Aquarium fish diseases and treatment

It is always easier to prevent disease than to cure it. Fish get diseases usually because of our omission.

What does "prevent fish diseases" means?

• Do not keep to many fish in the aquarium - provide the right amount of space for each fish;
• Ensure you maintain good water quality - water quality is affected by the appropriate chemical composition. Water should be regularly monitored by appropriate test kits for the contents of ammonia, nitrites, level of pH, water hardness and its purity. To keep the water in high standard systematic water exchanges are necessary, removing rotten elements or food not eaten by fish from the substrate and removal of damaged parts of the plants.
• Maintain proper and stable water temperature - not stable temperature is one of the factor that fish catch disease;
• Choosing fish to the aquarium by species behaviour and required environment conditions (temperature, ph, water hardness, etc.) - significantly increases the well-being of other fish, level of stress, feeding and normal development
• Feeding with various types of food: do not limit food types to the dry food, from time to time feed your fish with alive or plant food
• Buy fish, plants and other inhabitants of the aquarium from reliable sources: most diseases is spread by newly acquired fish, plants, snails, plankton. Even food live food may contain bacteria or viruses.
• Carry out a quarantine for newly purchased fish, plants, snails and other aquatic animals. If we find out that new fish has a disease before we let them in the main aquarium we will save fish in our main tank and also save us a lot of work trying to get rid of the disease from the main tank.
• Protect the inhabitants of the aquarium from poisons that may get into the water from the outside. Secure In the room with aquarium do not use insecticides, avoid usage of any type of spray or smoking cigarettes in the room with the aquarium
• Observe fish and move sick ones to a separate tank: any abnormal behaviour of fish may indicate the illness. In the most cases disease detected earlier can be successfully treated.

But even being really cautious we may find out that our fish got a disease. Then it is very important to correctly diagnose the disease and determine its cause. The next step should be to eliminate the problem and proceed with the treatment.

First symptoms of fish disease

It is impossible to describe all the symptoms of all diseases mostly because most of the symptoms are not specific to individual disease. However, some changes can be observed on the fish skin or in the fish behaviour, which clearly indicates the problem in our aquarium. These include:

• fish colour change (which may be caused by excessive cooling down or warming up the water)
• body cover in rash
• bonded or frayed fins
• clouding or ulcerated skin of the fish,
• efflorescence or spots
• redness around the anus,
• asymmetry and emaciation of the fish body,
• protruding eyes
• changes in behaviour: hiding, not taking food (may include indigestion caused by monotonous food), unstable or jumpy swimming, rubbing up against objects in the aquarium
• if the fish are staying close to the surface of the water, greedily swallowing air than it is likely that there is an oxygen shortage or increased concentration of the harmful substances in the water,
• if the fish like to staying close to the heater than the temperature in the tank is too low,
• the swim bladder disease can be noticed if fish which leaving in the top part of the water suddenly stays close to the bottom of the aquarium,
• the acidity (pH<5) or alkalinization (pH>8) of the water is indicated by: fish being excited, staying close to the surface, trying to jump out of the aquarium, fish skin is getting darker and covers with mucus. Drastic change of water pH can cause fish deaths,
• A significant thickening of the body, ruffled scales, blowing up the eyeballs can indicate disease called dropsy.

Quick diagnosis of disease

This table will help you diagnose symptoms and their possible causes. When you click disease you will be redirected to the page with more information about it. That page also includes treatment methods.

This table is divided into a few groups:

Disinfection aquarium and plants

To disinfect aquarium and equipment use formalin, potassium permanganate (1 g per litre of water) and rivanol (1-3 g per litre of water). You can also use hydrogen peroxide. To disinfect aquarium plants use potassium permanganate (1 g per 20 litres of water). Wooden decoration elements simmer for a few hours. Fish net used to catch sick fish should be constantly kept in a saturated salt solution. After disinfection remember to wash the tank and equipment in fresh tap water.