Okay, now the little guy is upside down. He's breathing, but he's laying on the bottom, belly up. What should I do?

What are the params for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Is this a new tank?

What do you mean by a white ring around his body. Is it like a belt or does it look like a sore or cut just on its side? Is it fuzzy? It does not sound like ich. Ich looks like tiny white dots. If you can elaborate that would be great.

If you've had those fish for more than 1 week there is definately something going on. Sometimes fish will die of stress within the first week simply because they can't handle the changes. The ring sounds very suspicious though....I'm sorry to be grim, but it sounds like he will not make it.

If it is water quality that is causing it, you can do water changes to make it better, but the stress of the new water probably will not help the danio. If you have some type of ammonia/nitrite detoxifier, you can add that to the water. If that is the problem he could make a recovery.

ICH is small white spots or specs. It looks like grains of salt. White ring may be a bacterial infection or fungus or just a loss of color due to stress.
Since its upside down I don't think it has much of a chance. If it was me I would euthanize. Go with your instincts if its going to recover.

I have come to ask you a very sad question. What is the most painless way to euthanize a fish?
I've decided to let him go because he hasn't moved, just laying on the bottom of the bowl breathing really hard.
To the other questions. I got him on Saturday. The tank has been up and running for a little less than six weeks. The ring looks like a belt, and more like his color is fading.
When I got the water tested on Saturday, the PH was a little high, but they said to just let it run itself out instead of using PH down. Thanks for all your support.
Oh, he also has a wound on his tail. Maybe it was the other danios or something. Poor little guy.

I can't help with the illness, but I can explain the schooling problem. They likely ganged up on the one that died and the one with the ring because they knew they were sick and didn't want them in the school.

The best way to euthanize is with clove oil. You can usually find it at a health food store. I don't know if you really have time to run out and buy it though, I don't think he will live much longer. 2nd best way is to chop off their heads with a sharp knife...but even I couldn't do that....Don't freeze him.

Since you've only had them for a few days, I'd mark it off as stress and inability to cope with changes. This happens a lot, but your little guy sounds like the stress left him helpless to disease. How are all the other fish in the tank doing? Keep a very sharp eye on them.

When I have to euthanize I do the quickest method which is not unlike lopping the head.
1)Get an old news paper and open it to the center page.
2)Net the fish and place it in the center of the opened newspaper. Then close the newspaper over the fish.
3)Place the folded newspaper w/fish near an outside garbage container.
4)Drop something heavy like a cement block on it.
5) Discard the newspaper w/fish in the garbage.

There is no easy way to end somethings life if you are not utilizing it as food (like hunting or fishing). I find it harder to watch something suffer though. Even though it may be a hard thing to do, you will most likely feel better about doing the task afterward, then if you let it suffer. This is probably too late but maybe for the next time. Unfortunatly this is part of keeping fish and other pets. Sometimes the death is untimely, sometimes its just old age. Good Luck.

tighebettalover, you mentioned you had an over crowed tank problem? I don't think two little tiny fish will change that a whole lot, depending on the size of your tank, but be sure to keep up on your water changes.

I would suggest also that you wait awhile before adding any more fish even if the tank is not over crowded. Six weeks is still a fairly new tank. Go easy and add fish slowly.

How long have you been a fish keeper? Have you invested in some good books? It is good to keep ourselves knowledgeable about the fish we keep. Read up and visit good fish forums. Besides this one I would recommend

http://forums.fishindex.com/

Keep in touch and feel free to contact me directly.

Katphish

Thanks for all your help. He died yesterday. Poor little guy. Two of my corys died a couple of days ago, so I think maybe I'm okay with the bio-load.
The rest of the fish are doing great, and the moons are accepting the new fish great. The other danios are schooling a bit better, so I'm happy. '
katphish- i do not plan on adding anymore fish until most of them die of old age or something. i have been a fish keeper for about three and a half months. i have a 2.5 aquarium with bettas and the 20 gallon with all the danios and co. i am very new, so i'm going to go get some books and such. thanks for your help!
tighebettalover