New member with sick fish.

Greetings,

I am a new addition to this forum and needing some help. My wife and I have had this Jack Dempsey for 9 years, a pleco for about 4 years and a convict for about 4.5 years together in a 40 gallon breeder tank.

Here is the problem.

Wife kept leaving the door open and letting flys in the house. I noticed two in the tank (the convict ate one) and I figured it was OK.

About 2 days later, I noticed the Jack Dempsey (JD) wasnt hungry. I didnt think too much of it, I had been out of town so the wife was feeding them (she perfers to feed them every other to two days); The convict was eating fine. It was time for a water change so I do it. After a 3 day hiatus from feeding, the JD appeared bloated, listless, breathing rapidly, swimming to the surface to bite off some air, and his color had blanched in parts.

I did a little research and noticed people call this 'bloat' and use a medicine called 'Clout' to help solve it. I purchase this, remove the filter and notice the temperature is colder than usual. We raise the temp a little, and add a little salt (about 1/8 cup) to the tank, and steal the air pump from my other tank and install it to help oxygenate the water as much as possible. The medicine turns the tank water blue, so I could then see some stringy white strands in the tank and on the fish. The fish has a white spot on his right side with a little bit of this crap on there.

Yesterday morning I notice the JD is more active, still bloated (his scales stick out) and he was now forcing his will on the other fish (the convict temporarily decided to move into the JDs cave, but was coerced out). But he still liked to swim to the top for air, and is breathing rapidly. So I figured I would do a 10 gallon change and start another round of treatment.

Today, the convict is showing signs and has a white spot on his right side, and is acting a little more slow than usual. The JD now has 2 spots on his right side, one just behind his right fin (the original one mentioned earlier) and now one near his tail on the right side. The JD is still very bloated, seemingly about as active as he was yesterday afternoon/evening, is not hanging around near the surface as much, breathing rapidly still and is partially blanched in color.


I am charging batteries to my camera and asap I will post images of the fish and their spots.

Any suggestions on how to better treat the fish would be greatly appreciated. I didnt want to move them from the 40 gallon tank, because the JD doesnt take to moving that well and tends to go into shock for extended peroids of time, unlike other fish Ive had which adapt quickly.

Thanks, in advance.

Well, I got the pictures but Im having a terrible time sizing them so I can upload them. :rant2:

I did a pH test (~7.3-7.5) before I medicated the tank, and tested for ammonia, but not nitrates (dont have a tester). I use both carbon and zeolite (Im a geologist, so I tend to call it by that, instead of the 'white carbon' or other terms Ive heard) on top of one of those spongy thingies (technical term).

Water changing regiment, simple, I take one 5 gallon bucket (only used for this purpose) fill it with water and conditioner, let it sit. I then take another bucket and change out the water (getting the poop and sifting through the gravel with the hose thingy too), filling 2 buckets full. Then I add the water back (plus another 5 gallons). I do this about every 2-3 weeks. I briefly did this every week but the fish actually were not as happy, so after a little while I toned it back to 2-3 week intervals.

That white spot on the Jack Dempsey (JD) looks to be somewhat fibrous and there are scales missing here. I believe the scales are sticking out, because of the bloat of the fish. They are not universially sticking up, but only on the bloated portions.

attempt

I stink. Here are some pics loaded to myspace. I was having problems getting it on another site. Hope this looks ok?


http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/ind...&MyToken=87d2800f-78f4-45fd-830e-202b738bcd81



otherswise they are attached.

Update

Not much of an update. I changed about 40% of the water removed most of the plastic plants from the tank and some extra rocks. (when the tank was blue from CLOUT, I could see some stringy whitish stuff dangling from it, so I took it out, but to keep the fish happy, I kept in the one plastic plant near their caves(rocks).

In looking up DROPSY online, I have found photos of fish who were 'pineconed.' My JD is bloated and some scales are sticking up as a result but not anything like the photos Ive seen, where the fish has a sawtooth appearance from at topdown perspective.

Those two whitish spots are cottonlike.

When the CLOUT turned the tank blue, I could see some stringy whitish lines on his body, there are the two patches you can see in the photos, and you can see a little patch on his snout.

I went to the local fish store today and talked with the folks there. They gave me some medicines and I left. I get home read them more carefully and they gave me medication for ICK. On the bottle it suggests treating the tank with CLOUT if this medicine doesnt work. So Im fustrated, they never listen and always blame everything on ICK.

I read online about a person who attempted to treat a fish with Dropsy. And this person commented on how their fish floated around but still ate.

The JD is not eating. The Convict's appetite has slowed- though it could be related to me stressing him out with the medicines and water changes. The Convict shows no sign of bloat. JD was sitting on some rocks and briefly went to the surface for a little more air but that part has seemed to pass mostly, ever since I first treated the tank with Clout and added a second air pump.

I am considering turning their tank into a giant salt bath since 2/3 of the fish are afflicted to some degree. Wife is out buying Kosher Salts and Maracyn as suggested by an earlier poster. I have added 1 cup of Kosher Salt (before I ran out- I didnt want to use normal table salt due to some of the additives/impurities) to the tank as of right now.

Fish store also gave me K-mycin to treat the fish. Im not sure what to do with this.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I will likely be up pretty late tonight and working at this.

Update

I added 1 cup of salt to a 40 gallon tank earlier after cleaning it out. Then I put the carbon back in the tank for a few hours to clear out any residual CLOUT medicines which didnt get cleaned up with the 40% water change.

I took the JD out and stuck him in a bucket with 3 gallons of his water and added 1 tablespoon of water every 2 minutes for 8 minutes when the fish started to show visibile signs of stress. I returned the fish to his tank and let him rest at 8pm. The JD was breathing hard when I put him back in the tank and took several minutes to calm down. But the JD remained outside of his cave, instead opted for a divit in the gravel (where the plants used to be). On a good note, the Pleco came by and started to bump into him a few times, and the JD came to life a little and chased off the Pleco.

At 10pm I pulled the carbon and added maracyn 1 and 2 to the tank to begin the second stage of treatment. It is 11pm now, most of the tablets are dissolved, and the JD opted to return to his cave.

At this point, lights have been off and the tank has been medicated for some time, and the JD has been through a salt bath. I am not sure what else I can do/try, but the situation atleast seems stable for the moment. I suppose in the morning I will attempt to feed the fish a little, and I will update again.

Thanks for being supportive all.

Please if you think I am doing something incorrect or have any suggestions I am more than willing to learn.