Sick green severums

fin5535 · Feb 18, 2008

Hi there!
We are new to this. Our green severums are sick and we're hoping someone here can help. We have them in a 55 gallon tank with 4 tiger barbs, 1 scat, 1 electric blue ciclid, 4 corry cats, 4 loaches, 2 silver dollars, 1 red gourmi, 2 snails, a newt and a baby turquois severum. The green severums are almost a year old. Unfortunatley the baby turquois severum had ich which then infected our green severums. We have been treating the tank for six days now. There are no signs of ich, but our green severums have developed a white film over their entire bodies and their fins are torn up. They are swimming abnormal, hovering at the top and laying sideways. What is this and how can we treat it? Can anyone help? Thanks.

Lupin · Feb 18, 2008

:welcome: to AC!

May I ask if you quarantined the new fish and how long did you do it? It seems though you didn't. Quarantining a new fish is very important. Always leave a spare tank of 5-10 gallons just in case of emergencies and quarantine purposes. A new fish is a possible disease carrier and is a threat to any fish in the main tank.

What is the temperature right now? What are your water parameters? What did you use to treat the fish? Please use API liquid test kit to determine your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. Also, include the active ingredients of the medicine.

I don't get the part of your sentence saying "Unfortunatley the baby turquois severum had ich which then infected our green severums. We have been treating the tank for six days now. There are no signs of ich, but our green severums have developed a white film over their entire bodies and their fins are torn up."..If your new sev infected the green sevs, why did you say there was no sign of ich or was it because of the 6-day treatment that the ich has disappeared already? Are you still continuing the treatment?

Have you noticed any sign of aggression? What foods were you also using? What species are these loaches? I have noticed you have an odd mix of fish. I can assume the electric blue cichlid is a Lake Malawi cichlid, correct? Do you have pictures of this fish?

You also mentioned the scat. What size is it right now? Did you realize it cannot stay in the freshwater environment for long? It becomes very vulnerable to diseases, should it be forced to stay in the freshwater conditions for long. It is a brackish water species that will eventually live in marine conditions when fully matured. A 55g cannot hold one, let alone a group of them.

Back on the severums, what is the appearance of the fins? Are the edges rather whitish? You might want to determine the condition between aggression caused by other fish or finrot wherein the latter is a much more serious matter which must be addressed immediately by doing plenty of water changes and depending on the severity of the condition, administer treatment as soon as possible. Ask more before you consider treatments but I would get a photo of their fins at the moment to give you a proper diagnosis without risking the fish's health to the use of wrong treatments.

If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

blasterman_ · Feb 18, 2008

Sounds like a secondary fungal infection developed from the ick infestation. The fungus could also have been carried by the turquoise severum.

Shredded dorsal/anal fins are likely caused by the other fish (I'd suspect the silver dollars) taking advantage of the sick severums. Healthy severums a year old are otherwise more than capable of taking care of themselves in that tank (aside from the electric blue when it gets full grown).

If you have a smaller tank or even a 5gal bucket with a spare air pump/stone, I'd suggest treating them in it for the fungus (ASAP).

fin5535 · Feb 18, 2008

Thank you so much for your reply. It's taking me a while to figure out how to do this posting thing.....the green severums are larger fish, all the other ones are small. Our silver dollars are very calm - one is about the same age as the green severums the other is new, a baby. They all grew up together and get along great. However, now that the severums are sick - the electric blue is getting a little bullyish. Yes that little bugger - the turqois severum I believe is to blame! I also have a 20 gallon long tank with a yellow ciclid in there now. Will the severums be okay in that size tank until they are better? I will put the yellow ciclid in the 55 gallon. Do you think the ich could still be in the 55 gallon? After we started treating for ich the severums fins - started to appear with a white ridge at the tips, now they are torn and slowly creeping up closer to their body. I am very worried about this. What should we use to treat this problem? Anitbiotic?

fin5535 · Feb 18, 2008

No, we failed to quarantine the new little guy. To make matters worse the water the new guy was in was also placed in our tank. Very stupid mistake! We knew better, just thought we were doing so good that nothing could hurt our tank. All of our water levels were perfect. Can't test now, carbon is out of filters and we are using Quick Cure for the ich. Yes, after 6 days there are no signs of Ich. Yes, we are still continuing treatment for Ich. The green sevs are very aggrevated especially the larger one, Fin (that's his name). We feed frozen Krill, Bloodworms, Emerald Green every other day. We also feed flakes and ciclid puffs. I am not sure what kind of loaches they are. My room mate runs the tank, cleans and takes care of the water changes and the water tests, and buys the fish. I get the fun part of hand feeding and watching them. She doesnt do well on the internet - so here I am. I will send a pic of the Electric blue ciclid as soon as I can get a good one. Very pretty fish. The scat is smaller, maybe 1/2 inch in length. We do have the tank as brackish - sorry forgot to mention that. But no I did not realize that. So is he a saltwater fish? We have a 75 gallon tank that is being tested for leaks right now, then we are going to cycle that one. This was to be the new home for our sevs, and then they got sick. I will get you a photo as soon as I can. Thank so much. I really appreciate the info.

fin5535 · Feb 19, 2008

The first set of pics are when Ich first appeared. The smaller green severum "baby" Fin, had a lot of it. Fin had only one white spot, which is hard to see in pic.

The second set of pics are taken tonight.

I also took video, it's posted on youtube. here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4GS96V6mSw

Thanks again.

GaryF · Feb 19, 2008

finrot looks like. not for why he is swimming funny but for why his fins are jagged. is there a white edge on the part of the fin that is coming apart?

Lupin · Feb 19, 2008

Quick Cure has a combination of malachite green and formalin, yes. This one is a very harsh treatment in my opinion especially the malachite green. Could you please post your water parameters? I am under the impression the content, Malachite Green has managed to dent your biological filtration thus leading to unstable water conditions. Those water parameters must be posted here as soon as possible. In the meantime, do water changes to keep the water clean. Do you have airpumps? Did you switch them on? The content formalin in it can deprived the fish of their oxygen. Dose that med at half strength and continue your treatment for at least a week more.

Do not attempt to move the severums to the smaller tank. Why? Moving aggravates matters. Moving can stress the fish and stress alone will put a heavy toll on the fish aside from the stress of being infested with ich. Your 55g is already contaminated. Keep those equipments you used in your 55g away from your 20g and leave the 20g untouched. Always remember ich will still be in your tank unless you continue the treatment. They will not remain dormant but will live inside the gill tissues of healthy fish and will strike them, should they sense the hosts around them are weakening again.

If you have a divider, then now is the time to isolate the electric blue cichlid by itself. Any constant harassments can eventually kill the severums due to stress.

If you can, feed your fish veggies at the moment. Varying the food diet is very important so they can resist any diseases as much as possible. Your fish are mostly leaning into high fiber content so this is where you must concentrate. Avoid foods containing high protein content.

Your severums have a case of finrot. Follow the instructions above. At the moment, the only thing that will help is clean water and varied food diet. Do not deprive them of both.

As for your scat, it is a juvenile so it can live in freshwater conditions for awhile.

Could you please explain further your tank maintenance schedule? What test kit do you use? How often and how much water is being replaced? I must have missed this part.

Star_Rider · Feb 19, 2008

I don't really see any sign of ich in the pictures.

However , you have already dosed the tank.
I have used vuctoria green(malachite green) and formalin..while it may be considered harsh it is realatively safe to use on large fish(scaleless and tetras should be exposed at half doses)
I have never seen is affect the biological filtration in any of my tanks I used it in. that said..
it would be nice to see what your tests sho for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
also knowing your water change schedule would be helpful.

severums are SA cichlids and I am curious to their tank mates.

one shows definite signs of stress( I think it's the green one) and shows some early signs of being emaciated. Personally I would move that fish to a hospital tank for observation.
while moving maybe stressful..harrassment in the maintank may also be a concern. if the fish is weak and shows this it will get picked on.
moving it to another tank allows you time to get the fish up to health and easier to maintain water quality in a hospital tank.

pinkertd · Feb 19, 2008

I don't think those white spots really looked like ich. The ragged fins seem to me to be not from another fish aggressively nipping but from a bacterial or viral infection that you've introduced to the tank with the unquarantined fish and lfs fish water. I have seen these kinds of fin and body symptoms on discus from not doing a quarantine. I want to say to you to start doing massive water changes first and foremost, but if you've also got some old tank syndrome going on in there you couldn't do "massive". It is very important to tell us what your ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are first. From the looks of those severums, you don't have much time to waste before you loose them. Do you have maracyn I and maracyn II on hand?
Those are beautiful gentle fish. I had a mated pair I raised from babies that outgrew my 72G tank.


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