# Clown KNife Problem



## Greeneyez0623 (Jul 17, 2008)

My clown Knife I have had for about 6 months. Now I notoced yesterday her eyes are cloudy/glassy and she is not eating. I did a partial water change this morning and she started moving around more but she still is not eating. Also Her fins are a light shade of pink now. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with her or how to help her.


----------



## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

Sounds like internal infections.
I would immediately test your water and see what your nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels are.

Is she still in the listed tank (40g with an oscar and a gibby) ? How big is she ?

How big are the other fishes ?
How often are you changing water ?
What are you feeding the knife ?

A 40g is really small - too small really for the knife, or the oscar, or the pleco, long term, by themselves - never mind all 3. So its entirely possible that the pathogenic bacteria population in the tank is high enough to infect the fishes.


----------



## Greeneyez0623 (Jul 17, 2008)

Yes she is still in the 40 gal. She is about 11 inches now and the oscar I have only had about a month. He's about 4 inches if that. The pleco is 6 or 7 inches. They will be moved to a bigger tank very soon. I am moving and the new tank will be set up after i move next month. Do you think if i get a better filter. (one that pumps over 300 gallons an hour) would it help a little? Also I do a water change every wednesday. About 20%. Should I change more than 20% or more often?


----------



## Greeneyez0623 (Jul 17, 2008)

Also I feed her dried blood worms and feeder goldfish but i am waiting for my new mollies to drop so i can start feeding her them.


----------



## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

sorry, my answer errored out when i tried to submit it and I haven't had time to re-write it.

Short version:
a) check to make sure the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are within proper bounds. If not, post the levels here and we'll make suggestions on how to fix.
b) see what meds your LFS has available - if they carry seachem i would use Kanaplex. If not, then a combination of Maracyn and Maracyn 2. 
Treat according to directions.

Afterwards, I would re-seed your biofilter. (I'm assuming that you don't have a hospital tank and are treating the main tank - a hosipital tank would be highly preferable). Seachem Stability, or Tetra Safe Start, would be good choices (the meds will strongly inhibit your normal biofiltration - and if the problem in your tank is overcrowding, then its going to get worse - thus the extra bacteria in the bottles).

I'm guessing that your knife's problem came from feeders (unless you find your gravel is still gunky even with weekly water changes - in which case you need to up your % to whatever it takes to vac thoroughly each week) - most feeders are loaded with pathogens.
But we can talk about disease avoidance later - for now we'll stick to the healing process


----------

