Sterbai Help

[gaz gun man]

hey all.

I posted recently in tropical discussion about one of my Sterbai having 'cloudy' fins.

Over the past few days he has gotten lighter in colour, and part of his tail is missing (happened overnight so I dont think its finrot)

I have noticed a few times he itches on the gravel/decor. I cant say he does it alot, but definately enough to cause concern!

He has been lethargic over the past few days, but still eating.

He seems to have one white spot on him, and, it does indeed look like a grain of salt.

Is this whitespot? If so have I caught it early enough to treat? Is it contagious?

Tank stats;

Ammonia - 0mg/l
Nitrite - 0mg/l
Nitrate - 40mg/l

I have done 10% water changes for the past 3 days now.

Tank is 100L of water, Fluval 205 filter.

stocked as follows;
10 Swordtail tetra
9 Zebra Danios
6 Sterbai
2 Gourami


He is the only fish that seems affected.

please help if you can people

 

[JenCliBee]

i think the only thing u can try is treating for white spot just 2 make sure, yes whitespot is contagious and yes if left long enough other fish will get it 2

he may also have a bacterial infection but i not really an expert on that maybe some 1 else can help with that matter


jen

 

[gaz gun man]

thankyou for your post.

I guess I'll try some whitespot treatment. The thing that confuses me is that I read you dont actually see whitespot on cories until late on in the disease and you're likely to see it first in other fish, however none of my other fish are showing any symptoms

 

[geo7x]

Yes cories are usually the last fish to have visible white spots on them. How does it look today? Usually there are noticably more white spots the day after.

If it is whitespot then the first steps are to raise the temp. to 28-30 degrees, this speeds up the life cycle of the parasite and therefore puts it into the stage where it can be killed more quickly. The best medication to use is waterlife's protozin.

Fish are more susceptible to whitespot once stressed and if the fish is lethargic, itching and has ragged fins then there may be something stressing it out.

 

[gaz gun man]

I've looked today and I cant see any more whitespots.

What do you think could be stressing him out? my water is good, no ammo, nitrite, and 40mg/l nitrate, I have an airstone too.

My temp has been fluctuating abit recently, last night it got to 27.2C yet the heater should kick in at 23C, so I dont know what else is keeping the tank that warm, even after I unplugged the heater for a few hours it never dropped.

ambient temp is around 24-25C

 

[WILDER]

In the warmer months you need an airstone which you have that good.
Also in the warmer months best to raise your heater temp by two degrees so at night the temp not dropping to much to stress the fish out.
Don't keep altering the temp this way the fish get stressed and they can break out in whitespot, columnaris to swim bladder.
If the temp goes abit higher in the day its fine if there plenty of aeration in the tank.

 

[gaz gun man]

yeah I was expecting little variations between day and night, but last night it peaked at 27.2C, now (midday) its 26.8C

Do you think that my air pump could be pumping in warm air? I have it encased in a foam box to keep the noise down so it dosent get any cool air.

 

[WILDER]

The pump fine it will only pump the temp of the tank.
if there abit drop at night in your temp I would raise your temp heater by two degree.

 

[gaz gun man]

the thing is my heater is set to kick in at 23C but the tank is around 26-27C

maybe the heater is broke? I have only had it a month and half

 

[WILDER]

its the warm weather thats causing the tank water to be warmer,.
If the temp set at 23 and the temp now 26/7 you need to put your heater setting up to say 25 so if at night when its cooler the tank temp not dropping down to fast.
If you set it at 25 that means it only dropping by two degrees which is fine.

 

[gaz gun man]

I think my tank is ok at night, at 1am this morning my temp was at 27C, ambient was 24C. even with the heater off for a few hours it never dropped

 

[WILDER]

Ok.
Good luck.