Sickness...parasite/fungus

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bobbi619

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Jan 17, 2003
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Hi all, well I'm just at a loss with this.

1 Swordtail is not eating and very lethargic, the other has a rotty looking tail. The Dwarf Gourami has a big lump between his eye and mouth. A couple of the Bleeding Heart Tetras are flashing but still have good color and all eat.

I have been treating with Metronidazole for eight days now, I soak flake food in it with a couple drops of Garlic Extreme. And I do a 25% water change/vacuum before each treatment. I really thought this would clear up any bacteria/parasite that was invading my tank.

If anyone has suggestions or questions that I can answer to help in this, please let me know.

Ammonia 0
pH 7.8
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 15

Thanks
 
No, I have been fighting something for some time now. Just cant figure out what it is. The initial factor was about 6 months ago, I got a few new Cardinal Tetras, I then lost my Rainbow fish to what I thought was ich, but now think it was some fungus. I treated w/salt & heat and it seemed to have cleared but now have been stuggling with this whatever for a few months.

Not sure if I am using the wrong meds, and should switch or if that would be lethal to switch meds at this point.

Please help, I really want my happy healthy tank back.
Its not much fun anymore! :(
 
Anyone, please, any suggestions :sad
 
Metrodozinal (sp) is a great internal parasite med, but does little for anything else. So it may very well be that you need to change meds.

Lethargy and loss of appetite are definately signs of internal parasites, but they can also be signs of many other things including stress in general.

Ich is pretty easy to distinguish, look up some pictures of it and you'll know if your initial outbreak was ich or not. ?If you ran the heat and salt for more than a few days after the cysts were gone, ich is probably gone but always watch if you aren't sure.

Fin rot, tail rot and various other fungi/ bacteria have definate signs and symptoms. And unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a wealth of pictures to help beginners distinguis one from the other. The best guide I've found (and not a very good one IMO) is the medication instructions inside any Mardel package. It will at least give you some basic guidlines at identifying different fungi and bacteria. Don't beleive every claim they make for their medications though some things are harder to cure than they want you to beleive, not to mention that most anti-biotics will adversely effect your bio-filter so be cautious and be ready for water changes if you use them.

Flashing is essentially a sign of gill irritation. the most common causes are ammonia burn and ich. but anything that irritates the gills will cause a fish to flash. Velvet (oodinium ) just like ich will attach to the gills first as they are easier to access. Velvet can be spotted easiest at night with a flash light. it looks like gold dust on your fish. The upside is that velvet is quick so it probably isn't your problem. the downside is that if it is your problem, it is quick so you need to identify and treat it fast, in addition I ran the topic on multiple boards and didn't get a lot of good info that I could work with. Fortunately I didn't have velvet at the time, so my fish are fine.

General things that will help, are lots of water changes with close attention to testing and making sure everything matches, reduce light as much as you can. keep o2 levels high, and keep trying to get a handle on things. I apologize for not being more helpful but beyond ich I haven't had to learn much about disease. IMO it is far better to take your time and try to get a positive ID on things before treating. It may also help to read the articles on fish diseases in the article corner.
dave
 
My two bettas died a week ago to some kind of fungus. They both looked completely healthy and were exhibiting no ill mannerisms one moment, later that night one of them died (he lost his color, had white fuzzy stuff all over him) and his fins were rotting off. The other one, by the end of the day, had a "cottony" ball growing behind one of his gills. He slowly began to lose color, gasp for air, lay on his side, and his fins slowly began to fray as the growth grew until it covered his entire side. I used some kind of anti-fungal medicine after the first day but it hardly seemed to help so I put him in the freezer when I was sure he couldn't recover. I know that's not much help, but I really hope if you have what I did, you can fix it as soon as possible.
 
salt is a good killer against everything, but i believe tetras are sensitive to it, though they can still take some. Have you tried it? If tetras are sensitive, I believe about 1 teaspoon per gallon is enough.
someone correct me if I'm wrong...
 
Lost the Pineapple Sword yesterday, she just couldn't shake it. The other Sword looks ok other that her tail looks ratty.

I did another 25% water change/vacuum, soaked the flake food in a scoop of Metronidazole and 2 drops of the Garlic. They all ate real good, so then I dissolved a teaspoon of table salt in aquarium water and poured that in.
I havent seen any flashing since.

I dont think this is ich, because there are no spots, I did hear that frequent water changes can cause fish to flash, as their skin gets a bit itchy. So when refilling after the water change I use Stress Coat with Novaqua.

I will just keep plugging along and hope this passes, I really want to find some more Boesmani Rainbows but know good & well my tank isn't healthy enough for that.

Thank you all so much, and Dave, I think your opinions and advice are fantastic, I always look forward to your responses.

Happy Holidays All!!
 
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