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Caring for Sick Fish

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All About Fish

Bacteria and parasites are contagious among fish that share an aquarium, and diseases can also stem from poor water conditions.

If you notice your fish not acting normal or start exhibiting abnormal or strange behaviors that you have never seen them do before, this could be an indication the fish might be sick. It’s not uncommon for fish to become ill or to come home from the pet store ill.

Signs within your fish to look for:

  • Sluggish or lethargic
  • flashing (hitting themselves against decorations or the gravel)
  • scales/fins look torn, eaten away at, color changings or growths.

 

What do you do about it? 

Watch and observe your fish. Gathering additional information will help you determine what it might be. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself while determining the fish illness:

  • Is the fish eating when offered food? 
  • What does the fish’s body, fin and scales look like? Is it normal or have their body conditions change?
  • What is the fish behavior look like?

 

API Assist will guide you to what medication to start with. Enter the symptoms you observed from the fish into API Assist when prompted and it will help you determine if the illness is a bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infection and how to treat it.

Initial steps you can take: 

  1. Test the water. Environmental stressors can cause illness and that can be easily fixed in your aquarium when you know what to look for. This is why it is important to test your water to ensure the water parameters are correct. Use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit or the API Saltwater Master Test Kit to measure the pH, ammonia, nitrite, etc. in your tank.
  2. Separate the fish into a quarantine/hospital tank if you can. If not, you may treat the entire aquarium including the other fish as well.
  3. Perform a 30% water exchange and add in new conditioned water.
  4. Add API Aquarium Salt (This is not recommended if there is live plants or salt sensitive fish in the aquarium).
  5. Change fish food. If the food has been opened longer than 90 days, it’s time for new food. Food that has been opened for 90 days loses nutritional value and does not give the fish the proper nutrients.

Poor water quality, poor diet, and improper water temperature can trigger illness. When fish are weakened or stressed, they will be unable to fight off infections, and could become ill.

Treatment:

Start treatment(s) as soon as possible to increase the survival of the fish. If you are unable to separate the fish into a hospital or quarantine tank, it is recommended to treat the entire aquarium.  It is ok for the healthy fish to be medicated as well. If you are unsure which medication, you need or would like to treat with multiple medications, you can use any of the API medications in conjunction with each other. If the products are dosed according to the volume of water, it is ok use more than one medication at a time. 

Prevention:

Keeping a good maintenance schedule will reduce the chance of fish disease or infection. Regular water testing, water exchanges and changing out food more frequently with quality food will help ensure a happy, healthy fish tank. 

Need help with figuring what and how to dose your fish and aquarium? Let us know! Talk to our Tech Services Team through email or you can call us at 1-800-847-0659.