Seeing your fish getting sick is not fun. Keeping a fish as a pet is not an easy job, but it is not that hard though. Maintaining its health and happiness is your job as its owner.
Once it is not happy with its surrounding, it will get stressed. Most fish diseases and illnesses are caused by stressed. So, one of the keys of keeping your fish healthy is making it happy. Check these reasons why your fish get stressed and how to overcome it.
What kind of diseases can infect a fish? You might start wondering about them. There are several common diseases that fish can get. They can be shown by these symptoms that tell your fish is sick. Let’s check the common diseases fish can have.
Fish health is determined mostly by the quality of the water. Healthy water usually has healthy fish. So, the main key of keeping your fish healthy is by paying closer attention to the condition of your fish tank. Let’s take a look at the common diseases fish can have.
- Anchor Worms
Anchor worm is a small worm that burrows into the fish’s skin and muscles. It is usually caused by another infected fish that is introduced into the aquarium or fish tank. Anchor worms begin to develop and lay eggs before they die and once the eggs are laid, your fish can be infected.
Once your fish is infected by anchor worms, you can easily notice the symptoms, such as frequent scratching against objects, inflammation marks, and the presence of whitish-green thread on the fish’s skin.
You can simply treat this anchor worms by removing the parasite physically and treating the wound by using antiseptic, such as iodine.
- Dropsy
Dropsy is caused by bacterial infection of the kidneys. This infection leads to fluid accumulation that create problems in weakened fish. Your fish may seem to be bloating and have swollen scales.
You can treat this diseases by removing the filter carbon and turning off UV stabilizer. You also can add one tablet of Tetra Lifeguard to each 5 gallons of water. You can repeat this treatment for 5 days. You may stop once the symptoms stop.
- Lice
Lice is commonly caused by a fish that lives in outdoor pond and be brought into the fish tank or indoor aquarium. Wild fish also causes the presence of lice in your aquarium. Lice is transferred from one host fish to another and spreading bacteria and viruses.
If your fish is infected by lice, you can see that your fish is restless and rubbing against aquarium glass or other objects. Besides, you can see the lice as a flat, dark oval dots crawling on the fish skin.
Removing the parasite and cleaning the wound caused by the lice with antiseptic like iodine will be useful to get rid of the lice.
Lice is also one of the common problems attacking poultry animals, such as elaborated in how to identify that your chicken is getting attacked by poultry lice.
- Ulcers
Ulcers mostly infect cold-water fish, specifically gold-fish. Ulcers are inflammation of the external tissues that appears like sores. Physical injury, parasites and bacterial infection are the most common causes of ulcers. This commonly happens in a fish tank or aquarium with poor quality of water, such as high ammonia, nitrate and high or low pH levels.
To treat fish with ulcers, you need to quarantine that fish. Then, you can treat with Melafix (by following the dosage instructions). You can also add aquarium salt if your fish still can bear it.
- Clamped Fin
Clamped fin is a condition of the fins that is folded against the body and not in their normal position which is fanned out. This clamped fish case can be a reflection of some problems, such as the presence of parasites and bad water quality.
You can try adding 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per gallon to your fish tank or aquarium to treat this disease. Salt is very beneficial for breeding catfishes. Check the complete benefits of salt for breeding catfishes.
- Tuberculosis
Do you know that fish can suffer from tuberculosis as well? Yes, they can. Tuberculosis in fish is caused by Mycobateria. Besides, the condition that affects the infection of TB in fish is the poor maintenance of fish tank, such as high soluble zinc, low oxygen and low pH levels.
You can notice that your fish is infected by TB when your fish show lethargic behavior, hollowed belly, having skin ulcers, loss of appetite and refusing to eat. Another sign is the yellowish or darker nodules on the eyes or body may start to appear.
There is no treatment yet for this disease and as humans, it is possible to get infected by this disease when you are in contact with your fish. If you suspect your fish to be infected by TB, then do some precautions, such as wear rubber gloves once you want to put your hands in the tank. Besides, do not ever put your hands once you have scratches and cuts on your hand.
Keeping fish as a pet is not that hard and easy, one important thing is you need to keep your fish healthy. The key of having a healthy fish is by having healthy fish tank, good quality water and nutritional food you give to your fish.
You can apply some of the tips on how to keep your fish healthy and the essentials things for your fish tank to have healthy and happy fish.