A gold fish at Aquarama in Singapore. Aquarama is the world’s largest event dedicated to ornamental fish. (Reuters)

The inhabitants of the aquarium that sits pretty in a corner of your sitting room need special care. But how would you know when your ornamental fish is sick? Well, by its appearance. A fish may have a swollen belly, sores on the body or lose colour. The other clue is a change in its behaviour, such as when a fish is hiding, having trouble in swimming or rubbing itself against a hard object.

Here are some of the common diseases that an aquarium fish suffers, and tips to cure them.

White spots and itch: The symptoms are white spots all along the body of the fish. It is an extremely contagious disease, so other fish in the aquarium are at risk too.

Treatment: Use Ridall. How-to-use instructions are written on the container.

Black spots: Small black spots on the body. The fish may scratch against the aquarium wall.

Treatment: Remove snails from the aquarium and pour some antibiotic solution into the water. Add 250 mg of Tetracycline in 10 litres of water.

Fungus: Fish also have the tendency to catch fungus infection very easily. This will be manifest in your fish as a white fizz, similar to wool or cotton. The infection can spread rapidly if left untreated.

Treatment: Ridall for general use, Methylene blue, Fungus pro and fungicide. These are available in fish shops.

Velvet disease: This affects the gills. Common symptoms are small gold and white spots. There’s a loss of colour and the fish tends to scratch and has difficulty in breathing.

Treatment: Add one cap of Tetracycline (250 mg) in an aquarium of 3 ftx1.5 ftx1.5 ft.

Head and lateral line erosion (hole-in-head disease): The fish develops holes in its head, sometimes laterally too.

Treatment: Metrogyl, Metronidazole and Hex-a-mit. Mix half teaspoon Metronidazole in a 3x2 ft aquarium.

Also: Sometimes you may find the fish gasping at the surface of the water or its gills turning purple. This happens due to high ammonia content and low dissolved oxygen.

Treatment: Change one-third of the aquarium water. Fresh water is a rich source of oxygen.

When you pour fresh water into your aquarium, remember that it should have the same temperature, salinity and hardness as that of the aquarium water. The optimum temperature of an aquarium should be 28-30°C. If you give too much dry food, a gold fish will swallow everything and then show symptoms of a swollen abdomen and may even die. So, give food judiciously. A silver shark sometimes keeps its head up and tail down, and stops eating. Mixing a tablet of Cifran-500 gives good results. The heads of albino fish often turn red. This can be cured with Mox 500.

For better upkeep, you must follow two things. Keep a separate aquarium for treatment of sick fish. Add common salt or aquarium salt to the water before administering medicine. This will open up the pores of the fish and help the medicine penetrate. If you give live worms, they should be fresh and cleaned properly.

Common medicines: Ridall Blue for fungus infection; Ridall Green for bacterial infection; Ridall White for cleaning water; Malachite Green for bacterial and fungus infection. Common dry food are Tetra Bit, Blood Warm, Tubifextokyo, Kijaro.

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