Fish Diseases
There are different types of diseases in pond or aquarium fish. Such as, bacterial infections itch etc. The main reasons behind this are poor maintenance, poor quality of water, and also the stress in your fish. You can trace the disease in your fish if the fish behaves abnormally. The fish may, come to the surface for gasping air, spots or lesions on the body, if there is a swelling in the abdomen or in the eye and decrease in appetite. You should keep a close eye on the PH level of the water. Here are a few diseases common in fish and their treatments.
An aquarist can easily introduce diseases in the fish while purchasing new invertebrates, fishes, aquarium decorations and plants. While you bring new organism in the aquarium, there are higher chances of fishes getting exposed to various infections. Fishes suffer from ill health due to various reasons. The best and effective way to get rid of fish disease is by maintaining a healthy environment in the aquarium all the time and to get rid of stress which is the common factor in fish diseases. Stress is associated with the deterioration of water quality, temperature variation, excess or insufficient supply of food, stocking density and poor environmental conditions.
Before you diagnose the fish disease, see the condition of your fish. A healthy fish has a clean body, erect fins, bright body color, faster movement, and bright eyes. Unhealthy fishes have irregular swimming movement, rubbing the body against the rough substrate, jumping, refusal of feed, surfacing on water and more of mucus secretion.
Ichthyopthirius –Commonly known as Ich or the white spot disease is mainly because of the external parasites. Your fish if infected by this parasite would show symptoms like scratching against the ornaments, the fish seems to be breathing with difficulty and stays near the surface and also there can be visible white spots on the fish’s body. The treatment to this are here;
- You should refrain from adding or removing fish from the infected aquarium. You should also quarantine the water.
- You should raise the temperature of the water in the aquarium to 85°F.
- You can ease the stress of the ill fish by adding one table spoon of Aquarium salt or aquarium pharmaceuticals, for 5 gallons of aquarium water.
- It’s important to remove activated carbon and open aeration.
Hexamita – This disease is commonly known as hole in the head. There is pitting in the fish’s head at the same time there is also an erosion of the muscle tissues around the fish’s skin. There can be a loss in the appetite of the fish. One can even see weight loss in the later stages and eventually death of the fish. Here are a few tips for the treatment of this;
- The first and foremost step is to remove the dead fish from the aquarium as it would contaminate the water. You should also quarantine the water and refrain from adding or removing fish from the aquarium.
- You can ease the stress of the ill fish by adding one table spoon of Aquarium salt or aquarium pharmaceuticals, for 5 gallons of aquarium water.
- You should always remove activated carbon and open aeration.
- You can use this treatment along with aquarium pharmaceuticals and antibacterial medications.
There are other different types of illness in fish such as fish lice and skin flukes etc. You can use the above mentioned treatment for most of the illnesses in fish. It is always important to take good care of your pet fish. For that you must know about fish diseases and their treatments. You can follow the above mentioned treatments and keep your fish hail and hearty.
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