# sick Celestial Pearl Danio, and new to hobby!



## TekWarren (Oct 6, 2013)

I had/have a similar issue with a single CPD after having my group for several months. I'm not sure mine has fin issues but was very obviously not getting enough food. I let it go for a couple weeks but finally moved the fish to another tank in case whatever it is spreads. I moved mine in an unheated tank that I toss plant clippings into. I've been feeding small amounts every few days...use NLS here also but now have live micro worms (thanks Dad) so I offer those also. The fish is still kicking, looks a little better but hard to see with all the plant clippings. I would move the fish especially if you think it has any sort of rot/fungus.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I don't currently have a hospital tank...

My only other tank is currently cycling with aquasoil...

What's the minimum equipment I need for a quarantine tank?


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## TekWarren (Oct 6, 2013)

The 10gallon I mentioned just has a cheap sponge filter powered by a small/cheap air pump. I don't run lights or anything on it but it sits near a window and generally has a lot of plant clippings from when I trim.

You wouldn't need anything really big for a single CPD but you would probably want a bubbler on it at least and do daily water changes. If you have any spare plants or something that floats for hiding in and preventing jumping that would be good. Be careful about feeding without any real fitration as you can quickly overfeed a small container with one fish.


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## wheatiesl337 (Mar 30, 2011)

I'm honestly impressed with the picture of that CPD. 

A sponge filter+heater, depending on your weather, on a 5.5g would probably be plenty for a micro-fish hospital tank. If you do end up putting together a hospital tank, you can consider adding a bit of salt. It helps freshwater fish feel a bit better, and can help with bacterial/fungal issues.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Update:

Well it seems she's shed the white stuff and her colour has darkened up quite a bit... I fed them frozen mini blood worms this afternoon and she managed to scarf down a worm almost as long as her... her tail is still partially clamped so I do think know if this is just a calm before the storm... it's definitely tattered or nipped maybe...

What a difference a couple days makes  the group of them seems much calmer after finding good hiding places when I come around... These fish are very interesting indeed :red_mouth

I snapped many pictures tonight but I will post those tomorrow. .. for now I have a picture of the adult male to show his amazing colour...

Thanks for all the suggestions... let's hope this clears up!


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

here is a slightly better picture of her... 

it seems to have cleared up, and she looks more full :smile:

I shall continue to monitor her...


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Well only a couple days later, and a even a small nitrite spike, *ALL of the CPDs look great* including the "sick" one - she still has nipped fins, but they have all darkened up and filled out... 

i think they are beginning to feel at home and even venture out when i watch them... they only hide when my hand enters the water... unless of course the lights are off but the rooms lights are on, then they freak out as i walk by 

Ive been feeding NLS small fish sinking pellets and mini bloodworms, and today i fed them daphina... 

Interestingly the alpha male and the larger 2 females have made the substrate their home, almost protecting territories, usually wiggling their bodies along the bottom for some reason, while the other 6 smaller CPDs reside about 16" higher in the top 2/3rds of the tank... the alpha male stays down there all the time usually close to the heater, with frequent scouting missions to the front, especially when i poke my face in front of the glass... he stares right back at me, with his fins just flashing :red_mouth

It turns out that there are 3 males in total, with all of them engaging in the typical spin around each other "sparring" behaviour... 

*These fish, while very small, are very interesting indeed! My 17 month old daughter is absolutely captivated by their behaviour!* :thumbsup:


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## Mizuhuman (Mar 16, 2013)

Great news! Welcome to the hobby and I hoped you enjoy your first experience with a planted tank. 

Those CPDs have great color and seem to be doing well. Good job nursing that one sick CPD back to health.

EDIT: Great pictures by the way. What are you using to take them?


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

The first picture was my galaxy note 2 phone...

The others were taken by a canon t3i (600d) dslr... 

Once I used my macro lense I was able to take a much better picture of some cherry shrimp... the CPDs don't stay still enough for that shallow of a depth of field


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## Mizuhuman (Mar 16, 2013)

Awesome pics!
I just saw the price for the canon t3i and 
At least the quality justify the cost


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

CPD's are almost always in some state of mating behavior. The females take quite a hit and when they get to chasing each other they have a tendency to slam into objects/glass and I've had them up and die from the trauma. Luckily they are also very prolific if you have the right setup so replenishing their numbers is quite easy. I still can't figure out why pet stores get the prices they do for them. They're like guppies or platys. 

Once they're sick enough to notice it's been my experience that the prognosis is not good. I am a true believer in Kordon Ich Attack or Rid Fungus for treating their tank though. It's mild enough for them to tolerate and it works. +1 for a half tsp of salt per gallon in their water too. Good luck!


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## Aqguy (Oct 30, 2013)

hitmanx said:


> here is a slightly better picture of her...
> 
> it seems to have cleared up, and she looks more full :smile:
> 
> I shall continue to monitor her...


Hope this is not the case for you but sunken belly can be a internal parasite , the fish can over eat and still starve to death always watch your fish purchase for sunken belly ,white spots or torn fins.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Well, after several weeks of what seemed like recovery, I found a female CPD dead yesterday... it could have been the original sick fish, but it's hard to tell as they all seemed to look healthy after the initial adjustment period... There always seemed to be a lone fish though swimming off to the side, maybe it was her...

All the tank parameters are fine and the RCS and amanos are doing great... I'm hoping it has nothing to do with the 3 Oto cats that all died within a week of introduction 

I'm looking to add 6 more CPDs this week :biggrin:


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Since you just had a fish death, I'd personally wait at least a few more weeks before adding any new fish.

Would suck if there's something still going around in your tank, and the new fish contract it, too.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Yes waiting would probably be a good idea...I hoping these are isolated incidents... the other CPDs look great and seem to be behaving fine... NLS pellets and frozen daphina are making them all nice and plump... I'm hoping they will start spawning - they are certainly doing the interesting spin dancing routine with each other :flick:


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## Bloomer (Mar 22, 2014)

Too bad about the deaths. Occasionally, I get fish like the CPD, usually because I didn't inspect them carefully before purchase and they often don't last long. They look better for a while, then die. I can't really tie it to any particular kind of fish (I have over 200 in 16 tanks), but recently went through a similar scenario with some tanaka guppies. Perfect tanks, good food, right amounts, but still very high fallouts, even after 2-3 attempts. CPD's should be tougher than those guys, but they're still sensitive.

I can make lots of guesses on the causes of the deaths: parasites, genetics, prior ammonia exposure, too much time in high/low pH or hardness store water, etc, but don't really know. I QT all my fish then run med courses and almost never have problems. Once in a while, one slips by. I bought a cory a few weeks ago in a rush and didn't notice both its pectoral fins were mostly gone, it started rolling in a few hours and lasted a day pre-meds in QT. 

Oto's are great fish, they're so industrious and have excellent personalities. As far as I know, they're all still wild caught and have a rough ride before finally landing in a home somewhere. The last dozen I got were perfect, they're almost two years old and very healthy, all still going strong. Full grown oto's look quite a bit different, their features become very clear and coloration lightens some. Oto's I tried 2-3 years ago were neck and neck for last place with neons in the survival race; 50% was really good. When buying oto's I never get one that doesn't have a full caudal or almost all of it, nor ones that aren't bouncing off the walls of the store tanks. 

Some observations that may or may not help prevent losses.

I'm curious why drip acclimation is being used? It's almost never needed and if done incorrectly, can subject fish to high ammonia, especially ones that were shipped. Just changing 25% of the water every 15-30 minutes and gradually working up to 100% for the last change works fine. If drip were necessary, routine tank pwc's would kill fish, but that never happens. It is good for very sensitive fish that will be taken way out of their ideal parameters, though.

Until the tank is stable with new introductions, feeding just prepared food, and lightly, seems to be a good idea. Small daily pwc's are too, for a week or so. I feed blood worms occasionally as a treat, fish love them, but they're not very nutritious and cloud water quicker than granules or flakes. In general, I've had much healthier fish and tanks with slight underfeeding. Occasionally, I take some time to look at each one individually ( a head spinning experience with endlers!) to be sure they're not fat, since overfeeding is super easy to do, and it feeds the tank as well as the fish.

Good luck with future introductions.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

Update:

Well since the last post, there have been no more CPDs fish deaths, and in fact I've added another 6... they are all healthy and colourful! 

It must have been an isolated incident :biggrin:

I'm sorry I didn't actually mean true drip acclimation. .. more like adding a small portion of tank water to the LFS water every 2 minutes or so until there is far more tank water, then I net them into the new tank... it's a method suggested by shrimp keepers and seems to work great for the shrimp and fish I've introduced... Although I had 0% success with the 3 ottos I've tried 

But unfortunately CPDs haven't begun spawning but that's another story...


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

I just recently purchased some CPDs myself. Looking forward to more on this thread with them. I only have three now to see how they do, and then I'm adding 2 or 4 more to hopefully end up with getting them to breed in my heavily planted tank.


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I've noticed since adding another 6 to make 14 in total, they have become more at ease... but they still hide when walking in front of the tank, but if i stop and watch they come right back out...

I ended up with 4 males and 9 females... with one brilliantly coloured alpha male... fighting is not an issue but they sometimes chase eachother around. .. it's heavily planted and they spend most of their time in the bottom third of the tank which has a footprint of 13in x 13in and is 20in tall... my tank could possibly house more considering I won't be adding any other fauna besides shrimp... 

Now if I can just get them to spawn. .. my ph is 8.2, gh is 30 and kh is 17 so maybe hard alkaline water isn't ideal for CPDs spawning...

Good luck and have fun with them... they are a beautiful and very personable fish when kept in greater numbers


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