Yes, I am posting a HELP thread
- Thread starter badger126
- Start date
Still not better..... developed white patches right barely above the dark spots that you can see in the picture. The white patches almost look like some scales are missing or something, and it appears as if all the scales on her side are elevated(kind of like a cat raising the fur on it's neck). Sigh it's silly how worried you can get over a fish! HELP!
so you cannot quarantine the fish? it looks like it has dropsy. if it sortof looks like a "pinecone" and the scales are sticking out..i dont think the prognosis for dropsy is really good. usually treatment is epsom salt and antibiotics-as its believed that dropsy is bacterial-and is linked to water quality issues (which i think is in your case), or the use of aquarium salt in tanks.
i have treated them where they are slightly bloated with epsom salt and they lose some of the puffiness, but the stress in treating them kills them (these are with mbuna-which i find mbuna more fragile and get stressed out easier than my other fish).
ive yet to save a fish that is really puffed out like that-usually by that point kidney damage, liver damage and heart damage are occuring. you usually want to use antibiotics when you first see the bloating happening..
treatment is difficult. and if you cant quarantine the fish i dont know what to tell you-i would be wary of treating a whole tank when just one fish is affected. i have tried flagyl (metronidazole) and epsom salt to no avail.
i have treated them where they are slightly bloated with epsom salt and they lose some of the puffiness, but the stress in treating them kills them (these are with mbuna-which i find mbuna more fragile and get stressed out easier than my other fish).
ive yet to save a fish that is really puffed out like that-usually by that point kidney damage, liver damage and heart damage are occuring. you usually want to use antibiotics when you first see the bloating happening..
treatment is difficult. and if you cant quarantine the fish i dont know what to tell you-i would be wary of treating a whole tank when just one fish is affected. i have tried flagyl (metronidazole) and epsom salt to no avail.
Ya a pinecone is a good description. Sigh I don't know what to do. Gonna go get some epsom salt I guess. I have another tank, I just don't have filtration or heat. Oddly enough I've never seen a sponge filter, but after looking it up online it seems easy enough to fabricate one. Wife will kill me if I spend more money on fish 
lol. Thanks for all the help, If anyone else has any suggestions let me know!
lol. Thanks for all the help, If anyone else has any suggestions let me know!
People use between 1-2 TBS Epsom salt per 10 g water. I've never known of a fish that recovered once it's at this point, I'm sorry.
FYI you can make a sponge filter in 20 seconds. Just take a sponge from one of your other tanks (or cut the sponge in 1/2 if you've only got one tank) then rubberband it around an airstone and hook the air pump to it. Instant cycled tank. Although the Epsom isn't going to hurt the other fish a bit. It's used as a laxative in some cases.
FYI you can make a sponge filter in 20 seconds. Just take a sponge from one of your other tanks (or cut the sponge in 1/2 if you've only got one tank) then rubberband it around an airstone and hook the air pump to it. Instant cycled tank. Although the Epsom isn't going to hurt the other fish a bit. It's used as a laxative in some cases.
badger126;3416032; said:
as I understand it, ammonia toxicty increases w/ increased Ph; i.e., an ammonia of 0.25 is relatively harmless with a neutral Ph, but becomes dangerous at Ph around 8.0 and greater (like yours)
I kow you're making water changes anyway, but I thought you might find this info useful . . . (someone please correct me if I'm wrong)
Your answer is correct. See this table to measure how toxic it gets. Both pH and temperature greatly influence the toxicity of ammonia.Sab_Fan;3422558; said:
http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/AmmoniaTox.html
