My Poorly Pearl Danio :(

[N0body Of The Goat]

The other day I mentioned one of these guys having a nasty looking mark next to his left gill opening, which at the time was suspected of being a nasty nip by either a Barilius canarensis or a Steatocranus, so all the group was moved to the Korrall60 (along with the Yellowtails, a day later).

Well last thing last night, this poor chap did not look a very "happy bunny"...

• His colour was all washed out, looking a creamy pastell brown
• The wound on his side looked worse
• There was something about the shape of his dorsal line that did not look right, as if his spine now has more of an "s" shape to it, compared to the others
• His right eye had a dark red ring around it, with the eye slightly protruding
• His left eye looked as if it was protruding a fraction, nowhere near as much as the right eye, with no sign of a red ring
• He was staying away from the group, although some of the fry came over to say hello from time to time
• He seemed to be breathing much more rapidly then the others

My first thought was "Popeye"; but then I started reading about "gas bubble disease." The other disease that is really worrying me is "neon tetra disease" which could leave me with a catastrophy on my hands!

The Korrall60 has a Fluval U4 filter in it, which fires out micro-bubbles when using the top or bottm outlet. Combined with the Basic Juwel 280 pump and the Koralia 1 powerhead, I'm wondering if this combo is super-saturating the water, causing the "gas bubble disease"

As a little test, I turned off the powerhead overnight, plus put the U4 into the "gentle spray bar mode."

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

This poor fellow has taken a really bad turn for the worse this afternoon, resting on the sand instead of swimming, then upside down and hyper-ventilating...

I've just rescued him from the tank and put him a bucket of tank water, with a towel blocking out the light, which might relieve some stress but I think he is going to fade away before the evening is out. Given I cannot be sure what illness he has, I don't want to run the risk of him dying overnight in the Korrall and then being eaten by the other tankmates, increasing the odds that they may get contaminated.

This looks like its going to be the second of the group of six that die on me, from what I would best guess as dropsy. Makes me wonder if the tank was a bad batch at the shop, perhaps from in-breeding? I just hope the seven youngsters will do alright and live a normal life span for a Pearl Danio, with the other four adults...