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Possible Pet shop mix up?? Unsure. Help appreciated


Nossy

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So i thought id replace my female swordtail who died after a failed pregnancy with two female swordtails. I had mentioned on the day what the scenario was and i wanted two orange coloured female swordtails. So i brought them home and after letting them swim around in the spare tank for a week to see if there are any issues.

All was ok (although i did notice one was allot bigger and different shaped than expected) so i moved them both into the tank with my male swordtail. After the first night he was just sitting at the bottom of the tank seemed happy just treading water at the bottom. He done this for about a week before i saw him dead. :ske: He was still eating a little but had lsot allot of weight. Now the issue i have is the bigger one of the two female swordtails seems to be bullying the other and was a little aggressive with the male also. The other female is now hiding in the bush.

Is it actually a swordtail or just a bully? Any recommendations on what to do? Ill upload photos when i figure out how to :D

Regards

Nossy

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Hi,

I would cull the female in the first picture - she is very sick. Concentrate on the second female and raise her offspring that will pop out in about 25 days. That way you don't have to buy more fish and loose them due to introducing more germs and parasites your current fish are not used to. This is the exact reason why your male died...

Good luck,

JaSa

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Excellent information and answer from Jasa.

I'll just add that it is best to quarantine all new fish in a separate tank for up to four weeks - minimum of two before adding to your display tank. One week isn't quite long enough and possibly changing tanks twice within a week may have weakened/stressed the male.

On a good note your female 'bully' is a very healthy nice looking female.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well after this I had small red worms in my neon tetras So I had dosed the tank with a parasite rid and everything cleared up. I ahd removed the "sick " swordtail to another tank with the obviously infected neons and made the same dose and a little more. Seems to be working so far so I will see. With this new tank being set up and the old one still operational atm I was hoping to get all the fish I want and use the old 150litre tank as quarantine till I know they are healthy. These ideas sound ok?

also the healthy looking swordtail has not changed shape at all since my last message here. Maybe not pregnant? ?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hiya im pretty sure the red and black finned top fish is actually a platy .it does look wasted ...its belly should b rounder than that.so as suggested before either quanrantine it and treat with an antiparasitic or cull.

Lovely female sword though.they naturally hav quite a round belly , are more aaggressive in nature, grow much larger than platies so the poor platy always ends up second best.

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The signs you see in the first picture can be caused by internal parasites but also the emaciation and pinch gutted look can be the first signs of piscene tuberculosis which is infectious to other fish but also is zoonotic (can be transmitted to humans). I would destroy any fish showing those signs and quarantine the rest.

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