Leopard Danios slowly dying?

Question

I have zebra danios, both long finned and regular, as well as leopard danios - long finned. The zebras are fine, but the leopard danios gradually get skinnier, one at a time, quit eating and die a slow death. First it happened to a new one from the pet store - I assumed I just got a sick fish. Then it happened 3 months later to another, and now 6 months later I see signs with the rest.

Sorry, I am new to this forum. Leopard danios are less than 1 year old from the pet store. 25-50% of the water weekly. I feed them a combo of frozen brine, daphinia and flakes. I don't think it is the water quality since my neons are thriving.
Though I had 2 guppies die on me yesterday and male guppies grow up in the tank then disappear when full grown? I have the following in the tank: Neons, guppies, zebra danios, leopard danios, Mollies. I have 3 fish tanks, a 46 g - bully tank, 20 g breeding Angels, and 55 g community tank. The 55 is where I have the fish above. Should be plenty of room!

Answer 1

Take your water to your local fish store and have them test it for everything - explain what your fish are doing - and they may have some suggestions. Community tanks should have a PH around 7.0 - 7.2

I have a 100 gal - and all of a sudden my 3 oscars were sitting on the bottom - the other 12 fish are fine. Tested the water, etc. come to find out the PH was at 7.8 which was too high and the alkalinity was higher then normal. My tap water went from a norm ph of 7.5 to 8.0 and its too high for my oscars I guess. I've managed to bring the ph down to7.5 but two oscars are still not right - one has recovered and hangs over the other two like encouragement. Short of getting a reverse osmosis, I've been putting in new carbon filler to my canister every other week. Its helping

My fish guy told me years ago to only change the water once a month that I was keeping my tank too clean - and to wait three months before making my first change from that day. I've done it regular and this is my first problem in 5 years.

My routine is change the filters in the canister, 3 days later change 30% water, 3 days later change filters and carbon. Sometimes I just clean the filters, and change them every 3 months. With the SAR oscars (something aint right) - I've been changing the carbon ever two weeks and rinsing the filters (rotating the carbon and recharging the previously used). Its a lot of work, but the oscars are looking a little better and by not changing my water I'm slowly changing the PH as it filters through the carbon.

Answer 2

Slow wasting like you describe can be caused by disease but can also be due to age. If it is a disease in your tank, it would most likely be killing fish faster and in greater numbers than you are currently seeing. Since you have noted disappearing fish in your tank, this could explain the slow spread of a disease. Some internal diseases are spread only when a fish eats the remains of a fish that died from or while carrying that disease. So it is possible you have just such a disease in your tank. The bad thing is, these diseases are difficult to identify and even more difficult to treat in an aquarium. Careful removal of any fish showing any signs of wasting well before it dies would be the only real way to break the chain of infection.

While your Leopards are less than a year from the shop, they still could be getting some age on them as they could have been a few years old when you bought them, there is really no way to know for certain.

Hope this helps and if you have additional question please feel free to email me.

MM

Answer 3

'MagicMan' brought up a good thought that so many of us forget...including me...when we buy fish. We really do not know how old they are, unless of course, it is obviously a baby or juvenile. Let's take Neon Tetra's for example, of course there are many other examples I could use; Neon's are around 1 inch long for the most part when we buy them. BUT...can you be sure how old they are? Cause one inch Neon's can and are considered full grown. (except for Cardinal Neon's which are larger and BTW, you rarely if ever see in Pet Stores anymore because of a disease that overtook the species sometime ago)

So your Danio's and Guppies might be much older than you realize when you purchase them. So I agree with most of the answers...I believe your fish could just be dying of old age. If your water testing is within normal limits, that would be my guess.

I am sorry you are losing your fish. It always breaks my heart, being the fish enthusiast that I have been for more years than I can count.

So MagicMan, thanks for bringing up a point that alot of us forget. Great answer...

Answer 4

How is your tank? Do you sparkling it regularly. I do a water replace each and every 2 weeks and gravel sparkling month-to-month, verify your water is okay. I actual have had maximum of dramas with my tank. White spot, deaths many times so understand what you're going via. Water high quality is the main!!!!!!