2 inches) + tail; and 2 females about 2 years and two females about 1 year, about 3cm (= 1.2") + tail; 4 corydoras (two males almost 4 years and about 3.5 cm (= 1.4") + tail and one male and one females about 15 months one about 3.5 cm (= 1.4") + tail) and the female 6 cm ( 2,4 ") + tail, and one Oto Cinclus (male about 2.5 years, about 2.5 cm (= 1") and two females about 6 months, length 3.5 cm (= 1.4")) - Those times are how long we've had them. No new additions since these ones.

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?
Yes, for two weeks half a year ago.

7. What temperature is the tank water currently?
24.5 Celsius (= 76 F) The temperature had got a little low as normally it's the same as our house temperature ,which is about 24 C (75 F), but our house temperature dropped and we did not have their heater in so the tank temperature dropped down to 23 C (73.4 F). This has been fixed and the thermometer is in and it's a fairly stable 24.5 C (= 76 F).

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?
There are 5 live plants that have been there about 2.5 years. One of the plants was added about 2 weeks ago, but the female danios illness had already started. Should have waited until things are good before adding.

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.
We have an Eheim Aquaball 2210 filter. We clean the pads in tank water during water change once a week. 550 L per hour (=145 US Gallons per hour).

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?
Heater added 17th Feb to get the temperature back up.

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?
The tank rarely gets natural sunlight, but if we get some sunlight, it's in the morning. Usually we keep the curtain so that the tank doesn't get too much sunlight. Automated lighting in the tank is on from 11.30am to 9pm. We live in Finland and at the moment it is fairly grey during the day.

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?
Last 30% water change was 4 days ago. Next one in two days time.

Our normal water change is about 30% once every 7-10 days. We use a gravel hoover at the same time, but do a more thorough job at it during every second water change. The filter is cleaned in the tank water every time.

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?
Our fish get meals at 9am and 9pm. They get flakes and pellets (two different types of pellets). Twice a week they get frozen lobster eggs or blood worms instead of dry food in the morning. We also put a slice of zucchini or cucumber for the otos once a day.

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?

The female Leopard Danio (Marge) has been a little swollen on her left side at the back for about 2 weeks now. She eats normally. She's active and hangs around with the other danios, but swims in a position that is curved to the right when you look from above. So the lump and not being straight are the only symptoms.

The male Leopard Danio (Marco) is breathing heavily with the operculums partly open, left one more. Otherwise he eats and chases females normally. No other symptoms.

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
I have given the female Danio an Epsom salt bath for half an hour at twice a day for 4 days as we suspected her being either constipated or egg-bound. She pooped into the Epsom salt water so no constipation. We also did not give her any food for 2 days. I put 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt per gallon (3.7 litres). She has reacted to a change in the temperature before, but only by refusing to eat for a couple of days and then being back to normal. These two cases have been last summer and last spring a year ago. This time she's though eating normally.

As we were then after this treatment when we got a second sick fish, suspected maybe parasites or protozoa, I have treated them for 7 days with Metronidazole in their food. First I thought the male was looking a little bit better, but can't really tell the difference. Will stop medicating within a couple of days as I believe I should have seen more improvement.

Could you please advise what this could be. I don't seem to find the right treatment.

Any advise would be much appreciated. Thank you!


Here's a link where you can see the femail leopard danio swimming.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF4Imm046p4&feature=em-share_video_user
 
I have given a new course of anti-internal parasite treatment with no results. Would anyone have any idea what these two fish could have?
 

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