List of aquarium diseases

The following is a list of aquarium diseases. Aquarium fish are often susceptible to numerous diseases, due to the artificially limited and concentrated environment. New fish can sometimes introduce diseases to aquaria, and these can be difficult to diagnose and treat. Most fish diseases are also aggravated when the fish is stressed.

Common aquarium diseases include the following:

Freshwater

Disease	Cause	Fish Affected	Symptoms	Treatment
Piscine tuberculosis	Mycobacterium marinum bacteria	All	Weight loss evident on underparts, with corresponding loss of appetite, papules, discoloration and bulging eyes.	Amputation
Fin rot	Bacterial	All	Erosion at edges of fins	Improve water quality, remove fin-nippers and feed vitamin C enriched food. Use anti-fungal treatment to prevent secondary infections
Mouth fungus or columnaris	Flexibacter bacteria	All, especially livebearers	Cottony growth near jaws and loss of appetite.	Improve water conditions. Use commercially available antibiotics
Swim bladder disease	May be bacterial, or caused by chilling or digestive issues	All, especially balloon mollies	Inability to balance in the water	Check water temperature. A medical bath may help.
Vibrosis	Vibrio bacteria	All	Discoloration, reddish staining of fins, bulging eyes, lethargic behavior	Medicated food
Pseudomoniasis	Pseudomonas bacteria	All	Hemorrhages in mouth and ulceration on body	Medicated food
Saprolegnia	Oomycetic	All	Whitish, fur-like growths	Vitamin C enriched food, or a commercial remedy in a medical bath. Check to make sure that your fish doesn't prefer Brackish water
Egg fungus	Fungal	Eggs only	Fungal growths on eggs	Remove affected eggs. Use methylene blue to medicate the hatching tank.
Lymphocystis	Viral	All	Cauliflower-like growths and white areas around the eyes	Vaccines may be available
Iridovirus dwarf gourami disease	Viral	Gouramis, angelfish, Ramirez dwarf cichlids and others	loss of appetite. Darkening in color. Enlarged abdomen. Occasionally lymphocystis	None
Singapore angelfish diseases		Angelfish	Inactivity, loss of appetite, high and rapid mortality	None
Malawi bloat	Probably viral	Lake Malawi cichlids, especially vegetarian ones	Similar to dropsy	Offer a high-fiber diet
White spots (ick)	Ichthyophthirius multifiliis parasite	All	Small white spots, which may ulcerate	Raise water temperature slightly and treat water with commercially available remedies
Hole-in-the-head	Hexamita parasite	Discus and cichlids	Pale ulcerated area around head	Metronidazole or similar medication. Use food containing vitamin C
Neon tetra disease	Pleistophora hyphessobryconis parasite	Neon tetras	Discoloration	None
Skin or gill flukes	Gyrodactylus and Dactylogyrus parasites	All	Labored breathing, scraping against objects, abnormal gill function	Commercially available medication
Anchor worm	Lernaea parasite	All	Visible parasites attached to body leading to ulceration and irritation	remove parasites with forceps and use medicated bath to prevent secondary infection. Insecticide may help
Dropsy	Varies from temperature, to indigestion to infection	All	Bloat, scales stick out	Varies depending on the cause
Tetrahymena ^{[citation needed]}	Parasite	Freshwater fish		None

Saltwater

Cryptocaryon (marine ich)
Marine velvet or coral reef fish disease
Anemonefish disease

Both

Disease	Cause	Fish Affected	Symptoms	Treatment
Marine velvet	Amyloodinium parasite	All, fresh and salt water	Powdered appearance, gasping and disorganized swimming
Velvet disease	Oodinium and other parasites	All salt and freshwater fish	Golden dots, rubbing against rocks while swimming
Septicemia or Egtved virus	Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus	Many fresh and salt water fish	hemorrhaging, internal and external	Virkon AQUATIC

Quarantine

The goal of quarantine is to prevent problems in the main tank due to sickness. A quarantine tank should be used before to introduce any newly acquired animals in the main tank and to treat fish that are already sick. By doing this, the aquarist can avoid the spread of the disease and make it easier to treat the fish.^[1]