Small Animal and Fish World
Hoppping
Houdini's
Signs of Illness in Fish
The first sign of illness in fish, is its behavior. A fish may hide in a corner instead of being lively like it should be. Fish will show many signs of illness including droopy or swollen fins, damaged scales, discoloration, white spots on the body, and many others.
Illnesses
There are many illnesses that fish can have however, I will only talk about the most common of types. The first is whitespot, which is often called Ich in the United States, is a parasitic infection caused by Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. White spots are present on the fins and can spread to the whole body of an infected fish. Velvet disease, similar to white spot is caused by a protozoon called Amyloodinium and it only affects the gills. Bacterial infections are caused by opportunistic bacteria in the water, they gain access to a fishes body and affect the scales short after. Viral infections can be caused by many things, spring viraemia of carp is a spring virus and haemorrhaging can occur if a fish has this diease. Poisoning can occur from any household item or sprays that come in contact with the water or tank. Be sure to wash the tank throughly before you put your fish back into the aquarium.
Most Serious Illnesses
The most serious types of infections are viral infections. At least some fish viral diseases appear to be prompted by poor aquarium conditions. The most common disease in aquarium fish, Lymphocystis, is usually associated with heavy metals including copper, poisons such as insecticides, and consistently poor aquarium water quality.There is also some evidence that inbreeding makes fish more vulnerable to fish viral infections. This may be particularly relevant where “fancy” varieties of ornamental fish are concerned. There are three other types of viral infections. The Koi Herpes Virus (KHV), Fish Pox, and the Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus (DGIV). All of these viruses are can be dangerous and life threatening but if you take good care of your fish and check it reguarly for signs of infection/disease. It will live a happy and long life. On the right is a chart of fish dieases. Click on it to look at the different types.
