Siamese Fighter In Big Trouble

[technophobe]

hello to all. firstly i found this forum by google so please bear with me as i am not very good with computers.
im looking after a friends house and am feeding his animals, cats dogs and fish.
went to feed the fish today and saw to my horror one of his fish dead at the bottom of the tank and the siamese fighter looking all beaten up and in a very poor state. the fins on the siamese look very dishevveled and have what looks like very fine cotton wool on them. all was fine yesterday so am at a complete loss as to what to do.
i have spoken to my friend who asked me to test the water, which i think i have done as per the instructions and the water seems to be fine. he said the only black fish he had were black mollys so it is one of them that is dead.
as a temporary measure i have placed the siamese in a seperate plastic container within the tank to keep it away from the other fish.
i have been looking after the tank for 2 weeks and am worried i might have done something wrong.
i have been feeding flake food twice daily as instructed and only a very small amount. thinking about it i have not seen the siamese eat. do they eat flake or am i supposed to be feeding it something else?
all of the other fish in the tank look very healthy with no marks or spots or anything on them. all are swimming happily and none look sick. is it possible that the black one and the siamese go in to a fight?
just checked the siamese and there are parts of its fin coming away in very small pieces.

will contact a local aquarium shop but am in need of some help asap.
thanks.

 

[WILDER]

Do you know how many gallons the tank is.
How many fish and which type.
Also can you post the water stats readings please.
What's the name of the test kit you are using.

Only feed once aday while the owner is away.
This will be fine till he gets back.

Water change and increase aeration.

I would also tell the owner to think about getting rid of the algae eaters.
Will get you a link to them.

If it just fine cotton wool on the fins water changes might just clear it up.

http/www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html
There not aggressive to other fish by the link. I thought they were.

Have you removed the dead fish.

R.I.P.

 

[technophobe]

thank you for the reply. i will try and answer your questions in order.
i dont know how many gallons, will try to measure it, will that help?
fish type, ok going to sound awful now...about 20, all quite small. i know nothing about fish!
the water readings were 7.2 0 0 and 20. the test kit is an api kit and the results are in the order in which the tests are shown in the instruction book. sorry im not really in to fish.
feeding once a day is ok.
how do i do a water change? empty the whole tank or just some of it? im fine with cats and dogs but fish seem to be over my head. thre doesnt seem to be an air pump.
none of the fish look like the algae eaters in that link, where did the I would also tell the owner to think about getting rid of the algae eaters come from?

had a closer inspection of the fish now. the small fine piece of cotton wool looking stuff is on just one of the front underside forward fins. all the fins look as though they are falling apart. fish is now listing to one side.
yes i removed the dead fish.

will try to contact the owner again to see if he can answer questions more fully. he is due on a flight soon so I may have problems contacting him.
will also go to fish shop and ask advice.

 

[WILDER]

I know how you feel.
Fish keeping not easy so I will try and keep it simple.

Here a link for you to put tank measurements in.
http/www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

Does the owner have a syphon for the gravel. If so hoover the substrate. Remove ornament to vacum under.
If you don't want to do that try and remove as much waste as possible with the net.

Next remove about 30% of the tank water with a jug, if you don't want to use the syphon.
Fill bucket from tap. Try and match tank temp. By adding abit of boiling water till you match tank temp.
Stir in declorinator, water conditioner, It will tell you how much to add to the bucket.
Then add to the tank.
I use cold and hot water from tap. Had no problems.

Don't lower temp by more than two degree's either way.

Does the owner have any bacterial meds.

The 20 reading is your test results, is that for nitrate.

Here a link to water changes.
Also forgot to tell you to turn tank equipment off first. Don't forget to plug them all back in afterwards.

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/water_changes.php

 

[karin]

Hi. When is this owner coming back? Sort of unfair to leave you with this mess. He should be on this forum figuring this out and advising you since he would know what he has in terms of response equipment, medication, and habits.

I would definitely reduce feeding. Twice a day is a lot. Once a day and it is perfectly okay to skip a day or two. Next I would ask the owner how he does water changes and then follow his directions. Hopefully the owner will be back to medicate the tank. That is a lot to ask of a fish-sitter. I think water changes and reduced feeding would be my first priority.

 

[Curiosity101]

Just to add to what Wilder said. Is the fighter back in the main tank? Or at the very least in a container in the tank.

He'll need fresh water and to be kept warm. So either put him back in the tank, or place the container in the tank and refresh the water in the container with 100% new water from the main tank.

 

[technophobe]

thank you all for the replies. i have looked after the house and pets many times before, this is the first problem i have ever had. owner is away with work a lot as he has had to change jobs meaning more travel than before. he will be back in 6 days.
ok tank is about 25 gallons. siamese is in a container in the fish tank with fresh water from the tank. he looks very unhappy. very pale.
will reduce the feeding and try to change some of the water. i found a siphon pump thing.
just looked at the test kit instructions and yes the 20 is for the nitrates. i have no idea if that is good or bad but owner said that was ok. should it be higher or lower?
cant find any medication for the tank/fish. shall i buy some? just waiting for my son to come home so i can use his car and get to the fish shop. hopefully they will have something i can use.
been trying to look on the web for information. most of the sites i looked at said the siamese fighter should be eating live or frozen food. i have only been feeding flake as that is what was left out for me and what i have used before.this is the longest i have had to do it though. is it possible i havent fed it the right food and so it has got ill? makes me feel bad if i have done this. that wouldnt explain the dead black fish though.

 

[RustedKnight]

thank you all for the replies. i have looked after the house and pets many times before, this is the first problem i have ever had. owner is away with work a lot as he has had to change jobs meaning more travel than before. he will be back in 6 days.
ok tank is about 25 gallons. siamese is in a container in the fish tank with fresh water from the tank. he looks very unhappy. very pale.
will reduce the feeding and try to change some of the water. i found a siphon pump thing.
just looked at the test kit instructions and yes the 20 is for the nitrates. i have no idea if that is good or bad but owner said that was ok. should it be higher or lower?
cant find any medication for the tank/fish. shall i buy some? just waiting for my son to come home so i can use his car and get to the fish shop. hopefully they will have something i can use.
been trying to look on the web for information. most of the sites i looked at said the siamese fighter should be eating live or frozen food. i have only been feeding flake as that is what was left out for me and what i have used before.this is the longest i have had to do it though. is it possible i havent fed it the right food and so it has got ill? makes me feel bad if i have done this. that wouldnt explain the dead black fish though.

Betta will take flake foods, but they really should be eating richer food (in my personal opinion). We feed frozen Artemia (also called Brine Shrimp) to our Betta and they love it.

20 nitrates is nothing to worry about, was there any mention of ammonia??

Large water changes should help the fungal infection, if not then you can try some anti-fungal medicines. I personally use Interpet anti-fungal.

 

[technophobe]

things are looking very bad, the fighter is floating on one side and i think is terminal.is there any way to stop its suffering? i dont believe in just flushing fish so am looking for a humane way to put him to sleep. such a shame. happened so quickly as well.

 

[RustedKnight]

things are looking very bad, the fighter is floating on one side and i think is terminal.is there any way to stop its suffering? i dont believe in just flushing fish so am looking for a humane way to put him to sleep. such a shame. happened so quickly as well.

There are only 2 ways i know of.

1 is putting him in some water heavily dosed in clove oil to put to sleep, then some vodka is added to finish the job.

2 is picking the fish up, and causing fatal damage to the head by crushing the brain with your own fingers

Is he definately a goner?? Such a sad situation.

 

[kittrulz]

things are looking very bad, the fighter is floating on one side and i think is terminal.is there any way to stop its suffering? i dont believe in just flushing fish so am looking for a humane way to put him to sleep. such a shame. happened so quickly as well.

Other then taking him to a vet and having him euthanised im not sure. But I know that this board has some very knowlgeable members and they will help!

 

[technophobe]

son just got home and took these pics.

As you can see he is in a very sorry state. fins look as though he has been fighting but there are small pieces of fin on the bottom of the container.

 

[RustedKnight]

Yes he's looking rather tatty and battered. But I think he could pull through from there..No promises though.

First question, the water seems cloudy, is it like that, or is he in some sort of plastic container or something?

I think a large water change would be the best bet (if you haven't done so already), and see how it goes from there.

To do a water change, you'll need to find some water conditioning product. You'll be looking for something that neutralises or removes Chlorine. The common one I see is called TapSafe. In theory the fish's owner should have some *I hope so atleast*

And then you'll need a syphon tube, or if nothing else at hand, a jug to manually take some water out.

Then you'd need to follow the instructions on the water conditioner, and add it to the fresh tap water to be added to the tank, again this may have to be done with a jug or something. Has to be something which hasn't been i contact with any contaminents.

And then do the water change of 50% of the tank, if it is possible. I hope this is of use to you.

 

[technophobe]

the water in the tank is crystal clear and the water test results are posted above. he is in a white plastic container which is why it looks cloudy.

still at a loss as to why this has happened and why the black one died.

is there anything i should look for on the other fish? they all look as they always do and seem quite happy, but then so did siamese yesterday.

 

[fluffycabbage]

it would be very useful to know what fish are in the tank, as it looks like its been attacked. If you get pics of the other fish that would be good. Have you got any medication yet? Have you done a water change?