American Livebearer Association :: Forum

Re: My fish is REALLY bloated. [by Thriftyfisher]

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:42:07 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::My fish is REALLY bloated.
I just found this website, it looks like it may be able to help you or give you an idea of what is happening and how to cure. http://www.fishyportal.com/diag/

Re: unknown platy disease: emaciation and death [by mattandtomlivebearers]

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:19:33 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::unknown platy disease: emaciation and death
You should do an autopsy of one of the affected fish. Cut the fish down its abdomen just like you are cleaning it. Inspect the peritoneum for worms, etc., then cut open the bowels and look around. You could also inspect the gill area for evidence of parasites, worms, etc. Just a suggestion.

Re: Skinny & Tilted Up Swimming [by joefish72]

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:54:40 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::Skinny & Tilted Up Swimming
It's good to hear you have some positive results. General cure is effective for worms and flukes and the like. What I was suggesting is that your fish doesn't have "worms".

Re: "Dying female Swordtails after birth." [by strikeris]

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 18:04:33 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::"Dying female Swordtails after birth."
I had same problem, with deaths of livebearers females. I noticed that most of deaths comes from females that i bought from stores. Most of the deaths came after first birth. But after i raised youngsters to the breeding sizes, i didnt have same problem at all. Best example is: i bought "koi" swordtails ~about 6 times, each time like 8-12 fishes, most of fishes didnt reached even breeding sizes, unknown deaths. But then i grew some of those to the breeding size and they gave me some eggs or dead youngsters. And then atlast one of them bred nicely and i had like 40+ youngsters, raised 99percent of them to the breeding size, and right now i breed them with no deaths and nice survival rate.

p.s. my boght fishes, all come from diferent country (where i live there is no good breeders) and i always buy from same store mabe that is my case.

Totally unexpected die off What am I doing wrong? [by Skip061]

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 13:21:42 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::Totally unexpected die off What am I doing wrong?

Hi all,

I am a relative newbie and

I need some help to prevent this from happening again. I set up some container gardens in my yard this summer with the idea of growing plants. I planted hardy water lillies, parrot feather, water hyacinth, water cabbage (Pistia stratiotes), azolla and duckweek. I also decided to stock these containers with Gambusia to prevent any mosquito larvae infestation. All went great, much better than expected. Plants thrived, fish thrived lots of offspring. So now that winter is coming fast what do I do? I decided to take the Noah ArK strategy and bring indoors some of the plants and fish which I would bring back outside once it warmed up again.

So, I set up two 20 gal high aquariums. I used washed diatomite (actually Floor Dry brand, oil absorbtion material available at Napa Autoparts, this material has quite a following among horticulturalist especially grower of cactus and succulents -- another of my hobbies) as a substrate, the same stuff I used in the outdoor containers.

I put in the plants mentioned above. I also strung up a high output fluorescent fixture (4ft long) above the two tanks. I placed six juvenile Gambusia in each tank. One tank had all floating plants, mostly Pistia, which does a good natural job of filtering the water. The other tank which had mostly rooted plants water lettuce, Marsilea, small water lilies so I installed a foam Azoo bio filter. Again all went reasonable well for a couple of weeks. Water was cristal clear in both tanks, and nitrate levels near zero.

Then I decided to buy some Guppies. I got six pair of Silver Streak Flamingos from LiveAquaria. Three pair in one tank and three pair in the other tank. Immediately the males in the tank with the bottom rooted plants and the sponge filter began dying off, one a day over three days. In the tank with no filter, everything was fine.

Yesterday, I noticed a lot of algae building up in the tank with no filter. So I cleaned the tank as best I could, changed about 1/3 of the water with NYC tap treated to remove chlorine etc. and installed a foam filter in that tank as well. Mind you the fish in that tank were doing absolutely fine. Today I noticed that the males look sick and I am afraid they will also succumb.

BTW the gambusia have been totally unphased. They are as happy as a clam in both tanks and very active.

Here are my questions/concerns:

1. Could the sponge filters be emitting some toxicity into the water which is causing the males guppies to expire? I don't think so. Gambusia are, as I say, just fine.

2. Was the stress of the shipping from LiveAquaria too much for the males, but why did not the males in both tanks (the one with and the one without the sponge filter originally) exhibit symtoms, and why did the males in the tank without the filter suddenly show symtoms after I installed a sponge filter and none before?

3. Were the Guppies sick when I received them, but why are only the males dropping off?

5. Was the water change the issue?

Any insights?

Thanks I would appreciate any help you all can provide.

Re: Poecilia latipinna (Sailfin Molly's) Raising [by joefish72]

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 19:19:29 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::Poecilia latipinna (Sailfin Molly's) Raising
I keep both types of mollies mentioned and I have salt in my well water. I have a whole house r/o/ unit and I mix one part well to 9 parts r/o . How much salt that equals to, I have no idea but there is some slat in the water. That being said I do not add salt in any amount to any of my tanks. I have an african cichlid tank that uses pure r/o water with cichlid buffer and nothing else added.

I have store bought and wild mollies and they all seem to do well in my conditions with the exception of the wild sailfin here in Florida. The wild sailfins are full of parasites and I would say I lose 75% of the wild ones just trying to get them parasite free. I've seen flukes, anchor worm, leeches, intestinal parasites, you name it they have it.

The external parasites are easy to kill but the intestinal issues are a tough cure. Depending on what intestinal parasite is there will require different meds. The biggest problem is they waste away before you figure out which one you are trying to get rid of.

All the domesticated mollies I keep have no problem with Ph7.8, temp 78, GH of 16. I feed a mostly flake diet and do water changes once a week. The frequent water changes help keep the fish healthy and I almost never get sick fish once they clear QT.

Re: sick platys [by hmglis]

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:29:03 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::sick platys
Yup i used half fresh water and half aquarium water that came from one of my other tanks. I also used a matured spong filter and let it cycled for 3 days before i went to buy the fish. Thanks for the heads up on the use of meds.

Re: Bad Luck or Bad Practices? [by Storiwyr]

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:20:57 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::Bad Luck or Bad Practices?
Thanks Fishpunk, that makes me feel a little better. I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything terrible without realizing it that is killing my fish.

The male is still with us, and may even be improving slightly since we dosed the tank with PraziPro yesterday. He still seems to spend a lot of time nose down in the substrate, and we noticed that when he is swimming, if he stops his tail will drift upwards. This made me wonder if he might have a swim bladder issue of some kind.

I figured it couldn't hurt, so we've been feeding him small quantities of mashed up peas with the skin peeled off. He has been eating better, and perhaps moving around more often and more vigorously. He looks really skinny.

We've been keeping a close eye on him. Hopefully he'll pull through!

Re: Perplexing Molly Problem [by Dawn]

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:35:12 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::Perplexing Molly Problem
Thanks for the info. on the dewormer. I wonder if soaking bloodworms in it for an hour or two would work also.

I appreciate all your help with this!

Re: Formalin 3 [by Melody]

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 04:46:23 -0100

Help! My Fish is Sick!::Formalin 3
Thanks for sharing the answer to your question. I'm not a big fan of harsh treatments personally, but I'm sure it will come in handy for some hobbyists.