Jim Hoey (the Dimestore Fishermen) and Kate Wilson (an Aquatic Invasive Species Specialist) discuss the “Whirling Disease” that is causing grief in our waterways.
I have a 70 gallon tank with about 50 small fish in it. About 7 of them are small danios, which I have had for 6 months, and I added to giant danios 3 months ago. About 4 days ago, one of the giant danios started spinning like a football, not whirling. It was not deformed at all - looked perfect. I put the spinning danio into it's own small "hospital" tank with some medication. That seemed to help. That fish would spin for several hours, then calm down and sit still - looking healthy, then start spinning again. The other giant danio was fine as are all the small danios and the other 40 fish (including 2 discus and several catfish and glofish). Today, the healthy giant danio started swimming upside down. I put the 2nd giant danio in the hospital tank, but within a couple of hours it died. The first giant danio that had been spinning off and on for 4 days died about 10 hours later. I don't get it.. I don't think it is whirling disease. Why would it affect just the 2 giant danios and nothing else? I have just one suspicion... I recently bought a freshwater figure 8 puffer. It died in just 2 days which was very unusual. I didn't see this happen, but it is POSSIBLE the 2 giant danios ate some of that puffer. I am very frustrated.. I think what I will do in the future is quarantine new fish for at least a week, if not a month, before putting them in my main tank. Something else that annoys me is that the medications VERY RARELY are effective in curing a fish. In fact, usually they seem to make the fish die much faster. I've had at least 2 exceptions to that though. I had a freshwater guppy that was laying on it's side, not eating, and had labored breathing for several days.. that made a 100% recovery. Recently I had a saltwater pajama fish get covered with ich... I put it in a medicated bath for 90 minutes.. and that seemed to wipe out the ich, but also resulted in what looked like fin rot. Before the medication, the fins were normal with ich on them. Afterwards the ich was gone, but with torn up fins. After a few days, the fins seem to have grown back to be normal. Again an oddity.. that pajama fish is about 2 inches long.. I have another pajama fish that is about 1/3 the size of the big one.. that didn't get any ich at all. I've had the small one for 4 months.
I have a 70 gallon tank with about 50 small fish in it. About 7 of them are small danios, which I have had for 6 months, and I added to giant danios 3 months ago. About 4 days ago, one of the giant danios started spinning like a football, not whirling. It was not deformed at all - looked perfect. I put the spinning danio into it's own small "hospital" tank with some medication. That seemed to help. That fish would spin for several hours, then calm down and sit still - looking healthy, then start spinning again. The other giant danio was fine as are all the small danios and the other 40 fish (including 2 discus and several catfish and glofish). Today, the healthy giant danio started swimming upside down. I put the 2nd giant danio in the hospital tank, but within a couple of hours it died. The first giant danio that had been spinning off and on for 4 days died about 10 hours later.
I don't get it.. I don't think it is whirling disease. Why would it affect just the 2 giant danios and nothing else?
I have just one suspicion... I recently bought a freshwater figure 8 puffer. It died in just 2 days which was very unusual. I didn't see this happen, but it is POSSIBLE the 2 giant danios ate some of that puffer.
I am very frustrated.. I think what I will do in the future is quarantine new fish for at least a week, if not a month, before putting them in my main tank.
Something else that annoys me is that the medications VERY RARELY are effective in curing a fish. In fact, usually they seem to make the fish die much faster. I've had at least 2 exceptions to that though. I had a freshwater guppy that was laying on it's side, not eating, and had labored breathing for several days.. that made a 100% recovery. Recently I had a saltwater pajama fish get covered with ich... I put it in a medicated bath for 90 minutes.. and that seemed to wipe out the ich, but also resulted in what looked like fin rot. Before the medication, the fins were normal with ich on them. Afterwards the ich was gone, but with torn up fins. After a few days, the fins seem to have grown back to be normal. Again an oddity.. that pajama fish is about 2 inches long.. I have another pajama fish that is about 1/3 the size of the big one.. that didn't get any ich at all. I've had the small one for 4 months.