# Disease?



## mbenzofp's (Oct 7, 2003)

hey guys i went to a LFS today and saw that they had gotten about 50 .5" red belly's in. they all looked normal swiming around in a perfect shoal. i moved down a couple tanks and saw some more. but these were different. they all had fin nips and were either missing one or the other or both eyes. and some of them were completly black. they seemed to be swiming around ok but not as the one in the other tank. is this a disease or what? they looked awesome but they didn't have eyes.









will they regenerate or regrow eyes? if so i might go and save some of them. they were only selling them for $2 a piece. thats what tipped me off that something might be wrong. 
let me know what you think


----------



## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

> will they regenerate or regrow eyes?










......







........







.......







.........







.........







......







......







......


----------



## mpdt (Jul 16, 2003)

Fin nips are normal when there are too mant piranha in a confined space. Eyes do not grow back but fins do. $2 for a rbp is a little low where I am at, so I would go with the healther ones.


----------



## mbenzofp's (Oct 7, 2003)

how about the total blackness? i can deal with only one eye. i just think a .5" completely black rbp looked cool but i was a little worried it was going to die before i got it o my tank. $2 isn't too much for a cripple when they are selling .5" that look normal for $7 or 4 for $24


----------



## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

you sure they are P nattereri?

but if they are, I wouldn't worry too much about the colour, mine are almost totally silver, no red, these things happen.


----------



## wrathofgeo (Aug 23, 2003)

i dunno about the black thing, that is usually a sign of stress in fishes from what i know... but if they are that cheap i guess.


----------



## tweaked (Aug 3, 2003)

being 0.50 rbp and black at that size = stressed + sick. I wouldn't waste the time. But if you decide, make sure you keep them in a separate tank.


----------



## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

I wouldn't risk buying them if they look that bad. Even if they were $2 each, if you bought 10 of them and all of them died, you are out $20 (+ tax). lol Not to mention the money you will have to spend on meds if you want to cure them of any potential parasite or bacterial infection they may have.


----------



## mbenzofp's (Oct 7, 2003)

thanks DonH 
i really wasn't looking for a cheap fish. i just liked the total black look at that size. anyway it doesn't sound like a good idea. thanks for the info


----------

