Aquarium Keepers Struggle With Fish Health
Multiple posts express concern over fish health issues, including illness, unusual behavior, and mortality. Users seek advice on treatment options, tank conditions, and potential causes for these problems.
SOURCES (60)
“I never added any medication and i feed my fish every 2 days. submitted by /u/uwillmakeit_trust [link] [comments]”
“It's a community tank and all the fish seem to get on, I'm just worried I should have a platform near the surface for him. submitted by /u/Anonymous_idiot29 [link] [comments]”
“Not sure how it happened so quickly was out of town for couple of days and when back see this . Dad would have given tetra bits a bit too much but that doesnt explain the bloating . The fish is too bloated and floating on surface submitted by /u/Ok-Series-7258 [link] [comments]”
“One of my gold fish looks like its bloat ing I can't really tell what is it and the temperature of where I live is quite hot but I only feed them once a day . submitted by /u/Introverted_gir [link] [comments]”
“Looks like my angelfish has some dammage on his side. Checking here to make sure its not a disease or a parasite. submitted by /u/josh_botch [link] [comments]”
“A mom on Facebook marketplace reached out to me and wanted to buy my 10 tank kit I had posted for her kids fair goldfish. I explained to her that goldfish shouldn't live in a 10 gallon tank long term. but I knew that this mom isn't about to drop a couple hundred dollars on a massive tank for some fair goldfish. So I offered to sell her the 10 gallon, and I would take in the goldfish and keep them in my 125 gallon with my other goldfish and I'd give her some of my guppy babies, some p”
“Fish gets these weird lips and they get weirder when a fish dies, ever since I got it my fish had passed away, 3 so far, could it be attacking them? submitted by /u/Miserable-Low5267 [link] [comments]”
“Need help identifying if my dwarf rasbora is going to lay eggs or is bloated. submitted by /u/sonicmreow [link] [comments]”
“My two angelfish have been sick for around 3 weeks now. One of them has been unable to swim for around a week now due to what I assume is a bacterial issue with its swim bladder. The water parameters are all clear. They got sick over vacation when my parents watched them (refer to last post). The angelfish with the fungal and bacterial issue is slowly getting better but the one who cannot swim has only gotten worse. I’ve tried ick x, aquarium salt, and kanaplex. I am at the point where I am cons”
“So unfortunately I lost my original female guppy "Mama" yesterday after she had contracted some type of parasite. I had her quarantined for only a few days after I noticed her swimming erratically and laying still on the substrate or up in some of my plants. Anyway, after waking up and finding her dead I disposed of her body. Went to go check on the main tank that has all her fry in it (60+) and happened to catch a glimps of a little 3/4 inch baby Panda Cory swimming around on the back”
“Hello everyone, I just noticed today that there is some sort of white bubble on my fish. I dont know why and what is that, can someone guide me ? I have him since February and I'm pretty sure it was not there last week. Thanks in advance for your help ^^ submitted by /u/TadpoleGrand1635 [link] [comments]”
“Long story short - my first tank, 4 months old, 22 gallon, 8 mollies, 4 endlers/guppies, 1 betta, 1 assassin snail ,some hitch hiked bladder snails and few plant varities. Four days back one of my orange female molly not doing good and floating near the surface and swimming very abnormally like on sides and curling up and breathing very slowly, so i took and kept her in a separate container with some salt and methylene blue added. She died in a few hours, Then the next day male black molly showe”
“My stepmom takes fish from her big tank and puts them in mine sometimes, I'm worried she may have put too many. (Side question, overall, is my tank ecosystem ok? I have a big snail and some baby snails in there too.) submitted by /u/ihavetoomanyfandms [link] [comments]”
“I just noticed it recently and it looks like cotton and it flows when she’s moved. I put her in a 15 minutes methylene blue bath but is there anything else I should do? submitted by /u/Ordinary-Ice3204 [link] [comments]”
“I've kept Aquariums for 8+ years, my current tank is 5 years old and this year I feel like its just turned into a death box. 12 months ago had a batch of cardinal tetra all die within several months, never had an experience like it. My water parameters are good but nothing I did helped. My stock of embers also began to pass away that I had for over a year. Decided to hang onto the small amount that survived, and this year after doing some research decided that live bearers could be a better”
“I believe my 5-gallon freshwater tank (1 female betta fish) has crashed. Even if it didn't, I'm worried the system is very screwed up. What started off as trying to treat her complicated symptoms with water changes and antibiotics, followed by more water changes, ammonia neutralizer, and API stress coat directly added to the tank to help w/slime coat, has resulted in a big mess. She is still alive, but doing very poorly & the symptoms she had 2 weeks ago are very bad again (spinning,”
“Hello everyone! I’m fairly new to fish keeping and recently set up a high-tech planted 40 gallon breeder. I’ve been doing a ton of research, reading posts here, watching YouTube videos, and learning as much as I can. The tank is now fully cycled, and I’m gradually working on stocking it. Here’s what I currently have: 1 Blue-Eyed Bristlenose Pleco (I believe it’s an L144) 6 False Julii Corydoras (sold by my LFS as Julii, but I believe they’re false) 8 Harlequin Rasboras 3 Cherry Neocaridina shrim”
“It looks like the side of her face is scraped and bloody. How can I help her? She’s been happily living in a 32g with five other Cories, two angels and five cherry barbs. Well planted tank. I do have some rocks and driftwood. It doesn’t look like a growth, but I wonder if it is. Or a scrape. please help me. I don’t want her to feel hurt. How can I get her treated, submitted by /u/Likewatchingfish [link] [comments]”
“What could this be? She’s been happily living with five other Cories, two angels and five cherry barbs in a 32 g for years? Is it a scrape? What can I do? submitted by /u/Likewatchingfish [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone! So I’m kinda panicking because we’ve been losing quite a few dish over the last couple of weeks. We have a 40 gallon, decently planted with a canister filter, wave maker, and a couple airstones. We have a lot of fish, the amounts are estimates (after the losses): 5 bumblebee gobys, 4 panda garras, 5 panda corys, 3 pepper corys, 5 pygmy corys, 3 julli corys, 1 itty bitty adolfoi, 6 cherry barbs, 8 rasporas, 1 red lizard whiptail catfish, 1 clown pleco, 5 khuli loaches, 1 guppy (hitch”
“Hello! I currently have a long finned Betta fish in my 10 gallon long (packaging said 20.15x10.19x12.75) he seems to be doing pretty well, although sometimes he looks like he gets tired and just kind of lays down on a leaf or sometimes he even tucks himself in between two plant stems. Is the tank too big for him without more places for him to rest? I was originally planning on upgrading to a 20 gallon, so he could have a lot more space to swim and I also wanted to maybe get some rasboras or Cory”
“Hello, I'm new to aquariums and I'd prefer not risking any fish dying and suffering so I'm asking here and hopefully somebody can help me, I was considering getting a 100 Liter aquarium next week and I'm not sure if my water would be fine for a salt water tank, I have a good quality reverse osmosys filter that I use for getting water to drink but I've heard that the re-mineralisation is bad and the water would be harmful, and then researching on reddit here I've also foun”
“Hi , I'm a beginner and I have a small 7 gallon foot by foot cube tank .I had two blue dragon guppies a couple of plants a nerite snail and a couple of rams horns and a single Malaysian trumpet snail in my tank . My fish started to act weird the day before yesterday (coming to the surface a lot) so I called my local fish guy and asked him ,he said the fish were just hungry (granted it was their feeding time ). Yesterday both of my guppies died . I don't have a test kit so I took the wate”
“This fella is the only one who looks and acts like this in the community tank he was in. What should I use to cure him or is it too late? I'm in Europe so the stuff I can get is really limited... Any help appreciated (In the title I meant spitting food) submitted by /u/CartoonistOk9885 [link] [comments]”
“My Siamese algae eater is chilling on the substrate at the front of the tank today, which is unusual for him. He's breathing a bit heavy and I noticed some rough patches and scales coming up. Anyone know what's happening? submitted by /u/DudeBroBrah [link] [comments]”
“My Pearl Gouramis have been hiding recently. I have one male and two females in a 75 gallon. They used to be all up in my business every time I walked by begging for food. Now they run away every time they see me. This has been going on for a few weeks now. It seems to have started when I added flourish excel to help curb some algae growth. I later learned that gouramis can be affected by excel so I stopped treatment. The tank was treated for two days followed by a water change. The only other c”
“I need help ! Its 3 am at my place and my aquarium water is sitting at 28⁰C. In afternoons the water goes beyond 32⁰C. I live in a very hot area and now my fishes have started dying from this heat. I lost multiple corydoras and even a few glass cats. How can i keep the water cool ? 😭 submitted by /u/WesternAlarmed2149 [link] [comments]”
“So I have a school of Harlequins in my community tank. Im growing concerned over the size and shape of some of them. As seen in the video some are becoming so large they are changing in shape. This is my first time with Harlequins and was hoping someone would be able to either confirm or assuage my concerns on their health. Im hoping they're just egg bound. And if im just overfeeding them thats easy to fix. Parasites will have to be treated. The Tank is 40 Gallon. Planted. Sponge filter. 75-”
“Hiii Quite a while ago my fish unfortunately died (about 10) because their food dropped into the aquarium whilst i was on vacation. During this time however i also entered exam season so i was incredibly busy and stressed and therefore i was unable to take care of it the way i should so i didnt introduce new fish to it. Im now trying to get my aquarium running again and its obviously super dirty and needs a deep cleaning. My dilemma is that the box holding the pump, filter and heater broke off i”
“Was at a aquarium yesterday, and I am worried about the fish health. It looked quite dirty for a lot of fish, they didnt seem that healthy, and I am not sure if the jellyfish pool had dead jellyfish in it along with algea growth. It looked really bad I felt. I ended up not taking many pictures, but now regret it as I wanted to ask and discuss aquarium health, so found some from google reviews. There was even a blackish jellyfish, floating, not moving in the jellyfish tank that looked like it was”
“My dwarf gourami has only been at the surface today and has slight white spots on the fins. I’m wondering if this the dwarf gourami disease and what I can do about it. I purposely got the dwarf gourami just to avoid that😭 Also the other side of the fish is completely fine with vibrant color submitted by /u/Eatmygrass_ [link] [comments]”
“I bought a fish for my aunties tank so she could have a friend for her fish. She has had her goldfish/ coi fish for years now. I added a pleco and then it died one day later. It has since been 6 days since I introduced the other fish in the first place. My aunties goldfish is now just sitting at the bottom, it’s fins are all torn and tucked, she doesn’t want to swim around, and theres what used to be a like a salt substance on her body, now it appears to be a cotton substance after I put ich tre”
“I have a32 gallon salt water tank. It was installed on the 21st. The pet store I bought it from was out of plankton, so on the 24th I gave it some crawfish, and on the 26th I gave it some shrimp. Both raw. On the 27th I got plankton and zoo plankton, and I put 5 ml of each on the tank on the 27th, 28th, and today. When I got home, it was face down on the sand. I put it up on the rock. I tugged very gently, and I’m pretty sure it’s holding on by itself. But I’m not sure. submitted by”
“I need your help in saving my cute goldie. I used an itch aid and added 6-7 teaspoon of aquatic salt for ich treatment in my 45 litre aquarium two days back. You can see Ich on her fins. Today, this gold fish gills have turned a bit black and she had been quite lethargic also. Additionally, she ate 3-5 food pellets and after a minute threw them away. This is a new tank I bought two weeks back and have added nacteria culture for first 3-4 days also. All remaining 8 fishes are doing well in the ta”
“I've run this tank for about 6 years. 10 gal with 8 Corys (started with 5, they bred) and 1 glofish tetra. Probably a little over crowded, but it's been stable for a long time. 20% water + scrub + filter rinse/change ritually every two weeks. Had to replace the tank a few months ago due to a leak and heavy rinsed the substrate. Two weeks ago I noticed one Cory with damage on her scales and hemorrhagic septicemia. Did a water check - ammonia and nitrite flat, nitrates in the 80+ range. A”
“Beginner fish keeper here. My son has a 10 gallon tank (aqueon). It's been running for about 2 months. Cycled for about 3 weeks until water testing showed we were in decent shape. The tank has: -8 pygmy corys -many (highthiker) snails -2 guppies left We started with 3. One died almost immediately. We replaced him with 3 more, so at most have had 5 guppies in the tank. But have had 4 die on us so far. Our water parameters seem generally good as far as I can tell (the test results are from thi”
“I recently lost my scopas tang to ich and I thing my dwarf zebra lionfish has fin rot so I’ve been dosing “Ich -X” the last 2 days, I did a 20% water change both times and turned my temp from 80 to 82. Does anyone know what to do in this situation, it is kind of impossible to get all my fish out because they freak out at the net and they’re venomous so it’s very dangerous. submitted by /u/Useful-Ad-5775 [link] [comments]”
“My pet bumblebee catfish has a weird bubble on his belly and all over his fins someone please help because he can barely swim submitted by /u/Prudent-Extreme-9312 [link] [comments]”
“Hi! I was wondering if I could have some advice on how to improve my tank, which I’m sure is needed. I have 4 glofish. Thank you!! submitted by /u/Alternative_Owl_6297 [link] [comments]”
“I have a heavily planted aquarium so I am not sure for how long has he been like this, but he looks very thin and has discoloured back. Found him like that today, he is was moving very slow and was resting in weird positions. Other ottos seem fine. Is there anything I can do or should I just ease his passing? submitted by /u/michalsveto [link] [comments]”
“I’ve recently began to see my honey gourami resting a lot more on plants and substrate, staying still but upright. Other than that, he’s been acting normal like swimming around and eating and swimming up for breaths of air. However, yesterday I saw him laying on his side for 5 minutes before he got up, and when he’s swimming around I notice that he’s trying to stay afloat and sinking tail first. Ive had him for about 4 months now in a fully cycled heavily planted tank with shrimp and endlers tha”
“Good morning, I have an aquarium with several galaxy rasboras and noticed that this morning one was isolated at the surface. She's considerably swollen, her scales are kind of sticking out (pinecone effect), and her belly is far too pale compared to the rest of her body, which still has normal color. She's gasping at the surface and mostly staying there, alternating with a few moments of lower activity, she's clearly lethargic overall. All the other rasboras in the tank are behaving”
“I got a juvenile bristlenose pleco a few weeks ago. He's about an inch long. I'm starting to be concerned about his weight and the way his belly looks. The tank has plenty of algae that he's grazing on (I'm deliberately not cleaning the glass now), also a big piece of driftwood. I'm trying to offer him other foods (spirulina tablets, dried pellets for bottom feeders, blanched courgette) but he just doesn't seem interested and it all gets eaten by snails instead. Should I”
“found this pregnant guppy in an old fish tank. I want as many as can to live and i have a breeder box. when should i put her in? submitted by /u/DeadlyPotao [link] [comments]”
“They regularly swim to the bottom of the tank and steal the sinking food meant for my Corydoras. Because of this, I can't tell if they are just completely stuffed and bloated from overeating, or if this is a sign of an illness (like dropsy or parasites). One passed way today and its belly looked like this. Update to add info: I got the tetras two weeks ago. Parameters: Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 2 Gh: 7 Ph: 7.4 submitted by /u/Suhee [link] [comments]”
“Ive had Wallace for about a month now and he's been my sweet little boy who swims up to the front of the tank when I walk in the door, he even jumps to kiss my finger now. Ive noticed since I got him that he seems a little uh...chunky. is he? Do I need to cut back on the bloodworm treats? I just love him so much and he gives the cutest little face before feeding. submitted by /u/Few_Necessary_1356 [link] [comments]”
“Woke up to find my fish upside down, she is alive submitted by /u/Traditional-Paint873 [link] [comments]”
“I just bought 4 ember tetras the day before. Three of them look healthy, but I noticed one has a sunken belly. It does eat a little, but does not seem to go crazy for food like the others. It also doesn't school with the others; it just hides under a leaf most of the time. Is it malnourished, or is it something else? submitted by /u/PuffyHippo427 [link] [comments]”
“I feel like I can do more to help these lil guys out they js keep dropping. It started off with me not quarantining my Fish and putting them all in at the same time. One Zebra Dino was sick and yk the rest. I actually got like 13 fish then waited two days and then got like 15 more and everything was chill but then that zebra danio was looking off. I’ve been doing water changes and using some bacterial infection remedy also some API aquarium salt even though I have some tetras and plants✌🏼😭 Wil”
“Hello! I need some help identifying whether or not my platy is sick :( She looks skinnier to me, and seems a little less happy as of today. She lives in a 10 gallon tank with two more platies, a male and a female, a snail and several little snails that came on some plants. We have a filter, a heater, and change the water regularly (every two weeks or so, about 25% changes, 50% when we found some black beard algae growing in our plants). I have noticed that the male platy has been sort of harassi”
“I don't know what's the reason, I checked the water parameters and it was okay I have plenty of other angel fish in my tank too submitted by /u/Apprehensive-Bet3453 [link] [comments]”
“This is a long story and I'm at my wits end. I set up my first fishtank in mid June - 25L tank intended for a betta fish so i put in sand, spiderwood and plants (including water lettuce). Everything was great at first - i used fish food to give ammonia but i basically never got a reading of ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. But i assumed everything was going okay as my plants seemed to thrive, i had snails and worms etc. I went on holiday for a couple of days in early july and when i came back”
“I've had a few micropanchax for a couple months and now one of them has like some weird bump?? I've never had anything like that happen to my fishes. What is it? How do I treat it? submitted by /u/mrian221 [link] [comments]”
“Focusing on the orange one, he’s been swimming like that for a day now, looking as if he’s trying to grasp for air. I’m new to this and I really don’t want them to die. (On a side note my parents absolutely refuse to get a bigger tank for them when they need a bigger tank) submitted by /u/L3thalstrikes [link] [comments]”