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My black tetra is swimming oddly, has red marks on his sides, and his eyes are bulging Whats wrong2007-11-24 23:38:15

He is in the aquarium with two other black tertas and four platties. All the other fish are behaving normally and look fine. The tetra in question, however, is staying away from the other fish and is spending time behind some plants at the bottom of the aquarium.before today, the three tetras always stayed together. The red marks on his side are definately new and his eyes appear larger than before. Any ideas?

Answers:

Sound like popeye and septacemia, both due to poor water quality. Did you check your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? The ammonia and nitrites should be 0 and the nitrites should not be over 40. Do a water change of 30% tonight, then do another large water change tomorrow. Keep doing changes until your levels are in the appropriate range. Also, get some melafix and pimafix, they are natural medications that can help greatly with bacterial or fungal problems. Make sure you remove the carbon from your filter when you treat with a medication.

To prevent this problem in the future, do weekly 20% water changes to keep your water quality excellent.

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Try a 25% water change and add some aquarium salt according to directions. If you're not sure what is wrong with him, this is the best way to help him get better on his own.

Is anyone beating him up in the tank?

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I would check your water parameters, ammonia should be 0 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, nitrates under 20 ppm. Sounds like it may be getting popeye, which is usually a secondary infection/symptom of another disease, I would say septicemia. I would do a water change about 25%, check those water parameters, and quarantine/separate that fish if you can. Also pick up an antibiotic that treats that. Both of those are listed on this link-popeye and septicemia.

http://www.fishpalace.org/disease.html#s.

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hes dying with a virus and pregnant so im sorry but u have to eliminate the other fish and start over.