After creating and maintaining your beautiful aquarium, all the time and money you spent on it, the last thing you want to deal with is tropical fish diseases. Coming home and finding your fish covered with white spots, the eyes swollen or the fins disintegrating is a blow to any aquarist.
Ich is a very common ailment found among tropical fish. It is not a disease, but rather a parasite that attaches its self to the body of a fish and eats the fluid and tissue. In the ocean where the density of fish is low, these parasites aren't a problem because they can't find a host very easily.
Cotton mouth is a highly contagious tropical fish disease that can kill your entire tank if treatment isn't started immediately. This disease is a bacterial infection that enters through the mouth, gills or wounds in the skin. Fish that have an inadequate diet, live in poor water conditions and are stressed out are at risk for cotton mouth.
The eyes of your fish are supposed to be bright. You might have heard of this in another context: When you want to buy a fish for dinner, you take a look at the eyes to check its freshness. It's the same for living fish. If the eyes of your fish become nontransparent, you should investigate it immediately.
The worm pushes its head into the flesh of its prey. The parasite infection looks like a small white worm that comes out of your fish and looks like a tiny tentacle. It is hard to remove due to its anchor-shaped head. If the parasite is pulled out by force the fish will suffer a bleeding wound.
You will need to know and research how to set up an aquarium, understand the size you will need for the amount of fish you are hoping to keep. Also be aware of the sizes your fish will grow to as most tropical fish are not purchased at adult size.
This could be because of poor water quality, chlorine poisoning or eye fluke. For poor water quality you have to change the water. For chlorine poisoning you should condition tap water before using it. For eye fluke please use proper medication.
Tropical fish diseases can affect or kill the fish in your tank so you need to be aware of how to avoid the plight of ich, velvet, fin rot, parasites, and a whole host of other ailments that can destroy your whole aquarium. Remember that your fish tank is a closed environment, unlike the sea or fresh water rivers where fish can swim to safety and avoid diseased cohabitants.
Another common disease is the Ich disease, Ich is present all the time in aquarium just waiting the "right" time to burst. Ich burst when a fish suffers extreme stress such as sudden drop in temperature or other fish attacks. It also burst when a new fish enterer an establish tank.
Try feeding other feeds than don’t pollute the water as much. Only feed meaty foods twice or three times a week as these tend to create the most waste. Aeration in your tank is crucial for having enough oxygen for your fish. The filter helps but does not provide enough oxygen. You should have at least one device for a 10-20 gallon tank and two for a tank that is larger than 30 gallons.
