trickyspark
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2007
- Messages
- 30
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
I bought an Amazon Sword from Wal-Mart a few months ago and placed it in my aquarium, it is the only live plant I have. My other plants are all plastic, mainly for hiding and/or decoration purposes.
I had one of those breeding cages with the snap together plastic frame and pantyhose like material that covers it hanging on top of my tank. I noticed after a few days black worms stuck to it. I first thought this was fish poo, as mine do occasionally float some black poop.
I noticed some of this "poo" was above the water line, inside the breeding cage (which stuck up out of the water at the time so poo couldn't have floated inside) and some was near the top rim of the tank. I poked one with my finger and it moved some, it was when I looked closed I noticed they were indeed worms. I squished them and threw them back to the fish, who in turn ate them.
A few days later I noticed a small fly on the wall behind my tank, along with more of the black worms. This has persisted for a while with no real ill effects.
Yesterday I changed my carbon cartridges out for some fresh ones and placed the old ones in a bucket to drain before I put them in the trash. They had been there about 2 days and still looked damp. I picked them up to just put them in a bag and there were a lot of these worms, and several flies under the cartridges.
Still this wouldn't be a concern, but I began to worry could these things make my fish sick? I don't even know what they are (the flies that is, not the fish). I noticed one of my sailfin balloon mollies had began swimming at a 90 degree angle, seeming like he was having a hard time getting to the surface. I had another 30 gallon tank with some rasboras and corydoras so I stuck him in there so the other mollies wouldn't bother him.
He seemed to do okay for a bit, then resumed the odd swimming. I put him back in the orignal tank, and into a breeding cage since I figured his behavior wasn't from the others harrassing him. He acted okay in the cage, if taken out he would resume the odd straight up swimming. All of my water test results were on the mark in both tanks, no other fish were acting odd either.
A few days later one of my females had around 20 babies, so far about 15 are still alive. I put her in the breeding tank with the male I was watching (they had a seperating divider in the tank) so that she could rest without the other males bothering her. A day or 2 later the male began swimming upside down, or straight up and down. He would swim normally if I put food in the tank, or if I nudged him a bit. He continued swimming upside down for about 3 days, eating food this way eventually. The next to the last day he was alive I removed the divider figuring he deserved a little "consoling" and allowed the female to swim with him.
A few days later I found 2 dead male ghost shrimp in a plastic tree I had in my tank. In my other tank I had a male platy that I had for around 5 months start swimming at a straight up and down position, pointing downward. He too did fine in a breeding cage for about a week, but could not seem to swim outside of it.
After seeing all these flies and black worms, I got worried. Is it possible that they could be making my fish sick? If not what could cause them to do the weird straight up and down swimming. I've seen a fish or two do that before, but they never lived more than a few hours. These lived a week or more. The only thing in common with the 2 tanks is the worm and fly situation. Is there some sort of fish related ailment that kills only males?
Sorry for the stupid questions, I just don't want to sit here thinking it's okay for the fish to eat those bugs and actually be allowing them to harm themselves.
**EDIT**
I also noticed ( I think in both tanks) what appeared to be fish poo, it was rather long and narrow but red instead of the usually yellow color. It also seemed to move a LIIIIIITTLE bit on its own. It was promptly removed and tossed. I have seen this once or twice since. I don't know if something is eating them, the ones I saw were about 4 inches long.
I had one of those breeding cages with the snap together plastic frame and pantyhose like material that covers it hanging on top of my tank. I noticed after a few days black worms stuck to it. I first thought this was fish poo, as mine do occasionally float some black poop.
I noticed some of this "poo" was above the water line, inside the breeding cage (which stuck up out of the water at the time so poo couldn't have floated inside) and some was near the top rim of the tank. I poked one with my finger and it moved some, it was when I looked closed I noticed they were indeed worms. I squished them and threw them back to the fish, who in turn ate them.
A few days later I noticed a small fly on the wall behind my tank, along with more of the black worms. This has persisted for a while with no real ill effects.
Yesterday I changed my carbon cartridges out for some fresh ones and placed the old ones in a bucket to drain before I put them in the trash. They had been there about 2 days and still looked damp. I picked them up to just put them in a bag and there were a lot of these worms, and several flies under the cartridges.
Still this wouldn't be a concern, but I began to worry could these things make my fish sick? I don't even know what they are (the flies that is, not the fish). I noticed one of my sailfin balloon mollies had began swimming at a 90 degree angle, seeming like he was having a hard time getting to the surface. I had another 30 gallon tank with some rasboras and corydoras so I stuck him in there so the other mollies wouldn't bother him.
He seemed to do okay for a bit, then resumed the odd swimming. I put him back in the orignal tank, and into a breeding cage since I figured his behavior wasn't from the others harrassing him. He acted okay in the cage, if taken out he would resume the odd straight up swimming. All of my water test results were on the mark in both tanks, no other fish were acting odd either.
A few days later one of my females had around 20 babies, so far about 15 are still alive. I put her in the breeding tank with the male I was watching (they had a seperating divider in the tank) so that she could rest without the other males bothering her. A day or 2 later the male began swimming upside down, or straight up and down. He would swim normally if I put food in the tank, or if I nudged him a bit. He continued swimming upside down for about 3 days, eating food this way eventually. The next to the last day he was alive I removed the divider figuring he deserved a little "consoling" and allowed the female to swim with him.
A few days later I found 2 dead male ghost shrimp in a plastic tree I had in my tank. In my other tank I had a male platy that I had for around 5 months start swimming at a straight up and down position, pointing downward. He too did fine in a breeding cage for about a week, but could not seem to swim outside of it.
After seeing all these flies and black worms, I got worried. Is it possible that they could be making my fish sick? If not what could cause them to do the weird straight up and down swimming. I've seen a fish or two do that before, but they never lived more than a few hours. These lived a week or more. The only thing in common with the 2 tanks is the worm and fly situation. Is there some sort of fish related ailment that kills only males?
Sorry for the stupid questions, I just don't want to sit here thinking it's okay for the fish to eat those bugs and actually be allowing them to harm themselves.
**EDIT**
I also noticed ( I think in both tanks) what appeared to be fish poo, it was rather long and narrow but red instead of the usually yellow color. It also seemed to move a LIIIIIITTLE bit on its own. It was promptly removed and tossed. I have seen this once or twice since. I don't know if something is eating them, the ones I saw were about 4 inches long.
/www.flippersandfins.net/swimbladderdisease.htm"]http
