Revan
05-16-2019, 10:34 AM
Hello all! Any help on the below would be greatly appreciated. Please note, this post is primarily in regards to the head-standing fish. There is another sick fish, whose symptoms are also described for reference, but my biggest focus in this particular post is for healing the head-stander. Thank you!
1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
- The fish is head-standing, completely vertical, and unable to correct her balance for longer than a couple minutes. There are no other symptoms; no white feces, darkening color, lack of appetite, etc. Just the head-standing. This came on suddenly with no other symptoms in this particular fish. One night she's good, the next morning she is vertical. There was an existing issue with another fish in the tank. That other fish appeared to have fin rot. It was very dark and the finnage between it's dorsal rays was receding, leaving a very spiny appearance. It wasn't eating either. I began a treatment of daily WC (75%+) with aquarium salt on the entire tank. For a couple days I dosed half as directed on the packaging, working up to the full recommended dose of 1 Tbsp. per 5 gallons. I did this for ~10 days, at which point I decreased the dosage over a couple days to acclimate back to no salt. It was at the end of the 10 day period, before reducing the salt I think, that the head-standing began in the other fish. They have both now been moved to separate QT tanks. The head-stander is still vertical but with no other symptoms. No further treatment has been attempted for her.
2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).
- Head-standing, no other symptoms in the fish under question. The other fish had fin rot, darkening body, and lack of appetite.
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
- salt and large, daily WC. Described further in my answer to question #1.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
- 125g (72 x 18), 12 discus most ~5", a couple at 6" and a runt/stunt at 4"
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
- usually 75%+ every two days, daily when available
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
- running for about 1.5 years, current filters have been on for 7 months. Used to be tile-bottomed but a few weeks ago I took that out and added a very thin layer of sand. I kept the existing manzanita branches, which have been in there about a year. This came before the head-standing started, but after the other one got sick with fin rot. It was when I was adding the sand and re-arranging driftwood that I actually 1st noticed the 1st fish was sick.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
- Yes, 24 hours with a large air stone and heater to get to very similar temp. as the tank. PH out the tap is ~7.5 and settles between 8.0-8.2
8. Parameters and water source;
- temp 82-84
- ph 8.0-8.2
- ammonia reading none detectable using liquid test kit
- nitrite reading none detectable using liquid test kit
- nitrate reading minimal detectable, hard to be sure with color-based test kits, I'd estimate ~5ppm
What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.
- municipal water 100%
9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
- No new fish added. About 2 months ago I did reintroduce this particular fish to the main tank, coming from a breeding tank. It's mate also came and has had no problems himself. They both had previously been in the same main tank with all the other fish for a year. When reintroducing them I removed two other fish for the breeding tank, so the bioload in the main tank did remain consistent.
10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
- Sera Staple Diet granules, Al's FDBW, Hikari Vibra Bites, homemade BH/Seafood mix (same recipe as for over two years), occasional frozen blood worms
11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.
123855
123856
123857
1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
- The fish is head-standing, completely vertical, and unable to correct her balance for longer than a couple minutes. There are no other symptoms; no white feces, darkening color, lack of appetite, etc. Just the head-standing. This came on suddenly with no other symptoms in this particular fish. One night she's good, the next morning she is vertical. There was an existing issue with another fish in the tank. That other fish appeared to have fin rot. It was very dark and the finnage between it's dorsal rays was receding, leaving a very spiny appearance. It wasn't eating either. I began a treatment of daily WC (75%+) with aquarium salt on the entire tank. For a couple days I dosed half as directed on the packaging, working up to the full recommended dose of 1 Tbsp. per 5 gallons. I did this for ~10 days, at which point I decreased the dosage over a couple days to acclimate back to no salt. It was at the end of the 10 day period, before reducing the salt I think, that the head-standing began in the other fish. They have both now been moved to separate QT tanks. The head-stander is still vertical but with no other symptoms. No further treatment has been attempted for her.
2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).
- Head-standing, no other symptoms in the fish under question. The other fish had fin rot, darkening body, and lack of appetite.
3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
- salt and large, daily WC. Described further in my answer to question #1.
Tank/Water
4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
- 125g (72 x 18), 12 discus most ~5", a couple at 6" and a runt/stunt at 4"
5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
- usually 75%+ every two days, daily when available
6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
- running for about 1.5 years, current filters have been on for 7 months. Used to be tile-bottomed but a few weeks ago I took that out and added a very thin layer of sand. I kept the existing manzanita branches, which have been in there about a year. This came before the head-standing started, but after the other one got sick with fin rot. It was when I was adding the sand and re-arranging driftwood that I actually 1st noticed the 1st fish was sick.
7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
- Yes, 24 hours with a large air stone and heater to get to very similar temp. as the tank. PH out the tap is ~7.5 and settles between 8.0-8.2
8. Parameters and water source;
- temp 82-84
- ph 8.0-8.2
- ammonia reading none detectable using liquid test kit
- nitrite reading none detectable using liquid test kit
- nitrate reading minimal detectable, hard to be sure with color-based test kits, I'd estimate ~5ppm
What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.
- municipal water 100%
9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
- No new fish added. About 2 months ago I did reintroduce this particular fish to the main tank, coming from a breeding tank. It's mate also came and has had no problems himself. They both had previously been in the same main tank with all the other fish for a year. When reintroducing them I removed two other fish for the breeding tank, so the bioload in the main tank did remain consistent.
10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
- Sera Staple Diet granules, Al's FDBW, Hikari Vibra Bites, homemade BH/Seafood mix (same recipe as for over two years), occasional frozen blood worms
11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.
123855
123856
123857