# Potentially sick fish please help.



## Viprex94 (Jan 13, 2018)

Hey guys if someone could please help identify the issue with my one fish. Backstory I have a 65g tank with a marineland 360 magnaflow canister filter as well as a fluval 70g hanging filter. I recently went on vacation and before leaving everything was fine but when I came back I noticed my one fish pinned up almost floating vertically head down in the corner of the tank against a fake plant, my first reaction was he was dead but upon inspecting his gills were going. It was rather late so I figured that I'd deal with everything tomorrow also figuring he probably wouldn't make it through the night, however much to my surprise the next day he was in a different position on the opposite side of the tank just hanging out, so I thought everything was fine. However later that night I found the fish to be stuck to the side of the intake tube of the fluval filter. I immediately went down to my other tank to grab the big net I had to fish him out again because he looked completely dead with no movement. Once I came back upstairs a few minutes later again to my surprise he was off the filter and back in his original corner swimming vertical head down again however this time I noticed two very prominent red sores on his body. I dosed the tank with melaflex and fed the fish trying to get some food near him however he didn't eat or anything just stayed swimming vertical with his head down. This all brings me to today. I woke up and now he is swimming about not as much as normal but he is swimming and he is no longer vertical or anything, I fed my fish their morning feeding and he came out and ate a few pieces of food before returning to his fake plant in the back corner of the tank. All my other fish are showing zero signs of any issue and are all acting completely normal so I'm trying to figure out if this fish is sick or if he just got beat up really badly and depending on the diagnosis what to do. I have a very large bumblebee in the tank a o.b peacock, a red devil, and then a generic peacock, the fish in question is a baby from I believe the generic peacock and the red devil. The problem is this fish is colorless and also has always had a slightly sunken stomach so it's making the diagnosis pretty difficult. Any help identify the issue would be a huge help. I don't wanna get my other fish sick and by now I thought if it was something serious he would of passed on but he seems to be doing better then the first few nights when I orginally found him.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Just a guess but I'm betting he got beat up bad by the other fish. Your best option is to isolate him in a smaller tank with a cycled filter and maintain clean water via water changes. If you don't have another tank available, a plastic tote will work just fine.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I have even used a clean 5G bucket and just added the filter and heater.


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## Viprex94 (Jan 13, 2018)

I ended up taking pictures and water samples to my local fish expert, he seems to think it's fin and tail rot. As for the water the nitrates were alittle high but that's probably because of getting back from vacation and not being able to do the weekly water change, but nothing to worry about. I have him netted at the top of my tank atm. Hopefully he can recover. Most of my fish are pretty docile so if someone got him idk which fish it would be unfortunately.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I agree it looks like aggression. Sunken stomach is also a result of harassment, as the fish does not get enough to eat. With a crabro in a 60G with him I think it is a good possibility. Not sure how a red devil would work with this African.

I understand that with rot the edges would be mushy...those look bitten off. And what about the red spots on the body?

What does your local fish expert think caused the rot if the water was clean?


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## Viprex94 (Jan 13, 2018)

That's what I thought since the water was in pretty good shape. I'm wondering if the person who fed the fish while I was on vacation didn't feed them enough and maybe that caused the aggression, he is kinda the weak fish of the tank being the newest fish and most of the other fish are double his size. The bumblebee I have is pretty docile and he eats a good amount but then swims off to his alcove but there's always enough food for the other fish, again unless my friend didn't feed them enough. I told him the 2 minute rule twice a day. He seems to be improving though, I just did a 50% water change, he came out to eat again. I'll keep posting updates and pictures as this continues.


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## Viprex94 (Jan 13, 2018)

Also I'm sorry it's not a red devil, it is a red zebra. My bad.


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## Viprex94 (Jan 13, 2018)

The fish is doing much better now guys. His wounds are healing up nicely.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Good to hear. What will you change to prevent it happening again?


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