What a bacterial infection can do to your tank...

mduros

mduros

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Sep 20, 2005
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Chicago, Illinois
www.maryduros.com
Around February 23 one of my dwarf sunset gouramis died suddenly of unknown causes, within the past month since her death I have lost her partner and a school of neon tetras, and a school of bloodfin tetras. I thought the battle was over, I have two bloodfins and one neon left from those schools. But this morning one of the remaining bloodfins appears to be in the beginning stages of this mysterious wasting disease. He will be dead in a week. I've already done the anti-biotic treatment and was told if they continue to get sick that it just has to run it's course and to be prepared to lose all of the fish in the tank. I don't know how many people have dealt with bacterial infections, but I'll tell you, they're nasty, nasty things.
Take care,
Mary.
 
what treatments did you try.

keep in mind there are gram + and gram -.
generally speaking for fish you need to treat the appropriate infection with the appropriate med.

this is where a doctor comes in handy.


identifing which bacteria is present..

my understandingis..you cannot treat effectively for both at the same time.

:read:
 
I'm assuming the infection is internal. Are you feeding the antibiotics? treating a tank for internal infections usually isn't very effective. may seem cold blooded, but removing fish at the first sign of infection might help. Lots of water changes can't hurt. (maybe lower the temp a couple degrees since bacteria reproduce faster in higher temperatures). Good luck.
 
Star & Mooman
I treated the tank with Kanaplex. 3 dose maximum with that stuff. And I was also feeding gel erythrmyacin, and force feeding the really sick ones by removing from the quarantine tank and actually squirting gel onto their mouths. The gourami seemed to really appreciate that, it was wierd. I had also read about the + and - anti-biotics, and the fish shop, who I have alot of trust in suggested that if the treatments I was using did not work, not to mess with anything else and just let it run it's course.

Mikeiam
Thanks alot, I'm going to look into that. Because, I'm telling you, if I lose my adfs, ram, plecos, yoyos, or rainbows, I'm going to be a basket case over this.
Take care,
Mary.
 
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maybe I missed it but
what are your tank parameters?? and your wc schedule like?

I hate problems like this
 
More on UV

Running water past a UV light does have the potential of raising the temperature, so make sure to monitor it. This is one case where bigger is not better. You may also want to consider using it only when needed. Use it to solve the problem with dieing fish, until the ick is gone and when adding something new to the tank. I.E. fish, plants, decor, water changes, equipment cleaning, etc. As I was slow to learn, leave it off when starting a tank. Run it a few days after symptoms are gone, then turn it off. Once all the bad stuff is dead, no need to waste electricity.


*** Disclaimer ***
*** Do research on this before jumping in on this***

If the UV does not clear things up, look into Ozone.

Let us know how it goes.
 
star_rider said:
maybe I missed it but
what are your tank parameters?? and your wc schedule like?

I hate problems like this
Click to expand...
Sorry, I was dealing with this weeks ago. This was more like a "Boy you don't want to get this... post!" My water parameters in this tank are very stable. Ammonia -0, Nitrite -0, ph -7.6, Nitrate usually between 20 and 40 range at wc time - once a week. Parameters same now as they were then. Nothing has changed. I normally change 15 - 20 gallons of a 55 gallon tank. Then I usually throw in a couple extra changes a month just for good measure.
 
Mary has been more than diligent about looking after her fish and her water is great. I've been trying to help her with this for a while to no avail :(

Again, I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help, Mary.

Roan
 
Sometimes these things just happen. It's a shame you are loosing your fish.

I just happened to have a septicemia problem in my gourami tank: lost one, one still in treatment, but it seems the others are just fine. I had to dose the entire tank with medicine, and this messed up my biofilter. I thought it was "fried", as RoanArt stated, but after a week of strong water change routine, the filter is back to normal.

Hope this happen to you too.

I a case a bad as yours, I'd go the hard way: let all fish die, then sanitize and restart the tank. Of course, this should be a last resort, and all ther effort has to be made to keep your fish alive and healthy.

Again, sorry to haer about your problem. I know how losing a loved fish feels like.
 
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