Vet Q&A-Fish

Can use mineral water for aquarium. My tap water has lot of heavy metals. I have 10 galloon tank with 4 guppy 4 danio 1 silver dollar. 1silver dollar and 1 pleco died bcoz of 2 gold fish earlier in my tank. So i decided to use RO water. Can i use.

RO water is devoid of minerals and trace elements that help stabilize pH and other parameters. If you can add these after filtration then use your RO water. Otherwise, RO is commonly used to "top off" fish tanks that lose water via evaporation.

My dog is 10 mths. He won't eat kibble or can food,we've tried several brands.I even tried mixing fish oil and warm broth. Nothing works. We tried to starve him by not giving him anything but dog food and he still won't eat for few days. At one point he threw up maybe due to gastric acid. He is very skinny. However if we give him dog snacks and treats or papaya he eats those eagerly. The vet here prescribed him cucurma and Lypex for 10 days and still no improvement. Anything else we should try?

Hi, thanks for using Boop by Petco! Poor Teddy! Since you are describing him as skinny I worry about medical causes for his anorexia. I would deworm him even if the stool is negative and have a stool sample checked. I have blood work ran to check his kidneys. If all the blood work comes back normal I would do a maldigestion/malabsorption profile (B12, folate, TLI, PLI), a bile acid to test liver function and test him for Addison's disease. Then I would ultrasound him to look for enlarged lymph nodes and thickened intestines that would suggest Inflammatory Bowel disease. I hope this helps and I wish you and Teddy the best!

My fish Nemo isn’t moving he’s stayed in the same position for over and hour his eyes hasn’t moved either but his gills are moving is he dead??

I would suggest to try to stimulate him and see if he moves more. You can try to feed him as well. If he does not move and he is lethargic there may definitively be a problem; unfortunately the signs in this case are quite generic and a logic and radical approach would be required. Begin by submitting a water sample for quality testing. Most pet stores will do this for free or a nominal fee. High ammonia levels, PH imbalances may be responsible for that. Oxygen concentration and quality of the filters should be determined as well. If water quality is good and there are no major imbalances, your fish should get examined to look for any sign of bacterial/fungal infection and eventually water should be treated. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

I have a male beta fish and he been acting werid for 2 days now. Usually he swimming around but he haven't been eatting and he always laying on the bottom of the fish bowl. Is there something wrong with him?

There is certainly something wrong but unfortunately these signs are quite generic and would require a quite radical but logic approach to be interpreted correctly. Begin by submitting a water sample for quality testing. Most pet stores will do this for free or a nominal fee. High ammonia levels, PH imbalances may be responsible for that. Oxygen concentration and quality of the filters should be determined as well. If water quality is good and there are no major imbalances, your fish should get examined to look for any sign of bacterial/fungal infection and eventually water should be treated. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

My dog has hip dysplasia. I would like to start him with supplement but HD or Joint supplement in my country is limited. Any feedback on Advanced Cetym M as I would like to try it. Also how much of fish oil should I give him? He is 19kg (41 lbs) but he's on Hill's Diet Weight Reduction canned food as he just has a perineal surgery and the vet suggested to cut his weight to 15kg. Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.

I have used Cetyl-M in my patients in the past, and have found it to be a good product. It's quite a bit more expensive than products like Dasuquin, but if it's all you can get I think it's a great option for Sly. The dose of fish oil that is believed to combat the inflammation associated with osteoarthritis in dogs is based on their metabolic weight, not actual weight. This is calculated by raising the weight to the 0.75 power. You then combine the milligrams of DHA and EPA in the product you are using and give the dog a total dose of both that is 310 milligrams/kilo of metabolic body weight per day. Consider starting with half the dose and working up to ensure good GI tolerance.

I got a fish from the fair. Its orange, gender unknown. What do I feed it for the meantime, and how do I take care of it so it doesn't die. It's current habitat is a plastic bowl with a lid, probably the size of the ones people get at petsmart. Please help, I don't know what to do and it's currently using my sink water. I don't have BRITE or any water cleaner for it..

It sounds like you need to take a trip to your local pet store. The clerks there can help you pick out an appropriately size tank with proper filtration and heating that can help keep Sushi healthy. They can also let you know what water treatments you'll need for the water in your area, as well as test any water you bring it to see if it is OK for Sushi to live in. Pet stores will also carry commercial goldfish food which is a balanced diet that is given to them. It should have feeding instructions on it so you know how much is appropriate to give to Sushi.

I've read that the upper safe limit for fish oil is 25-55 mg of EPA and DHA per pound. I've read that you can give 30 mg of EPA and DHA per pound of body weight for medical conditions, is this true? can I give half this amount for maintenance? Thanks!

Yes this is correct, but keep in mind that too much fish oil can have negative benefits on your pet including interference in wound healing. For a dog, I recommend giving 1,000 mg fish oil containing 300 mg of EPA/DHA combined for every 30 pounds of body weight.

My Betta fish has been acting strange lately: he is swimming normally; however, he will often jerk from time to time & rub on the decorations. I have checked for velvet but there were no signs of it. I checked for ich; no white specks, there is just this white spot where his anus is that has been there ever since I got him. Water parameters are perfect. I have recently noticed what looks to be peeling scales on one of his gills but they have started to heal. Is this parasitic? How do I treat it?

By your description, the condition could be resolving. A bacterial, fungal or parasitic infection could have been the cause. It could also have been a traumatic injury. Monitor for signs of ich or bacterial infection. Move Mushu to a small quarantine tank or bowl. Maintain the water temp at 78-80 F. If it is ich, this will speed up the lifecycle. Dissolve 1 teaspoon per gallon of aquarium salt (NOT table salt) into the hospital tank. Perform daily water changes with conditioned water and fresh salt. Do this for 7-10 days maximum. A wide variety of minor infections can be treated in this manner. You can treat the main tank in this fashion if necessary, but perform 25-50 % water changes to avoid upsetting the nitrogen cycle.

Melanie, would I be able to give one of the fish oil pills 3x per week to lessen the amount? Would that be better than every other day? or is it better to give some every day? They also gave salmon oil at Trader goes that has 200 mg of EPA and DHA and 1200 mg of fish oil. Is one better than the other. I got the one with the higher amount because if I give it less often it's less calories. Thanks!

You can give the fish oil pills 3x a week to lessen the amount, but to get the full benefits of it, it should be given daily. Because the amount of those pills is still well within the recommended dose range, it is fine to give them daily.