# danio sick. spots, won't or can't eat



## Mr Pinchers (Jan 26, 2007)

ok, awhile ago i posted that one of my danios had a red spot. at the time it seemed like it was just a bite or a heater burn cause after a few days he seemed to do better. well after almost a month hes not doing so well again. he started swimming in one place and the spot came back. it also looked like he stopped useing his front fins and he lost ALOT of weight.

hes been in a hospital tank for about 5 days now and i've been treating with metafix for the open wound. the wound is not red any more and seems to of healed a bit (there is also what seems to be clumps of dead "skin" at the bottom of the tank) and hes slightly more active now. before he would not eat at all but now it looks like he tries but can't. he just continuously eats and then spits up the pellet i put in the tank.

my other fish are doing fine and ph/ammonia/nitraites seem to of all stabalized.


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

Mr Pinchers, sorry to hear about your danio.

Can you please post exact test readings for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate in your main tank? How long has the tank been up and running, what size is it, and what else do you have in there fishwise?


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## Mr Pinchers (Jan 26, 2007)

i have 3 danios, 2 cherry barbs, 1 checkered bard, 1 bushy nosed pleco, 2 cories and 1 horse face loach. 20 gal thats been up for a bit over 1 year now. ammonia is 0.5 not sure about nitrate as i ran out of test strips. PH was a tad high last i checked but i will check again and report. 

Danio seems to be alot more active now but like i said he seems to have trouble eating and hes lost so much weight. his sides look really messed up to kinda like there scared


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

Mr Pinchers said:


> i have 3 danios, 2 cherry barbs, 1 checkered bard, 1 bushy nosed pleco, 2 cories and 1 horse face loach. 20 gal thats been up for a bit over 1 year now. ammonia is 0.5 not sure about nitrate as i ran out of test strips. PH was a tad high last i checked but i will check again and report.
> 
> Danio seems to be alot more active now but like i said he seems to have trouble eating and hes lost so much weight. his sides look really messed up to kinda like there scared


its the ammonia causing the burns, ammonia has to be 0 if you want a tank full of thriving fish. After one year and the ammonia spikes might lead to another problem, not an uncycled tank. Is there a dead fish in the water you cant see? How much do you feed, and also you should switch to using a liquid test kit and stop using the test strips.


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## Mr Pinchers (Jan 26, 2007)

i thought ammonia 0.5 was extremely low? just a month ago it was 6.0. it was because i overfed them which i have corrected thus the drop in ammonia. my other fish are fine and accounted for. 

anyways. my Danio was acually looking alot better and was doing better with food. hes was getting weight back and we were considering putting him back in the main tank. we were treating him with metafix which was working nicely. anyways last night we did a partial water change and hes gone way downhill since. acually by the looks of him i'm expecting death in the next day if not next few hours. i honestly have no idea what went wrong. the temp/ammonia/ph ect is in normal levels (acually lower because of the partial water change). for the past 24 hours hes basicly just been laying at the bottom of the tank and gasping. he won't eat again and his head looks slightly enlarged. his external wounds has almost completely disapeared and there is little to no red on his gills anymore.

it sounds cold but this is what i hate about fish. they usualy just don't die, they always seem to suffer on for a few days before death and it really breaks my heart. i've honestly though about giveing up on fish because of this. i have rabbits and it just seems theres always so much more medical wise that can be done for land animals (that and no ammonia/ph/nitrate problems with air breathing). i dunno at least my other fish all seem to be very healthy. my guess is that the water change stressed him somehow and hes just lost the will. i do appricate the help from you guys though. and the former advice i had recived in this forum that has helped me stabalize my main tank.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

Mr Pinchers said:


> i thought ammonia 0.5 was extremely low? just a month ago it was 6.0. it was because i overfed them which i have corrected thus the drop in ammonia. my other fish are fine and accounted for.
> 
> anyways. my Danio was acually looking alot better and was doing better with food. hes was getting weight back and we were considering putting him back in the main tank. we were treating him with metafix which was working nicely. anyways last night we did a partial water change and hes gone way downhill since. acually by the looks of him i'm expecting death in the next day if not next few hours. i honestly have no idea what went wrong. the temp/ammonia/ph ect is in normal levels (acually lower because of the partial water change). for the past 24 hours hes basicly just been laying at the bottom of the tank and gasping. he won't eat again and his head looks slightly enlarged. his external wounds has almost completely disapeared and there is little to no red on his gills anymore.
> 
> it sounds cold but this is what i hate about fish. they usualy just don't die, they always seem to suffer on for a few days before death and it really breaks my heart. i've honestly though about giveing up on fish because of this. i have rabbits and it just seems theres always so much more medical wise that can be done for land animals (that and no ammonia/ph/nitrate problems with air breathing). i dunno at least my other fish all seem to be very healthy. my guess is that the water change stressed him somehow and hes just lost the will. i do appricate the help from you guys though. and the former advice i had recived in this forum that has helped me stabalize my main tank.


0.5 ammonia level is REALLY HIGH a level of 6.0 is pretty much garunteed death. I want to know why the ammonia is always like this. A good tank always has an ammonia lv of 0


Do you use dechlorinator?
how often do you change your filter media
what filter do you have
how much do you feed
are you using any ammonia removing products (zeo-lite, ammo-lock, or other chemical ammonia removers)
Do you do full tank cleaning (cleaning the full tank by taking ornaments, scrubbing it around etc)


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## Mr Pinchers (Jan 26, 2007)

sorry for the delay Musho, i've been real busy a bit sad about the danio but i appricate your help.

well, my danio died yesterday. just went to the bottem of the hospital tank and died.

other fish seem to be ok but a few have been flashing a bit but it may be normal and i'm just paranoid.

just tested everything
tank description is

nitrites = 0
nitrates = 200 (i beleive this is rather high)
PH = 6.0 ppm (its low)
ammonia = 0

i just did a 30% water change and syphoned 1/2 gravel

my tank 20 gal. uses standard gravel like blueish color. its the same stuff thats been in there since i bought it a little over a year ago. all the plants are fake. i have an air stone. 2 filters. one is a whisper 20i with a bio/mechanical/carbon filter and the other is a aquaclear mechanical/bio/ammonia filter. temp is usually around 76-77 degrees

yes i use dechlorinator when i have to add tap water to the tank
i change the filters pretty regularly but i do not change them all at the same time
i feed them in a 3 day pattern
day 1 = 10 - 15 pellets 
day 2 = 10 pellets and an 1/2 alge waffer (or a 1/2 freeze dried tubifex worm cube)
day 3 = no feeding
repeat

i have one ammonia filter but i'm replaceing it with a carbon filter asap as i've been told there not good.

no i syphon the gravel (includeing the gravel under the ornimanets) and sometimes take the orniments out but i don't clean the orniments themselves. when i do syphon the gravel i only do 1/2 of the tank at any time


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## Andyandsue (Jan 23, 2007)

If I can jump in here:

First, I am so sorry to hear about your danio.

I highly recommend a liquid test kit rather than strips, and I'm sure everyone here will agree. They get a more accurate reading.

I agree with musho .5 for ammonia is REALLY high. 6.0 is absolutely equal to death for fish.

I'm also concerned about your Nitrate reading. To be totally honest I'm having a hard time understanding a reading of .50 ammonia and 200 Nitrates and your fish being alive. There is definitely something wrong here. What caused the death of the danio I have no idea, but I'm sure whatever it was was influenced by the tank parameters being very off.

I personally think that it might be a combo. A little overfeeding, combined with not vacuuming enough, not replaceing filters often, and not changing enough water. Someone once suggested I test my replacement (tap) water too, which I highly recommend for your situation. It could be something in the water.

Get everyone's suggestions and make an educated decision as to what course of action you are going to take. My suggestion is to do a massive water change (after testing your tap), while vacuuming your gravel to get out all the "gunk". I would feed once daily, only what the fish can consume in a few minutes. Test your tank with a liquid test kit and test daily until this is figured out.

We will try and help you fix it, whatever it is!


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