Sick swordtail

[plankton]

I've just read all this and I realise you're adjusting the tank for the swordtails.
Your other fish won't appreciate that long-term, they're all soft water fish....
Sorry if that adds to the confusion.......

[Hsep]

Your other fish won't appreciate that long-term, they're all soft water fish....

I was aiming to raise the GH to 12. Do you think this will cause problems? I have tried to do some research about the other fish and 12 seems to be the most appropriate hardness taking into account all other fish.

[plankton]

I'd say no, I wouldn't go above 8dGH with the soft waters.....

[Hsep]

Hello,

I was hoping that I will not have to post to this topic anymore, however, I recently started having issues with my swordtails. I belive that there is ich going on in the aquarium, one of my swordtails has white spots on her fins.Two other swordtails recently gave birth and ever since they behave wierdly and also have some white spots on their bodies.

I was hoping to cure them by increasing the temperature to 30 °C from 26°C combined with using Esha Exit and garlic. I followed the treatment instructions for Esha and repeated this process twice. After a week, there is no change at all.

Do you please have any recommendations on what to do? The water parameters are stable at 0 NH3, 0 NO3 and 0 NO2, GH is 12 and pH between 7.5 and 8. I did my last water change about a week ago, approximately 40% of the total volume of the tank.

There is a photo of the swordtail that looks the worst. She does not have that round body anymore and she is also sometimes swimming near the surface.




This is the swordtail that started having the white spots on her fins. The white spot is barely visible on her tail fin.


Thank you.

[Martinspuddle]

Doesn't look like Ichthyophthirius to me, but by all means carry on the treatment as a precaution.

Are any of them looking lethargic?

[Hsep]

Are any of them looking lethargic?

Despite being the dominant female in the tank, the black swordtail is hidding quite often ever since I increased the temperature. However, her body did not change and her feeding response is still the same.

There is a detail on her tail fin.

[plankton]

They're probably under stress. It may be that that they've come from poor stock, or that the tank is too small (I would only keep them in a tank that was longer than 3'6"), or a combination.
I notice you've raised the GH to 12, so that should be ok for them - how are the other fish? Are they showing problems?

[Hsep]

They're probably under stress. It may be that that they've come from poor stock.

I have this fish for more than half a year now and she has never shown any signs of being stressed. Her behaviour changed only ever since I started observing white spots on her fins. It is 100l SuperFish Start aquarium and there are accept for other species only two other adult females and one male, with three swortails that are 4 moths old (plus some recent fry I do not count).

I have made the tank such that there are hidding spots and objects that are breaking the eyesight. I do not think that she is stressed from the environment.

By the way this is a close deail on her tail fin. The white spots are quite visible here.

I notice you've raised the GH to 12, so that should be ok for them - how are the other fish? Are they showing problems?

One other female fish started to hide as well, however, not as often as the black female. The second female does not hide at all, but recently had fry and ever since her belly is not as round as it used to be before she was pregnant. Sometimes I find her swimming near the surface.

Her body shape is wierd compared to other swordtails I have in the aquarium.





I honestly have no clue how to solve these issues, any help is highly appreciated.

The other species are doing alright, I do not observe any signs of behaving differently. Hence, it must have to do something with swordtails only.

[plankton]

When did you get the GH up from 8?
It may be that the problems have been there some time, and only just showing as they get older.....the stress would be internal rather than external.

[Martinspuddle]

Reading through this thread I now understand why these Swordtails are suffering.

Your water parameters are the issue here, along with aquarium size and I agree with @plankton this is more than likely stress.

Personally I think it would be better all round if you returned these fish to the aquatic store and stick to fish species that thrive in the local water supply.