Need help diagnosing and treating disease.

F

Fishle

AC Members
Jun 18, 2006
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Last night I noticed that 2 of my rainbows have small cottony bumps on their lower lip. One of them also looks like he has a black eye. All around the bottom half of his eye the skin is puffy and pink. I also noticed them rubbing up on the glass alot, plus my shark has been flashing a little and rubbing up on ornaments now and then.

At first I suspected Ich, but the spots are on the lower lip and nowhere else. Plus the black eye on one fish doesn't fit the Ich diagnosis, correct? So now I'm suspecting velvet.

So, I'm not sure whether to treat for ich or velet. I began a blackout about 24 hrs ago and raised the temp to 82f, and I just bought some salt. I read the ich article and an article from skepticalaquarist, and if I understand correctly the best way to go if it is velvet would be to use a combination of formalin and malachite green, or "Quick Cure", and that salt night not get the job done. So, should I treat for velvet just to be safe since that would probably work for ich too???
 
whoops...
amm = <0.25, 'trite = 0, 'trAte = 5-10
pH = 8.0, GH = 13, KH = 14
tank size and fish are in my sig
 
Columnaris, which is a common occurence in rainbowfish, will appear if the water is not kept optimal. You are cycling your tank with bows in it, correct? If you do not get the ammonia down to 0 and keep it and your nitrites at 0, you will lose your fish.

Rainbowfish should not be kept in uncycled tanks.

Roan
 
The ammonia reading is probably what's causing it.

Mine had the same symptons when I had .1 ammonia and .2 nitrite ... i just did a 50 waterchange and its starting to get better....

on a sidenote,
'bows have big poops >.>
 
Fishle said:
The tank is cycled.
Click to expand...
Is this ammonia reading directly after a water change? If so, what type of conditioner and test kit are you using?

If not, then what is the cause of the ammonia if not cycling?

FYI rainbowfish need a minimum of 50% changes every week, more often if you can handle it, for optimum health. You may also have "weak" fish if you bought them from an LFS.

Roan
 
twig said:
The ammonia reading is probably what's causing it.

Mine had the same symptons when I had .1 ammonia and .2 nitrite ... i just did a 50 waterchange and its starting to get better....
Click to expand...
Exactly.

on a sidenote,
'bows have big poops >.>
Click to expand...
Huge poops :) You can even see the fry pooping when they are a few days old and barely visible.

Roan
 
Well, I tested for ammonia last night and it's harder to match the color at night. I said "<.25" because I wasn't 100% sure it was 0. It was definitely much closer to 0 than .25. Anyways, I'm gonna go test it again now...

I treat the water with Prime and test with API liquid kits.
 
Ok, amm is 0, 'trite is 0, and 'trAte is 10. Should I treat the tank with any meds in addition to water changes and gravel vaccing?

btw, is this article good/accurate?
 
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