Silver Shark In Distress

[JOBE]

Hi i am new to this and would appreciate any help you could all offer.

I put three large silver sharks in my tank about three weeks ago and everything up to a coupe of days ago was fine. They all starting darting round the tank like nutters knocking everyone out of the way. Now one of the sharks has developed a pink/red colour to his gills and on the base of his tail. i check all the fish every day keeping an eye out for problems so as to treat straight away. i have never seen anything like this before. I have done some research which leads me to believe that he has gill fluke. HELP.

 

[Davo86]

Hi Jobe do you know your water parameters?
Also did you use a dechlorinator when originally adding the water?
Are your fish 's gills appear to be pumping much more than normally?

 

[JOBE]

Hi Jobe do you know your water parameters?
Also did you use a dechlorinator when originally adding the water?
Are your fish 's gills appear to be pumping much more than normally?

hi thanks for the reply
yes water was dechlorinated originally and with every water change
parameters
no3 0-10
no2 1-5
gh 6
kh15
ph 7.6-8

all other fish are fine some egg laying

 

[Davo86]

Do you have a result for ammonia (NH3) ?

your no2 is way to high, 0.2 is around the max it should be but ideally it should be 0, nitrite is basicly a poison
I would do a 25-30% water change and see if you can bring it down.

what size tank do you have?
also what is the stocking?

 

[JOBE]

Do you have a result for ammonia (NH3) ?

your no2 is way to high, 0.2 is around the max it should be but ideally it should be 0, nitrite is basicly a poison
I would do a 25-30% water change and see if you can bring it down.

what size tank do you have?
also what is the stocking?

hi sorry for delay have been doing a 30% water change
tank capacity 900 litres
3 plecs
2 catfish
2 sharks
3 fighters (1 male 2 females)
6 gourmi
3 black widows
5 danios


thanks for your help

 

[WILDER]

Signs of gills flukes are.
Red inflamed gills, or they can look pale with excess mucas.
Apaque body with excess slime.
Darting around the tank.
Flicking and rubbing.
Gasping at the surface of the tank, or laboured breathing.
Swimming in a jerky movement,.
Spitting food out.
Sores on the body of the fish.
Flukes also cause bacterial infections.

 

[JOBE]

Signs of gills flukes are.
Red inflamed gills, or they can look pale with excess mucas.
Apaque body with excess slime.
Darting around the tank.
Flicking and rubbing.
Gasping at the surface of the tank, or laboured breathing.
Swimming in a jerky movement,.
Spitting food out.
Sores on the body of the fish.
Flukes also cause bacterial infections.

thanks for the info he has some of the symptoms red gills, darting about, flicking but they are the only ones. with gill fluke do they have to have the the signs. Sorry i am new to this if not gill fluke do you have any suggestions as to wht else it could be.
many thanks

 

[WILDER]

Sorry only just noticed your water stats.
Its bad water quality red inflamed giills, darting and flicking and rubbing can all be caused by bad water quality.
How long has the tank been set up.

 

[JOBE]

Sorry only just noticed your water stats.
Its bad water quality red inflamed giills, darting and flicking and rubbing can all be caused by bad water quality.
How long has the tank been set up.

hi thanks for fast reply, the tank has been set up for four months and i followed all of the directions that the fish shop gave me.....today i have done a 30% water change. Sorry to ask what can i do to improve water quality.

 

[WILDER]

The tank should have cycled by now.
Have you ever had a ammonia and nitrite reading of 0.
How often do you maintain the tank.
The fighters are they betta if so they shouldn't be kept together.
Is the tank a 900 litre and not 90 litre.

 

[JOBE]

hi the tank is 900 litres not 90 litres, the betta are fighters 1 male and two females all the advice i got was that he would be better off with females. I dont really understand the levels because i have been given differing ammounts. so when i set the tank up i took a sample of water to the guy at the fish shop once a week for a month and he tested it. He said it was fine after four weeks for the introduction of fish. every month i have done a water change (25%) and added the recommended ammount of declorinator when filling the tank back up.

After doin the water change today i went to the fish shop and bought the best test kit they had and have tested the water myself today after the water change the readings were as followed
no3 mg/l = 1-10
no2 mg/l =0
gh >6d
kh 15d
ph 7.6

thank you for your help

 

[WILDER]

Do you have ammonia test kit.
You need to be doing a gravel vac and water change once a week.
Do you have a gravel vac.
Every couple of weeks you should also remove ornaments to vac underneath them as debris can build up beneath them.
The tanks big so you might get away with keeping two females with a betta but you should not keep males with females.
I would ask in the betta section of the forum about keeping the betta's togther, the male betta can kill the females.

Also your nitrate readings very high what your tap nitrate reading.

 

[JOBE]

Do you have ammonia test kit.
You need to be doing a gravel vac and water change once a week.
Do you have a gravel vac.
Every couple of weeks you should also remove ornaments to vac underneath them as debris can build up beneath them.
The tanks big so you might get away with keeping two females with a betta but you should not keep males with females.
I would ask in the betta section of the forum about keeping the betta's togther, the male betta can kill the females.

Also your nitrate readings very high what your tap nitrate reading.

hi thanks for the advice i do have a water vac and use it when i do a water change which following your advice i will start doing every week and i will now go back out and buy the other test you mentioned thank you ever so much i really appreciate your help. the worry has given me a thumping headache. thank you s much

 

[WILDER]

Remove your ornaments and give the substrate a good vac you might have alot of debris building up in your subsrate.
Do a test on your tap nitrate, that should tell you what your tank ntirate reading should be, leave the test for 30 minutes to get an accurate reading.
Check your filter also to see if the sponges look really mucked up.

One last question the test kits are they liquid form.

A nitrate reading above 100 can start to become harmful to fish.