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When kept in a suitable environment fish rarely fall ill. When your fish do get sick there is virtually no veterinarian to take them to. One reason this is because it is very difficult, as you know, to transport your fish from place to place. It would be extremely difficult and stressful to take a trip with your fish to the veterinarian. Fish have a relatively short life span, and unless you get them as babies there is no way to know the approximate age of your fish. The life span of smaller, popular breeds of fish such as the guppy is relatively small. On the opposite extreme some goldfish can live up to forty years or possibly more, though the average life span is about ten years. In order to ensure the health of your fish you have to rely on your detective instinct to figure out what the problem is.
How do you know when your fish is sick? The most obvious answer is their appearance. Sick fish tend to change some way in their appearance, a fish may have a swollen belly, have sores on its body, or loss of color. It is important to examine your fish closely every day. The other clue is behavior. If your fish is hiding more or is having trouble swimming, that is a clue to you that something may be wrong.
There are some common diseases that appear in fish. The most common disease is a parasite known as whitespot. You probably know this disease as ich. This disease appears in the fish as tiny white spots all along the body. It starts out usually as white dots along the tail or fins and then covers the entire body. It is an extremely contagious disease so it can attack the other fish in your tank. The disease will become an epidemic in your tank and you will soon be losing many fish to this disease if not treated in a hurry. Some ways that you can prevent this is changing the water every couple of weeks and also, when getting new fish, do not empty the water in the fish bag (from the pet store) into your tank. Instead float the bag for fifteen minutes, then cut the bag and net the fish out.
So how do you treat a fish with ich? As with any disease it is important to quarantine the fish. You should have a sick tank set up, completely separate tank to house ill fish. If this is not an option then you can treat all the fish. Just be careful when doing this, as some fish such as algae eaters have low tolerance to chemicals. The pet store sells ich medicine; sometimes you can even find it in a grocery store. When treating any tank you should remove the carbon from your filter. Without doing this, the carbon will suck all the medicine and it won’t be treating your fish. Always read the directions on the medication before you treat your tank. There will be a certain amount that you will need to treat depending on the gallon size of your tank, and the duration of each medication differs slightly.
Another disease that effects fish is velvet disease. This disease effects the gills rather than the entire body. This is also treatable by medications that are sold at pet stores, most commonly used are the antibiotics such as maracyin and tetracycline.
Fish also tend to get fungus rather easily. This will appear in your fish as a white fuzz similar to a wool or cotton like appearance. If this is left untreated it can spread rapidly across the fish, killing it and other tank members. When purchasing a fish medication make sure that it treats fungus.
Fish can also get bacterial infections. the most common of these is fin rot. This is brought on by fighting among the fish in the tank, biting and nipping. The fins appear ragged and split and may be streaked with blood. Other bacterial infections also brought on by fighting include skin ulcers. Also, prompt treatment of this with fish medication can take care of the problem.
Fish are also subject to viral infections which tend to be on the serious side. This appears in the fish as hemorrhaging around the gills or head and usually coincides with abdominal swelling. Unfortunately there is no treatment for such viral infections.
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