Unhappy Orandas

[maccy_g]

Hi,

I am new to this forum but I was wondering if anyone could help.

I have a 350l tank with 4x Orandas in it, 2 are around 6 months old (a redcap and a red) and 2 others were recently introduced into the tank in the last couple of weeks (a chocolate and a black). The tank is fully cycled and recent water tests have shown 0ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite and very low levels of Nitrate, I am doing water changes every weekend. The tank is well filtered with an Eheim 2217 and has plenty of aeration.

The two older Orandas suffered from swim bladder disorder around a month ago, the red has fully recovered from this but the redcap is still suffering and despite feeding him peas (with the husks removed and the peas squashed up so he can eat them) and the use of swimbladder treatment he is not improving. The red, like I said has recovered from the SBD but he sits at the bottom of the tank all day and looks pretty depressed, he also occasionally flashes around the tank scratching himself on the gravel and he has been this way since recovering from the SBD, he fully recovered from the SBD about 3-4 weeks ago so I have given him some time to improve but nothing so far.

The 2x new Orandas seemed fine at first but over the past week they have developed white spots on their wens which I initally put down to wen growth but yesterday I noticed small, white pin prick sized dots over the chocolate orandas body - sounds like Ich to me, would I be right? These 2x new orandas also spend a lot of time sitting at the bottom of the tank but I thought they may just be emulating the behaviour of the bigger, senior fish.

These 2x new orandas also flash a bit as well.

Generally their appetite is pretty good, they still eat but they don't scavenge like normal and just wait for the food to float in front of them before they go fot it, very unlike Orandas.

Its a nightmare as none of the fish are well and I am trying to work out if this is all being caused by Ich or maybe a combination of things?

Does anyone have any suggestions to rid my redcap of his SBD once and for all?

And can anyone confirm that the problem with the other 3 orandas sounds like Ich?

Feel free to ask me any questions if you need to know anything more.

Thanks in advance

maccy_g

[Hidr]

Can you answer the questions at the top please.

In the mean time a 75 percent water change and add salt.

Sound like possible ich and the salt treatment well take care of that.

[Helen]

hi, and welcome to koko's.. yes, i agree with hidr.. and once we have all the info, we will be able to assist with one problem at a time.. are you also able to post some pictures of the visible problems you see?

did the new fish go through the quarantene stage before you added them to the main tank?

[maccy_g]

Thanks,

I will get all this information for you in a bit - plus some pics if I can

Hidr - how much salt should I add per litre of water? And when you say salt, are you referring to specific aquarium salt (which I would have to go and purchase) or table salt?

Stakos - no, the new fish did not go through quarantine - lesson learnt

[Hidr]

Do a search here. There is a sticky somewhere all about salt treatments.

[number20121]

Thanks,

I will get all this information for you in a bit - plus some pics if I can

Hidr - how much salt should I add per litre of water? And when you say salt, are you referring to specific aquarium salt (which I would have to go and purchase) or table salt?

Stakos - no, the new fish did not go through quarantine - lesson learnt

It is 1 level teaspoon per 4 litres of water. This will bring the salinity to about 0.1%. No table salt! Either aquarium salt or PURE salt (no additives like anti caking agents, iodine etc).

Don't forget that after a water change you will have to re-add the salt for the amount of water taken out!

[Hidr]

OK found it here is all you well ever need to know about salt and freshwater tanks.

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/forum/index.php?/topic/60876-using-salt/

[maccy_g]

Great stuff.

Have read the article and so will go out and purchase some sea salt that doesn't contain the bad ingredients listed.

Thanks guys