Emperor Snakeheads-What Is Wrong Here? Ugh...

[Sarcosuchus]

I have a pair of juvenile Emperor Snakeheads in an over a feet in length by almost a foot in width tank. In this tank I baught two little Leopard Ctenopoma / Bushfish / Leopard Climbing Perch. Sadly, these two had fungus infection which only showed later...one died...the water was getting really bad.

I also had a pair of juvenile Whiptail Catfish, this..parasite whatever killed one of the Catfishes, when I took it out...it had bruises on its body. The other Catfish had its fins and tail eaten and slowly died. Fungus started showing clearly on the other Leopard fish also, it was gasping for air...the water started getting cloudy, my Snakeheads scratched all the time.

I have another tank, smaller, just for the sake of the Snakeheads I temperorily kept them in this other tank. My water-pump was not working anymore, and the rubber pipe was a very soft one that it bended on every side preventing water to flow or be sucked. I had to wait till I get a stronger rubber pipe, which took a day.

This other tank where I had my Snakeheads, was getting cloudy itself...by the night time it had an awful smell because there were some tiny tetras in there that died. I got frustrated when this little tank got polluted and changed the bigger tank using a big mug to take the water out into a pail, then carry the tank to the bathroom and do a 100 % waterchange.

I shifted the Snakeheads back to this clean tank, the sick Leopard fish died the following day. I believe one of the Snakeheads showed aggression toward the other which it used to because it had its fins torn, tail badly severed...I didn't think it was the parasite because the other was perfectly normal, unless this one got effected from stress. Anyway, the sick Snakehead appeared bad...the following day I saw white stuff like dust floating all over the tank...wow. I did 99 % waterchange hours ago and now the water is badly polluted by the white stuff again...huh??? Where did it come from? I am tired of this... The sick Snakehead is healing though, eating too but is not swimming properly due to the loss of its tail.

The pictures below are old.

 

[santoury]

Beautiful fish - where are you located? Maybe they are doing something with the water? Did you remember to use the water conditioner? I suggest breaking down the tank one at a time, but keep up on the water changes.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Need more info on your situation first, sounds like your tank and fish are suffering from numerous problems;

a. How many gallons/litres is the tank you are keeping the fish in at the moment?
b. Is it filtered and heated, and if so, what sort of filtration and heating are you using?
c. What have you been feeding these fish since you had them and how much/often?
d. How long has the tank/s been set up/running for?
e. Have you used any medications on the fish, and if so, what?
f. Do you use dechlorinator?
g. How often do you do water changes and how much do you take out on average and how often?
h. How do you go about cleaning the filter exactly and how often?
i. What fish do you have in the tank at the moment exactly and their numbers and sizes roughly?
j. Can you test the tank for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates with an accurate water quality test kit and post the stats here?


Bloody bruising on fish indicates septicemia, an internal bacterial infection often caused by stressful conditions the fish are living in. Tattered looking fins would indicate finrot (either bacterial or fungal finrot) if there was no visable agression between the fish. Fish itching and scratching themselves on objects in the tank usually indicates an external parasite like gill flukes, velvet, whitespot etc or water quality problems.

Considering that you have performed 100% water changes on the tank, this will have really messed with the stability of the water quality in the tank and i would not be suprised if your tank is experiencing water quality problems. Do you know anything on the nitrogen cycle or cycling tanks?

The cloudyness in the tank is a bacterial bloom it if is a sort of milky white cloudyness, these are more common in young tank set ups where the bacterial ecosystem is still establishing itself, but can be caused if things like the filter is over-cleaned or the water in the tank is not dechlorinated etc.