# Zebra danio: open mouth, hazy skin, and inflamed gill



## Nauriel (Nov 9, 2008)

Hello! I have a zebra danio (his name is Beetlejuice ) that is sick, and I'm not sure what is wrong with him. The skin around his face is lightening and looking hazy (covering his eye and making it cloudy). On of his gills is inflamed and he's breathing heavily. His mouth is permanently open and he swimming lazily at the surface of the water. He's not gasping for breath, he's just hanging out at the surface. 

I noticed he looked a little"off" yesterday, but I didn't think much about it. His symptoms started this morning. He hardly ate at all this morning, and he is usually a very hungry man. 

I was thinking that this might be some sort of bacterial infection, but I'm not sure. Any help or advice you can give me is really appreciated. 

This also isn't my first problem. I used to have three glofish, a platy and a betta. First my betta died. He wasn't showing any symptoms, wasn't being picked on by the other fish, and was eating well. I had the water tested and everything seemed fine. I purchased a new betta. Then I noticed that one of the glofish was missing an eye. The biggest glofish was a bully, so I figured she had done it. My roommates and I took her back to the store and exchanged her for a smaller gloshfish (Ezio) as well as a zebra danio (Beetlejuice). For a couple days or so everything was going well. Then I noticed that the betta was hanging out at the top. I thought it was swim bladder disease at first, but he didn't have any problems with buoyancy. Snorlax, the glofish with the missing eye, was also hanging out at the top and acting sick. I put them both into a large tupperware container and floated it in the tank to keep them quarantined. When I woke up in the morning, they had both died . I also Ezio the glofish on the bottom of the tank, dead. Yeah, three fish died in one night. At first I thought it was one huge coincidence. It seemed to me Snorlax understandably died because he had his eye torn out, and Dr Horrible the betta and Ezio the glofish died for other random reasons. But now that Beetlejuice has gotten sick, I'm wondering if the other fish died from what he has.The other fish didn't exhibit any of his symptoms, except that Snorlax also had an open mouth 

~I have a ten gallon tank that's at about 79 degrees. 
~There is now one platy and one glofish
~The other two fish do not seem sick at all. 

In the course of writing this, Beetlejuice has gotten worse. Sometimes he'll stop swimming and sink to the bottom, swim back to the top, and then swim violently at the surface. He's looking pretty bad, to the point where I'm seriously considering euthanasia.  

He may not live long enough for you guys to diagnose and save him, but if you could help me figure out what is wrong and prevent it from happening to my other fish, I will be thankful. 

And to any of you who read this entire page of text, here's a cookie. 

~Naur


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Ok I read the whole post so am now munching on the cookie (nom nom). Did you cycle this tank before adding the fish? When you say the water looked "fine", what exactly does that mean?

Do you have a good liquid test kit to test the water params? What are your stats. for ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, ph?

How often and how much water do you change? Are you using a good water conditioner when you do water changes?

Lots of questions I know but this is the basics.


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## Nauriel (Nov 9, 2008)

Thanks for your post. And don't worry, I understand the need for questions. I should have put this stuff down in my first post.

Unfortunately, shortly after I posted my question, Beetlejuice died. He went down hill very quickly. RIP Beetlejuice. 

As for my water parameters, by "fine" I mean that I took a water sample to petstore and they tested it. I have a liquid ammonia test, but I ran out of my testers for nitrates, nitrites, and the other stuff. I was going to buy some new strips, but they were out of stock.

Here's the water parameters. 
Nitrate: 10ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
pH: 7.4

The tank had been cycled before he was put in. I siphon the gravel every week, taking about 30 to 50% of the water out. For water conditioner I am using API stress coat. 

For food I have been feeding them TetraMin "Select-a-food", which contains flakes, freeze dried baby shrimp, and granules. However, they have mostly been eating the flakes. I also give them bloodworms every once in awhile. 

~Naur


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