Please help--my fish are dying and I can't figure out why

O

organizedchaos

Registered Member
Apr 15, 2010
1
0
0
I've kept fish off and on for 15 years and I have never lost this many.

This is long, sorry..

A month or so ago I gave some guppies to a friend. She wrote me and reported one of the females had Camellanus worms. I'd never seen any signs of them whatsoever, but I was keeping an eye out, and have seen none.

Two weeks ago we got four dwarf gouramis. Three are now dead, no apparent cause. Now one of my female guppies is dying, again no apparent cause, just floating upside down. And one of the cory cats (my favorite! :( ) is lethargic, won't eat, and it looks like his tail fin has suddenly rotted away. He is bright pink almost like he is bleeding internally (around the tail area). He didn't look like this last night.

I've started treatment for Camellanus (piperazine) but could it really be that if I've seen no trace of the worms? If I did a postmortem on one of the fish would the worms be visible? I'm a former veterinary assistant and I've taken microbiology and chemistry, but I don't have access to a microscope right now. I don't really want to cut open one of my fish, even if it is dead, but I'll do it if I have to.

The tank is a 20g seaclear with (now), 2 cory cats, 2 pitbull plecos, 1 dwarf gourami, and 3 guppies. I have a Whisper 30 and Whisper 10 filter. Temp is 79 F. No ammonia detectable.

Please help! :(

Thanks for any ideas.. and I know I know, I should have quarantined.. :(
 
I had a plague go through my tank with fish fine one day and dead the next. No signs of problems. One suggestion was to replace or completely boil off the gravel and restart the biological system. The cause seemed to be a bacteria in the gravel.
 
Somebody here posted a picture of a fish (still living) with a Camellanus problem...the worm was visibly protruding out of the anus. I think it would be worth it if another fish dies to at least examine the area for evidence. If you don't see any and can bring yourself to do it, cut him open and check the stomach. They should be easily visible to the naked eye if present in numbers enough to kill, no microscope needed.
 
callamanus worms are very visible to the naked eye. i had to deal with these nasty lil buggers in one of my tanks not too long ago. levamisole HCI is what you want to treat with.
 
Never destroy well established BB/Tank unless toxins somehow found their way into tank.

Have you done any massive wc just before this mishap and/or neglected/missed few routine?

You also said new fish were added which also all died. Could it possible whole thing started due to new additions.

If more fish are coming down with illness, pics would help.

If tank is stablizing, no further spreading of illness, and water conditions are w/i reason (pH/NH3/NO2), I would just monitor.

check your pH of tap to see if any changes in tap source have been changed

Hope all goes well!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom