AngelFish Plague??

[Airwolf767]

I have lost all of my angelfish, 3 in a hospital tank and two others in my big tank. I think I may have been infected by the plague discussed here:

http/www.fishgeeks.com/faqs/plague.htm

Any one that has any information on this plague/fungus/disease would be helpful. I thought I had this under control in my hospital tank, only to wake up with two dead in the hospital tank and one in the big tank. Now my Kribensis is acting funny, I have clown loaches, 3 blue rams, 4kuhli loaches, 2 marbeled hatchet fish, 2 cory catfish, and one plecosamus in my big (75gal) tank. How do I save the other fish and is this only a South American disease The article says the disease can last for up to six months?!!!!!

Any Help/Experience

 

[Kissifish]

Angelfish “Plague”(www.angelfish.net)
symptoms: fin rot, hanging around the surface, hiding in dark corners of the tank or caves, shy, not eating.
treatment: antibiotics (tetracycline), Melafix for frayed fins

Within 7 to 14 days of exposure, some fish begin to turn dark and seek shelter in secluded corners of the tank. Soon all involved fish are “huddled” in a dark corner exhibiting extreme shyness, heavy mucous production on the skin, severe fin rot, and rapid respiration. While the fish appear to be very sick, they continue to eat sparingly, moving in a tight school to the food, then swimming back to their dark corner. Some fish will lie horizontally on the top or bottom of the tank to hide in the smallest shadow. Some develop swim bladder problems.

The disease course is 7 to 21 days and the fish are left thin with thick mucous patches on their skin and large defects on the fins due to fin rot. Surviving fish are contagious for several months afterwards.

There appear to be many different organisms responsible for the symptoms of this “plague”. When symptoms begin to appear, begin treating with antibiotics such as tetracycline, chloramphenicol, oxytetracycline, or gentomycin. Antibiotics will immediately arrest the fin deterioration and reduce mucous production, but will not affect the dark coloration or huddling behavior. Often concurrent treatment with oxidizing agents like Potassium Permanganate will keep bacterial counts down. Temperatures in the 85 - 90 degrees range appear to be of some value.

When treatment has been initiated, monitor the tank for ammonia build-up, as prolonged treatment with antibiotics may damage the filter ecosystem. Feed small amounts of food and make daily 25% water changes, siphoning off uneaten food, but do not disturb substrate. These fish are light sensitive and turning the lights off may make them more comfortable. In 7 to 21 days, fish should reappear at the front of the tank, looking for food. At this point, you may resume gravel cleaning and regular water changes.
HTH

 

[Airwolf767]

Any experience out there with this affecting other fish in the community tank??

Thanks

 

[mrV]

Only thing to avoid discus-plague (or "angelfish-plague") is to keep new fishes in quarantine tank long enough, at least 50 days.

There is alot of "instructions" how to treat sick fishes etc, but it's quite difficult. They have studied this "plague" at universities too, but nobody actually knows what causes it and how to treat sick ones. Those treatment instructions apply to different symptons, not the real reason.

http/home.nc.rr.com/hammerklavier/
http/www.max-discus-dream.de/mddnew/Disk...sseuche-GR.html (in german)

1. keep new fishes in quarantine tank at least 50 days. Quarantine tank should be kept in another room than main tank is. The "plague" is transmitted easily.
2. when period is over and fishes (discus) seems to be ok, put one fish from main tank into quarantine tank. If they carry that sickness, the "test-fish" becomes sick during ~3 days.

 

[Kissifish]

One other source I looked up says the recovered fish (if they survive) may carry the disease up to 6 months.