Sick Ghost Knife Fish

[nighttigeress]

I've just noticed two small round blister like objects on the side of its mouth. they are clear and uniform in shape. They were not there yesterday and it seem to be makeing the side of its face puff out a little. can any one recomend some meds to use.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

can you give us the following information

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

 

[nighttigeress]

tank size is 140li
p.h is 6.5
temp is30
only salt added
2 large scats, 1 large frontosa, 1 small electric yellow.no recent additions
water change was a couple of weeks ago.approx 50-60li

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok the salt could well be the problem, what salinity do you keep the tank at?

the scats are brackish fish and need some marine salt, the frontosa, knife fish and electric yellow are tropical fish and do not need salt, in addition to this the frontosa and electric yellow are african cichlids and need to be kept in a tank only with other african cichlids.

i hope you don't think i'm being rude as I don't intend to upset you, however I can't help but be blunt. It is obvious you have not researched these fish before buying them as they are quite clearly incompatible and even a small amount of research would tell you so. You need to start googling and find out about the fish you keep and they're requirements, the link in my sig 'how to work out stocking lists' should tell you how to work out if fish are compatible or not which may help with your research.

we need the rest of the information please, stats for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are vital info

 

[Miss Wiggle]

here's some info to start you off

scat

frontosa

electric yellow

ghost knife

 

[nighttigeress]

ive had these fish together for a few years now and had no prior problems.
What i wanted to know is what could these blisters be. (parasites or fungal) and an appropriate medication.
The salt ratio is 1 gram per litre.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

are you using marine/aquarium salt?

i'm sorry but just because these fish have been kept together for a while does not mean that this is not the cause of the problems, often problems like keeping fish in water conditions which are not quite ideal for them will mean they can live what you would think is a happy life for many years, in fact the damage is slowly being done to things like they're immune system making them susceptible to diseases. So while it may be fine for months or years eventually the results will manifest themselves and i think this is what you are seeing now.

As I said I hope you don't take offence, I'm just trying to help, but you really need to do some mroe research into these fish and provide them with a suitable environment, if you don't they are unlikely to recover and even if they do are likely to suffer many more problems

 

[nighttigeress]

Its hard to offend me. Im more interested in what the problem is and not what i sould have done before hand. Can you tell me what you think it is?

 

[nighttigeress]

the tank chemistry is set in favour of the ghostie, within reccomended parameters. he has been housed in the tank for over 6 years. (i have been keeping ghosties for many years) If anything should get sick in there it should be the ciclids which were added to the tank when they were not fitting into the ciclid community in the ciclid tank. As for the scats, they are pretty adaptable from what iv found out and should have no probs. I was hoping by posting on here that i might get som constructive help..

 

[Miss Wiggle]

see the problems in the set up of the tank are very likely to be linked to the problems you are having now.

while i'm sure between us we can work out what the problem is and prescribe a medication for it, if you don't resolve the root cause of the problem this sort of thing will keep coming up, this is why i will keep harping on about it, for us to come up with a diagnosis without being able to see the fish and tank in question we need to know as much background as possible

we need you to answer the rest of the questions properly so we can get a clearer idea of what's going on in the tank

are you using marine/aquarium salt and what brand?
what salinity is the tank running at? (not how many grammes per litre, this is not an accurate measurement and depending on the brand of salt you are using the salinity achieved would vary, i hope you have a hydrometer or refractometer to measure salinity, this is what we need)
what are your stats for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

a photo would help us vastly in diagnosis if that is at all possible

 

[andywg]

If the tank is set up for the ghost knife specifically then I assume you have very soft and acidic water. This is the complete opposite of what the scat requires.

While Scats can move from freshwater through to marine, they will still want hard alkaline water when in freshwater and not the sort of water required by the ghost knife.

Actually, why are you adding salt if the tank is set up for a ghost knife? They come from waters with pretty much zero salt levels in the water.

I think you really need to read up on what your fish need, as you have fish requiring at least 3 massively different types of water all in the one tank.

You want constructive help, you are getting it. MW is pointing out that the water is most likely the underlying problem here, that and the inappropriate tank mates. Sort that out and the problem will most likely go away. If you leave the tank as it is, even if this problem is sorted out, more problems lay further down the road for you.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thanks andy