Illness, need some advice

[Pheonix]

Hi all,

I have just come home from six day away at sea to find a problem with my fish. I have lost one, one is nearly there and two others are showing are showing the first signs of illness.

My girlfriend has told me that the fish that died turned dark (not black, blues and red still visible) was breathing rapidly and stopped eating after a day. fished died after four days. The fishes eyes were clear, there was no excess body mucus but the dorsal fin was clamped. The sick fish has similar symptoms but has cloudy eyes. two other fish are not dark but have their dorsal and pectoral fins clamped, normal respiration so far and still feeding.

I checked my water and details are. pH - 6.5, temp - 30c, ammonia - nil, Nitrite - nil, nitrate 30ppm. last water change was last Sunday. I have done a 60% water change with aged water now in preparation for treatment

My first thought was parasite, maybe gill fluke. any other thoughts? Have prazi, metro, salt and broad spectrum but not sure which direction to take. Which meds can I use at the same time. Need to get on top of this asap as i go back out to sea tomorrow till friday, and need to leave instructions for the girlfriend.

Thanks
Brett

[Mr Wild]

Hi Brett

Before any treatment can you tell me the size of the tank they are in and are there any other fish in there?

[Pheonix]

Tank is a 3x2x2 with ehiem 2028 canister. Also have 5 corys in the tank. 2nd fish has gone down hill. front of face is sunken. I think i will remove it to the freezer to put it out of its misery.

been reading through all the posts of the section of the forum and can't seem to find a diagnosis on the cause yet. If i don't any advice by tonight I'm going to treat with Prazi and Metro together and hope that will do something.

[ILLUSN]

corys wont survive a combined metro prazi treatment, best to treat the fish in a seperate tank if possible, if not i see your in the NT so you could treat in a bucket with an airstone and a heater, sounds like hex to me, 30 nitrate isn't good aim for below 10.

[Mr Wild]

Yeah that was the aim of asking what other fish were there and IMO the water changes are not enough to have 30ppm nitrate. You can remedy this by more frequent water changes of 10-20% in the future after treatment.

[BobbyBruce]

Hi Brett,

Sorry to hear about your losses. I hope that all goes well with your other fish as they looked very good in your pics.

I believe in your ealier post you got them in through the LFS in Katherine and I just wonder were they exposed to other fish while they were there.

Your "New Fish" post enabled me to get in contact with Rod and I also got a shipment six discus in. I had Rod ship directly to me as the last time I got discus in they ended up in a community tank overnight. Water parameters in regards to Ph, Gh and Kh were way off what I keep them in. Using Rod direct is also much cheaper than dealing with the LFS.

Good Luck,

Bob

[Pheonix]

Thanks to all for comments,

Have moved the corys and started prazi/metro combined treatment. 5th fish made the trip to freezer unfortunately. I have a de nitrate filter but is out of action at moment due to dosing pump issuess and trouble replacing. This usually keeps me out of trouble while i'm away. will have a friend do water change while away this week.

any ideas on replacement dosing pump will be welcome. been through three aquamedic ones already....

[Pheonix]

Thanks Bob,

No dean just made the order for me and i picked them up from airport. I'm suspecting corys are the culprits, although they are in great condition and came from a mate of mine and were QT well before arrival of these fish.

at the end of the day its a lesson learnt. will be a new tank arriving soon so will be looking at Rod again for stock.

[ILLUSN]

go a small eheim compact they run for ever and the baby 300 goes down to 100L/h

de-nitritors arn't really worth the fuss IMHO they tend to acaidfy the tank too much and make soaft discus water super unstable.


please keep us posted on how you go.

[swampy1972]

Hi Brett,

I'm really sorry to hear about those spectacular fish of yours.. My best wishes for a speedy recovery for the rest.
Sorry I didn't get a chance to catch up with you during my last trip to Darwin, I only had one night in town so just ran out of time.
I'll be certain to PM you prior to my next trip.
All the best.

Brad

[BobbyBruce]

Hi Brett,

I hope things are okay for you and the fish today.

Regards,

Bob

[Pheonix]

Hi all,

Just an update, Got back last night. 2 healthy fish still looking good. 2 fish still showing symptoms of illness. They are not dark anymore but are withdrawn to a corner with dorsal and pectoral fins clamped. Respiration rate has eased. They took a small amount of food last night. One thing i have noticed is that it looks like they have been fighting or running into the side of the tank. They have what looks like blood in their nasal cavity and around the mouth and lower part of the eye.

Just about to do my water change now and then going down to my vet to discuss further course of action. Any further suggestions on treatment welcome. I think the other two are savable from here.

There is one good outcome from all this but.... it looks like the healthy fish might be pairing up.... go figure!

Many thanks for all the comments too

Brett

[ILLUSN]

bleeding from the nostrils usually means bacterial infection, once you've finished with prazi and metro you could concider tri sulfer but it might not be needed.

[Pheonix]

Update.

Back from sea again, two infected fish could not be saved. Two remaining fish seem fine but still have blood in their sinus cavity. Going to proceed with Tri sulfer as ILLUSN suggested just to make sure. I am really dissapointed as these are the first Discus that have died on me and none of the treatments had any effect except prolong death of the infected fish.

Believe it was Hex and after reading the stickies in this forum am concentrating on ensure the two remaining fish are getting plenty of nutrition by offering various foods. On recommendation from ivo, I will not replace/add any more fish to this tank as these fish are probably now carriers of Hex. Hopefully they will continue to grow into good fish. I also assume that breeding from either of these fish is no good if they are carriers? will it be passed to fry if they do spawn?

Have quite a break from sea now to monitor these guys. Gives me an excuse to get that new tank that i was wanting, though I'll have to educate the girlfriend on cross contamination which should be interesting.

Many thanks for all the advice given, very much appreciated

Regards
Brett