Sick Neon Rainbow

[Tweety]

I have a Neon Rainbow fish that is clinging desparately to the surface of the water. I'm convinced that his eyes look very slightly cloudy but my BF disagrees and says that they look normal.

He's spent all day making small circles in one corner of the community tank. All other tank mates are fine, so no signs of any other sick fish. However we did find the silver Dwarf Gourami dead a couple of days ago . She had no signs of ill-health and had fed that morning as normal.

Tank parameters are good. Ammonia and Nitrite 0. Nitrate 20. We complete a change of water weekly. Have fresh plants and a 180l tank with a Jewel 600 pump/filter. This is the next size up to the minimum require for this tank. The water is slightly cloudy which I have put down to a bacterial bloom.

All advice gratefully received. I don't want the little guy to suffer although I will try and treat if I can. I cannot move him to another tank as it contains some Platy fry at the moment. They are still way to small to survive a spell in the community tank.

 

[cometcattle]

If he continues to swim around in circles, then I think I would.

It really sucks having to do that, but sometimes you have no choice. I'd maybe give him another day.

wish I could give u a better answer.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I personally wouldn't do anything yet. Are there any signs of physical injury? Is he being harrassed by the other fish?

I would maybe take him out of the tank if he is being harrassed but I would not euthanise just yet. Do you have a hospital tank? Have you given him any medications?

 

[Jht]

do you know what could be the possible cause of the bacterial bloom

 

[vantgE]

can't hurt to do a water change

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Tweety

vantgE is right. Do a water change at the first sign of anything going wrong.

Even though your parameters are fine, there are things going on in every tank that are not reflected by them. For example, there are lots of bacteria, both good and bad ones.

Sometimes a water change is all that is necessary; other times it's the first thing to do. Either way, it's a good thing to do.

 

[NEON98101]

Although I know the rainbow fish is near surface dweler.

clinging desparately to the surface of the water.
I believe `that is the sign of breathing problem. You said you don't want to move the fish. I think I would move the fish if I were you. Otherwise, how to treat the fish even if you find what is the cause. You know already something is wrong. Even the container as small as 1 gallon. You must be able to find, plastic shoe box or plastic milk gallon jag or something. If it is a milk jag, just cut the top off to the bottom of the shoulder so the surface area would be big. And put some airstone and some salt tolerent plants if you have. And I would start some salt bath treatment. I don't know the salt tolerent of the fish so I don't know how much to start. I mean how much for a gallon of water(1 ts,or 1 tbs).

But anyway, here is the reason you should do.

1. The other fish may look fine right now. But you never know when they catch the sick. So separation of sick fish is always good idea. It always the weak one catch the sick first, healthy one may catch it later.
2. It seems some brething problem and little salt would help the fish breath easier. I read this somewhere but I forgot the technical mumbo jumbo.
3. Salt bath is old remedy when there were no effective medicine available back then. And they did cure some sickness. So it is a good remedy if you can't identify the sickness. Beside #2 is good enough reason to use some salt.

I hope it works. And I hope I know the exact amount of the salt should use, but I don't. Just research under salt bath or someone may know. I know 1 teaspoon per gallon should be a good starting point since I did used on the Neon tetra(scaleless fish) before. And I did add each spoon twice a day for next 2~3 days. And do the water change often with clean water. And you still need to feed fish although sparelingly since fish is not likely to eat and leftover foul the water. So it would be best if you use some of the fish favorite to entice or live food which can live longer. I probably try brine shrimp since they can stay alive in salty water. Or fruits fly, they can float on the surface and you can remove easily when they die. Or vinegar eels since they can live in below water.

 

[Tweety]

Thanks for all the comments and advice.

I decided to go out and buy another breeding net so I could move the fry into the big tank to give me access to the other tank to treat this guy. Plus I needed to get air stone and pump if I moved him to a different container.

When I got back he was still the same but by the time I had caught the fry he had died. I have completed a 20% water change and am keeping a close eye on the other fish. I've put aside some more water ready for another water change tomorrow if necessary.

Not sure what was wrong with him. We bought the Neon Rainbows about 10 days ago and this little chap had always seemed deformed. I don't know if that had something to do with it.

I think as we have been adding a few fish a week since we finished cycling the tank this would have caused my bacterial bloom. The water is slightly cloudy not milky cloudy. If it is a bacterial bloom how long does it take to clear? Or do you advise that I take some other action? Maybe daily small water changes are a good idea whilst the water is still cloudy?

I also bought an airstone for the tank today. I didn't have one previously as the Jewel filter is meant to take care of that (according to the instructions anyway!) Is this OK to leave on 24hrs or should I turn it off overnight, I read somewhere that the plants can suffer if an airstone is in operation overnight.

Thanks to all again.