Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: mars on 22 January 2010, 21:43:36
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We have a 55 litre coldwater tank with a mixture of black moor and fantails. We also have 2 small pleck fish (excuse if dodgy spelling). Our one black moor who is very large compared to the other 2 was treated yesterday for fungus as he had a cotton wool looking substance on him. Since last night he keeps turning upside down and lying in bottom corner of tank then swims again and so forth. The rest of the fish in the aquarium seem fine; should we separate him into a hospital tank and give him treatment for what appears to be swimbladder now or is it too soon after the previous treatment? The cotton wool looking substance has now gone. Any guidance appreciated.
:-/
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I know nowt about coldwater, but if it was a tropical tank I would oick him out and treat for swimbladder in a seperate tank.
I have found the chemicals for SB to be harmful to other fish, and the success rate is very low anyway.... so the ill fish dies and gets eaten by the others, so spreading the infection.
The fungal growth will be present in the tank now in spore form .. so you'll have to keep a very close eye on the other fish in case they get it as well.
If the fungal treatment you are using mentions a water change after some time .. make sure you do it and do it on time ... some fungal treatments are long term poisons to fish.
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I know nowt about coldwater, but if it was a tropical tank I would oick him out and treat for swimbladder in a seperate tank.
I have found the chemicals for SB to be harmful to other fish, and the success rate is very low anyway.... so the ill fish dies and gets eaten by the others, so spreading the infection.
The fungal growth will be present in the tank now in spore form .. so you'll have to keep a very close eye on the other fish in case they get it as well.
If the fungal treatment you are using mentions a water change after some time .. make sure you do it and do it on time ... some fungal treatments are long term poisons to fish.
I agree with Entwood get it out of the main tank, either hospitalise it or..... :-X
I have a large tropical tank, but am not expert, but have learned to be cautious... :)
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normally if its swim bladder they tend to go upside down on the top, ive had that before [well the fish have] after treatment, so now if i get anything like fungus i treat the whole tank with aquatic salt or meth blue, but be warned the meth blue will probably kill your plecs, unfortunately i learnt this the hard way :'( :'(
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I know nowt about coldwater, but if it was a tropical tank I would oick him out and treat for swimbladder in a seperate tank.
I have found the chemicals for SB to be harmful to other fish, and the success rate is very low anyway.... so the ill fish dies and gets eaten by the others, so spreading the infection.
The fungal growth will be present in the tank now in spore form .. so you'll have to keep a very close eye on the other fish in case they get it as well.
If the fungal treatment you are using mentions a water change after some time .. make sure you do it and do it on time ... some fungal treatments are long term poisons to fish.
Agreed! Swimbladder problems are very rarely resolved and invariably lead to the demise of the affected fish. I would be cruel to be kind & dispose of the poorly fish ASAP (and as humanely as possible) :(
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
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I know nowt about coldwater, but if it was a tropical tank I would oick him out and treat for swimbladder in a seperate tank.
I have found the chemicals for SB to be harmful to other fish, and the success rate is very low anyway.... so the ill fish dies and gets eaten by the others, so spreading the infection.
The fungal growth will be present in the tank now in spore form .. so you'll have to keep a very close eye on the other fish in case they get it as well.
If the fungal treatment you are using mentions a water change after some time .. make sure you do it and do it on time ... some fungal treatments are long term poisons to fish.
Thanks for your advice; was thinking of separating him so will try that now. We bought him just under a month ago fom pets at home and he seemed very healthy until yesterday :o
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
They are coldwater; we had one last 18 months in the same tank, the current ones have been in there a few weeks :y
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Had Entwood not have said i would have done the same. Quarantine & treat the sick fish & do a partial (half) water change with the remaining, leave it 2 or 3 weeks & do another partial water change so maintaining ph levels & keeping the rest of the tank clear of further infection.
Again this said with a tropical set up in mind. Best of luck, Guy. :y
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
They are coldwater; we had one last 18 months in the same tank, the current ones have been in there a few weeks :y
Wasnt sure, thats why I mentioned it.
I had 2 large pleccys but mine were in tropical tanks.
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
They are coldwater; we had one last 18 months in the same tank, the current ones have been in there a few weeks :y
The only plecs i know where known as pleco cats & were bottom feeders & algae suckers, mottled grey /brown in colour & from 7 to 20 cm long. Tank cleaners, cleaning the gravel & the glass. Usually quiet temprament but i had one years ago that was a bit of a bully & hassled the shoal fish. I took him to a friends tank that was huge & well stocked.
He was'nt as brave in there!!!! ::)
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
They are coldwater; we had one last 18 months in the same tank, the current ones have been in there a few weeks :y
Wasnt sure, thats why I mentioned it.
I had 2 large pleccys but mine were in tropical tanks.
We had a large pleck a few months back and suspect that the pet shop sold us a tropical fish even though we said ours was coldwater; he only lasted 4 days!
:o
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ive got a tropical set upand a nice growing leopard sailfin plec and have found pets at home to be shite ive had a few fish from em and a few deaths,they gave me whitespot the gits anyway it maybe cruel but a couple of fish have had symptoms from them and to save the rest of my tank i have culled and then water changes
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
They are coldwater; we had one last 18 months in the same tank, the current ones have been in there a few weeks :y
Wasnt sure, thats why I mentioned it.
I had 2 large pleccys but mine were in tropical tanks.
We had a large pleck a few months back and suspect that the pet shop sold us a tropical fish even though we said ours was coldwater; he only lasted 4 days!
:o
I believe plecs to be tropical but they are tough as old boots so may live in cold water. Hard to say. Most Catfish are pretty hardy & not too precious condition wise.
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http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish2/pleco-catfish-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php%3Fh%3Dplecocatfish1&h=300&w=450&sz=23&tbnid=Ean_eQ5Cg5hiCM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPleco%2Bcatfish&hl=en&usg=__pISGudGo5VtZOdM9qKIJGL88Mn4=&ei=HSlaS4K3INfPjAfSjumYAg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image&ved=0CA0Q9QEwAg
Does it look like this?
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http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/FAQ.htm#equillibrium
hate to say it but outlook is not good :-/
good book for fish is http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Fish-Health-Chris-Andrews/dp/1564651606
as my uncle wrote it :y
and he knows fish http://www.calacademy.org/newsroom/releases/2005/Andrews.html :y
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the plecs ive got are commonly known as butterfly plecs that only grow to about an inch,& not those tropical ones which get huge even though i had one in with my cold water fish with no problem until he got bigger & moodier ;), anyway even if you isolate your blackmoor it might be an idea to put some aquatic salt in your tank to kill off any spores.
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Our pleck fish are tiny; about 1cm if that. They are lightning fast (when they move, not very often though!) but do a good job of keeping the tank clean; a huge difference to what it was like before we had them.
:y
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http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/index.php
ive been on here a few times for advice
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The two pleccys we had (was living with a G/F who had 2 kids) were named George and Bungle by the kids. As you say they do a brilliant job of tank cleaning and a bloody quick.
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swimbladder problems you to tend get with fantails due to the way their internals are squashed up, ive found that blackmoors tend to stress pretty easily also, if you want to get some fun fish try getting a pair of weather loaches, these are the only fish ive seen f4rt believe it or not. ;D ;D
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You can get plecs that will be fine in c/w, Hong Kong plecs for example. The problem with some species is that they just keep growing.As for your swimbladder case, I'm afraid that in my experience that its very unlikely that the fish will recover from this. As Mr E and others have said, if you can then isolate this fish to treat and then do water changes on the main tank but make sure you monitor the ph as you do so and use salts etc to correct where needed. Most specialist fish retailers should be happy to give you some advice. Good luck :y
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
They are coldwater; we had one last 18 months in the same tank, the current ones have been in there a few weeks :y
We have two in work, one is just over a year old and is in with 4 catfish and about 30 Malawi Cichlids. The other is at least five years old and lives with two Oscars. Now that's one seriously big Pleccie !
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I know nowt about coldwater, but if it was a tropical tank I would oick him out and treat for swimbladder in a seperate tank.
I have found the chemicals for SB to be harmful to other fish, and the success rate is very low anyway.... so the ill fish dies and gets eaten by the others, so spreading the infection.
The fungal growth will be present in the tank now in spore form .. so you'll have to keep a very close eye on the other fish in case they get it as well.
If the fungal treatment you are using mentions a water change after some time .. make sure you do it and do it on time ... some fungal treatments are long term poisons to fish.
Thanks for your advice; was thinking of separating him so will try that now. We bought him just under a month ago from pets at home and he seemed very healthy until yesterday :o
I have never bought a fish from there that has lived more than a very few weeks, I not longer use places like that or Garden centres etc.........
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
They are coldwater; we had one last 18 months in the same tank, the current ones have been in there a few weeks :y
We have two in work, one is just over a year old and is in with 4 catfish and about 30 Malawi Cichlids. The other is at least five years old and lives with two Oscars. Now that's one seriously big Pleccie !
;Dif it wasnt you,d just have two oscars ;D
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I agree with Entwood.
When you say placs, do you mean, Plecostomus
Are these the ones, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus
But I also ask a question. Are the plecs not tropical fish, how long have they been in the tank.
They are coldwater; we had one last 18 months in the same tank, the current ones have been in there a few weeks :y
We have two in work, one is just over a year old and is in with 4 catfish and about 30 Malawi Cichlids. The other is at least five years old and lives with two Oscars. Now that's one seriously big Pleccie !
;Dif it wasnt you,d just have two oscars ;D
;D You're not wrong, and the Oscars are pretty hefty too.
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Right.
Fishkeeping.....fish keep themselves, YOU keep the water, and feed.
So, for disease to set in, needs a trigger, such as stress from bullying, bad water quality etc.
If there is nothing obvious going on, 1st thing to do is quite a big water change, dilute whatever crap they are swimming in.
then treat and visible disease, such as fungus, swimbladder issues, ulcers etc, as stated salt is good for swimbladder issues, (iirc 1 teaspoon per gallon, but been some time since I worked in the trade.)
IF you can seperate the poorly fish, this can be beneficial if it remains in a good enviroment. however treat both normal tank and treatment one, kill off whatever is the problem.
As for plecs, there are many species, and a fair few of them are fine in a wide temperature setting, even ok in ponds during the summer.
adding new fish, which dont last is rarely anyones fault, its stressful moving the fish, and they go from one water quality to another, different temp, ph, hardness etc etc etc, and the shock of this move often upsets fish, hence the 24 /48 hour guarantee's you get, also if you filter system isnt up to scratch, adding new fish increases waste in the tank which the filter takes time to adjust to, which on top of the stress, can easily see off the new fish. (the existing stock have had no stress so cope better)
Hope this helps.
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Thanks to everyone for their advice. Unfortuneatly the large Black Moor and the two plecs died. My wife rang Pets at Home this morning and I went in there after work with the receipt for the fish which totalled £30. They have now refunded us the money, the 3 fish we have just lost were the 3 bought on December 27th. All our others which have been in the tank from 6 months to 2 years still seem fine but time will tell.
:-?