Whirling Disease?
I have a school of shiners from Mississippi River in my 10 gallon tank. Two of the fish started to show signs of spinal deformations and they twist and whirl when swimming.
<Yikes....  Not a good sign, at all.  Use strong caution, here - do *not* return any of these fish to the wild - if they have a contagious disease (and it sounds like they do), it could impact other wild fish very negatively.  As you describe this, the first thing that pops into mind is "whirling disease".  This illness is caused by a myxosporidian parasite known as Myxobolus cerebralis.  It's usually seen in salmonids (like salmon and trout), but has been seen in other fish as well, even goldfish and livebearers.  The parasites infect the tissues around the inner ear and the cartilage of the skull.  It causes the fish to swim in circles, sometimes frantically, or to swim nose-down tail-up, spinning like a top.  It is usually fatal, though some fish will survive and thereafter always have spinal/skeletal deformities.  It is also untreatable, I'm sorry to say.  If this is what your fish are exhibiting, I would strongly recommend euthanizing the sick fish, or at the least remove them to a seperate tank to prevent spread of the disease to your other fish.  If the fish die in the tank of healthy fish, the healthy fish run an *enormous* risk of catching the illness - hundreds of thousands of M. cerebralis parasites may be released by an infected dead fish.  Also, if the fish die, do *not* flush them, for the same reasons.  Perhaps bury them at the roots of a favorite plant, so they can "live on" as life given to the plant.... or maybe I'm just sappy and sentimental.  anyhow, I know this is a huge amount of bad news, and I am sorry to be the bearer of it....>
Other fish (guppy, neon, danio and other four shiners) seem to be fine. The fish had been in my tank since September and had been given general tropical fish flakes.
<They may never catch it, either, if you act now and remove the infected fish.>
I also noticed that the shells of snails started turning whitish and have some abbesses, just don't look healthy. do I have some nutrient deficiency in my tank?
<Ahh, this is a much easier, and happier answer.  You are probably lacking calcium or some other mineral that the snails need for healthy shells.  You can buffer the water with a calcium carbonate solution, but this may increase your pH, as well, so do so only with caution.  I'd also like to mention, since dosing my tanks with iodine for my freshwater shrimps, I have noticed AMAZING changes in the snails, as well - the went from pitted, white, eroding shells to rich, brown, faster-growing shells.  The change is very obvious on the larger ones, you can actually see the cutoff point where their shells began to grow healthy.  I use one drop of Kent Iodine (this is marketed for saltwater tanks) per every ten gallons of water in all my freshwater tanks containing shrimp.  The snails get it by default.>
What to do?  
<Just as above....  and do further research on "whirling disease", especially here:  http://www.fishdisease.net/cgi-bin/search.cgi?ps=10&q=whirling+disease&t=&Submit=Search .  Again, I'm sorry I don't have better news for you.>
Thanks for your help,  Claudine
<Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Rosy Red minnow
Hi there!
I saw on your site a few people were asking where to get Rosy Red minnows for their ponds and such. I work in a pet store that sells them (as feeders, I'm afraid) but I have an exceptional one here at home that I rescued tonight. It is a fully grown one, a male I believe because of his size. He is at least 3" long. I called him "The Giant Minnow" as he was much larger than all the others we have. I figured out his survival strategy, he would stay at the bottom of the tank and hide among all the other fish in there since when we dip them out for a customer we pick them from the top.
<Neat!>
I have been trying to catch him for 2 weeks now, he was a sneaky little dude but I got him and took him home. He's in a tank with another 'feeder' fish I decided to keep as a pet, a small comet goldfish. My problem is the Giant Minnow is now nipping at my comet and I'm thinking this might not work out.
<Does sound like the Rosy is too aggressive to mix here>
I don't want to take him back to the store since he will most likely get fed to someone's Oscar or turtle, and releasing him into a creek near my store is out since that is probably illegal.
<Legal or not, this is a very POOR idea. Please DO NOT release any living thing to the wild>
If there is someone that frequents your site that wants him for their pond or tank I will be happy to ship him to them. He seems very healthy, no external
parasites and eats very well. I have been medicating the comet for a small fungus problem for 2 days now, and the minnow is in there with the medicine too, just to ensure he is well. If you do find someone who wants him, I'd appreciate it a lot. I'd even send more Rosies along if they want them since I can get them at work. Please drop me a line and let me know if I can post something on your site to try and find him a home. Thanks a lot!
                                             - Michele
<Thank you for your kind offer... is there no other room for this fish at your home? Perhaps simply dividing the Rosy for a while (a few days) will aid in making it more compatible. A floating plastic colander (spaghetti strainer) will likely do best... Bob Fenner>