Subject: Sick fish for no apparent reason
From: "Batik"
Date: 10/3/2004 10:12 AM Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

Hi,
I have a ten gallon tank that is undergoing a little disaster. I have a
dwarf Gourami, 3 platys, 1 danio and i added a blue ram to the community
about a week ago. All of the sudden one of the platys, the danio and the
blue ram are not doing so good. The danio is very bloated, to the point that
her spine is curved and she can't really swin very well. The platy hangs out
at the bottom of the tank all day, except for at feeding time, during which
he's voracious! The blue ram seemed to be doing well at first (except he was
a bit shy), now he's hanging out at the bottom of the tank as well and he is
definately not eating. He also seems to be breathing quite fast. I tested
ammonia, nitrates and pH. The first two tests show normal levels (zero for
both). Ph is around 6.8 but i have been working with ph regulators to bring
it back to neutral.
Any ideas on what the problem is? Anyway way i can save some of the sick
fish? I honestly don't know what to do or if to treat the whole tank. They
all seem to have different problems.
Please help!
Elisa



The first red flag to me is the addition of new tank mates without
quarantine...you never know what they're bringing in. Many things canot be seen
on the outside, but can be deadly.
The other red flag, and this was a big one, is the pH regulators. Messing with
those chemicals will not have good affects on a tank. The up and down,
bouncing of the pH is horribly stressful on fish and often kills them.
Tell me more about the bloated fish with the bent spine.
Is the bloating making the fish's scales protrude, similar to looking like a
pine cone?
Also, are you sure the bloating is what's causing the spine to be bent?
There is fish TB which can cause a spine to bend, bloating, and many more
symptoms.
Also a vitamin deficiency will cause a bent spine.
How long has this tank been running?
Was the last fish (Blue Ram) the only new addition within the last month or so?