Hello community,

I was hoping someone can help me diagnose a health issue with one of my Golden Mountain Minnows.

Nearly 48 hours ago I noticed one of my golden mountain minnows wasn't eating and his behaviour was very inactive and lethargic which is very rare when compared to his normal behaviour.

My tank is an 80 litre (21 Gallon) freshwater planted aquarium with 2 air stones, 2 internal power filters and one external filter all providing both mechanical and biological filtration. The tank is well established with 15 white cloud mountain minnow both golden and original, 2 Borneo suckerfish (Hillstream loaches), 1 mystery snail and approx. 20 to 30 White cloud mountain minnow fry in the same tank housed in a fry net (which are a regular addition).

He is showing no signs of external damage, his fins seem fine, his gills seem fine and he still has quite a bit of colour around his fins. The only symptoms are his lack of appetite and lethargic behaviour otherwise he looks in good condition (photo attached). I completed a water test last night, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0.25ppm, Nitrate was between 5/10 ppm and ph balance was 7.0. I completed a 30 % water change regardless but no change in his behaviour.

I feed my fish flake food in the morning and alternate between frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, peas and for my fry I give them baby brine shrimp in the evening. I probably don't feed them vegetables often enough (only a couple of times per week on average) therefore my first thought was maybe constipation. The only thing different that I have done recently (approx 4/5 days prior) is introduce 3 new live plants (amazon sword and the others I cannot remember their names) however none of the other fish including the fry and suckerfish are showing symptoms.

So far I have taken him out of the main tank and placed him in a hospital tank with a sponge filter and have started medicating him with Epsom salts (incase it is constipation). My only other ideas for his condition is maybe an internal bacterial infection.

If anyone can provide any ideas as to a possible cause and treatment it would be much appreciated. The only medications I currently own are Pimafix, Melafix, and Aqua Master - Multi Cure (Malachite green and Methylene Blue). Unless I get a response I will continue with the Epsom salts for another day or 2 and if no improvement I will start on either the Melafix, Multi Cure or even both.

All Feedback will be appreciated

Unfortunately as I am a new member to aquariumforum.com I am unable to post links and pictures until I have completed 5 posts.

Sounds like the onset of internal parasites or an internal bacterial infection to me. Try soaking the flake food in garlic juice - it will make the food much more appealing to him (and also the rest of your fish). To make sure he gets some, feed a little on opposite sides of the tank, so some can sink to the bottom. You will want to watch for symptoms of internal parasites as well - bloating or emaciation, long white stringy poo (eggs), or red spikey things around the anus, or flukes (worm-looking things) protruding from the gills. If any of these things manifest themselves, let us know immediately. Otherwise, I'm not sure what it could be.

__________________
Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

I would have similiar problems with my first fish I would add to a new tank after 4 days. I found that by not adding food for a week that did not happen.

Have you checked nitrItes?

Otherwise I can't help.

Sorry


my .02

__________________
fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Here is a photo of the golden mountain minnow in question. Also thank you to everyone who has posted replies.

I can't claim to be an expert, but I would look for the symptoms Gizmo suggested, but also take into consideration that fish have the same sort of sudden health breakdowns we can have, and we will often never know what hit them.
Since you don't know what's wrong, you can't medicate. Melafix and Pimafix are supposed to be for minor external irritations, and the other product with the two dyes is to kill freeswimming parasites. It won't affect internal ones, or worms.
We often medicate fish to feel we are doing something, and end up killing them with the meds. Even antibiotics only work on some bacteria, and if it is bacterial, how will you know which type your fish has? Where I live, aquarium antibiotics are banned without a vet's prescription. When the law came in, aquarists predicted huge losses, but I think we've lost fewer fish since we stopped blindly blasting them with over the counter meds.
I would stay the course. The fish is robust, and its change in behavior doesn't give you a lot to go on. It could be age (it doesn't look it), indigestion, a growth internally, a parasite, an infection from a scrap, the result of being dominated by another fish - the list is long and there is not much to do but watch, wait, and let nature take its course.

Try putting some fast growing plants in your QT with the fish. Like anacharis.

I do worry about you haveing measureable nitrItes even though it is a low reading. I would keep an eye on that and stop feeding until they get back down to 0.

But sometimes you just get a sick fish. Hopefully it can recover.


my .02

__________________
fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

+1

__________________
fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

You could try medicated fish food, but there's a VERY likely chance that the fish will waste away from starvation, as that stuff is pretty gross. Maybe soak the medicated food in garlic juice?

Just my purely speculative suggestion

__________________
Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

__________________
fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Thanks everyone

Im going to try soaking some food in garlic juice but whatever I put in he doesnt touch so im thinking he may not eat it. Up until the last few days he had been very active, he'd been chasing females around the tank and it looked like he was guarding some eggs.

I do think I know the cause of the nitrites though. I upgraded my tank from a 25 Litre to an 80 Litre just at christmas but I moved all the substrate, plants, rocks and filters over so I presumed my biology would move over with it. As I stated in my original post I have many fry a bit over two weeks old and none of them have died and I thought if anything they would be the first to die if it as due to water quality.

I do agree with what many of you have said about possibly internal bacterial infection or parasites. He has been quarantined and I will try the garlic soaked food but I may have to let nature take its course or euthenise him.

Thanks again everyone your help has been appreciated

With luck, he'll simply recover over the next two weeks or so.

Hmm, it is the end of the holidays... Maybe he's been into the drink?