No more Swordtails never ever again

[freshwaterfishlover]

Well maybe once more. I had 4 Swordtails and 2 died in 2 days. I plan to replace the ones that die with diffrent color Swordtails. If they die again then I will replace them with 4 Cory Catfish. I have them die every time.

I have Swordtails die atleast 5 times. I have had the 29g since September and only once have other fish besides Swordtails die. I think it was because of wrong dose of Medicine.


I thought I saw one white spot on a Swordtail, but was not sure. The other one that died had no spots what so ever.

[cocoa_pleco]

do you have them with hard water? they like hard water

[crackatinny]

I never seem to have much luck with swords either, they last a couple of months then we seem to lose them, I thought they was meant to be a fairly hardy species.

[freshwaterfishlover]

Most Hardy I would say are Silver Dollars. I thing I did the Medicine wrong last time and shot the copper up way up and 8 Fish died, but not the Silver Dollars.

[nanaglen2001]

Good morning.

Its fairly possible that those swordtails had been sick and weak already, when you bought them.

Did you buy them in a pet shop or did you get them from a private person?

In petshop especialy lifebearers more or less swim in antibiotica. Then when they are in a new environment, their imune system just cant cope with the new circumstances and they die off. This desaster you will find very often with guppies.

Maybe you know a person who keeps swordtails in "normal" water. Maybe he/she is happy to get rid off some youngsters und you can give it a try again.

On the other hand, what are your water parameters? Hard water, soft water? It can be hard on a fish too, when it used to live in some totaly different water than yours.

I always ask the dealers in what kind of water they keep their animals, if there is too much difference I dont buy the animal.

[Lady Hobbs]

LOL I said never again and have never bought my first one. :) Just from hanging out here, I've read about 100 posts now that they always seem to bring ICK home with them. Not to say that others don't also have ICK but seems to me that swords appear to be more susceptible to it.

[freshwaterfishlover]

I have bought Swodtails at 3 diffrent stores and all have died. Only fish in the 29g to get Ick are the Swordtails. I'll try once more then give them up. I have Silver Dollars, Gouramis and Corys and they are all doing great.

First I will try diffrent color Swordtails to try something new. If they die I will buy 4 more Corys or maybe try Ghost Catfish, but they may be a little to big for my tank since I already have some fish in the tank.

[gm72]

Lady Hobbs, interesting input regarding swordtails and Ick. You know I am treating my 40 gallon long right now, and I suspect the red velvet swordtails to be the fish that introduced the disease to the tank. Interesting. Next time I'll quarantine!

[KBlane]

Just to throw in my own observations on the Swords:

In keeping fish 21 years, I've seen the gradual decline in the overall "hardiness" of the species--probably from a number of factors. I can recall in the '80s, swordtails could be counted on to be healthy; now you're lucky to find them in a dealer's tank without an already existing condition of poor health.

As someone else mentioned, many of them "collapse" when introduced to water that is not treated with medication.

I would advise a purchase from a reputable breeder, or from someone who's just getting overstocked because of the swordtail's breeding habits. Occassionally you can find a strong specimen in a dealer's tank. Just be sure to note that if ANY of the other inhabitants of the tank are looking ill, you'd be better served to just avoid buying even the healthiest specimen.

Good luck finding some healthy ones. I've been lucky in that the last few times I've had them, they've lived for a number of years and been quite nice in the tank.

K. Blane

[crackatinny]

This seems to be a worldwide thing to, as members from various countries have noticed problems with this species, interesting.

[LD_Sorel]

Hi I have a swordtail 10 gallon tank and i have 5 very healthy swordtails all from different pet stores. I did have to treat for Ick once, and it was because the last swordtail I bought introduced it to the tank. Luckily it was treated right away and we are clean now. The infected fish came from a big commercial chain pet store with rather untrained staff, while all the others were bought from small, independent shops with very caring and knowledgable owners.
I think you should just really make sure who you purchase from and take a real close look at the fish before you buy it.
The sick fish I had is currently beautiful and healthy, and when I bought him he didn't exhilbit the white spots. But within the week he was put in the tank he had spots, and then quickly they appeared on a few more fish.

Anyways, thats my 2 cents....I absolutely love these fish! :):ezpi_wink1:

[RobbieG]

Every LFS in my area have had to treat their live bearers for either fin rot or ICH before sale for at least the past year. The chain stores say they are doing it but it looks more like they just put all the new ones in the same tank wait two weeks and sell the ones that make it. The only reason I go to the big stores at all anymore is to get inverts. (MY favorite LFS doesn't sell them)