Cardinal Tetra illness

[Matias]

Hi. I have what seems to be small white worms on my Cardinals and I am sure it is Dermocystidium: https://www.askjpc.org/wsco/wsc_showcase2.php?id=Y0VrSXBQZUNkbzcxaGZtbEhON20zUT09 Picture is 100% like three of my tetras.

Have anybody here encountered this and treated it? LFS says eSHa gdex will be effective but i'm unsure. http://www.eshalabs.eu/europe/products/esha-gdexsupregsup.html

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Can you post a picture of your sick fish?

How long has your tank been set up for?

Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH?
If yes, what were the results (in numbers)?

How long have you had the cardinal tetras for?

Have you added any new fish or plants to the tank in the last 2 weeks?

 

[Matias]

Thanks Sorry I am in the middle of moving so I was in a hurry when writing I've been lurking for about 6 months and always found good advice without creating an account

Water tests show:
Ammonia: 0
Nittrite: 0
Nitrate: 10-20ppm
pH: 6.8

The tank has been setup for 5 months, I cycled 4 weeks wile adding fishfood a bit everyday until nitrite was 0 and nitrate starting increasing. I believe I ha had the Cardinals for about 8-10 weeks.

Only thing I added after the cardinals was two male emperor tetras from my brothers tank. I think 4 weeks ago. Now that tank also has Cardinals that now are starting to show same symptoms.

The sickest cardinal died this night. Also lost a young Panda Cory last night, it freaked out totally and struggled to not float belly up to surface. That happened on third day of the medication my LFS told me to give. I hope that I loose no more

Sorry I only get real blurry ones with my cheap cellphone. On the side is a white wormlike thing, but it does more look like a growth than worm. Apart from that they also get clear bubbles mostly around mouth and eyes, but the sickest one had on sides too.

I think they are identical to this illness if you see the first image on the side:
https://www.askjpc.org/wsco/wsc_showcase2.php?id=Y0VrSXBQZUNkbzcxaGZtbEhON20zUT09

Edit: I am about to go on a 6 hour drive so I will be slow in replying.

 

[Colin_T]

The link would suggest it is a protozoan infection and should be easily treated with any medication containing Malachite Green or Copper Sulphate. Basic whitespot treatment should do the job.

Make sure you don't overdose. Check the directions when treating tanks that contain scaleless fishes like catfish. If there is nothing about treating scaleless fish, then use the medication at half strength for the catfish. Treat all the tanks you have to make sure you get rid of it.

Before treating, wipe the inside of the glass down, do a 75% water change and a complete gravel clean. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Remove any carbon from filters before treating the fish. Throw the carbon away.

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will convert litres to gallons if you need it.

 

[DoubleDutch]

It is Dermosporidia.

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[Matias]

Thank you very much for the replies. The medicine the lfs gave me had no effect, I realize its the wrong one.

It looks like Esha Exit is correct treatment, its for whitespot.
http://www.eshalabs.eu/europe/products/esha-exit.html

I'll go about it like this:
Since I have the illness in both my aquariums I'll go ahead and move the Cardinals to our 220 litre tank (also infected so it should not matter right?) and treat them there with normal dose. Moving the cardinals was planned later anyway. Other fish in aquarium are Emperor tetra, two Black marble hoplo (Megalechis thoracata) and a Siamese algae eater. The hoplos are so big that I thought they will not be that sensitive although they are catfish?

Then I'll treat my smaller tank with smaller dosage since it has my young corydoras panda. Only other fish are emperor tetras.

Is this ok?

 

[Colin_T]

It doesn't matter how big the Hoplosternum catfish are, they are all sensitive to chemicals because they don't have scales.

I would be inclined to put all the catfish in one tank and treat them at the recommended dose for scaleless fishes (usually half strength), and use a full dose on the tetras in the second tank.

 

[Matias]

That makes a lot more sense. My other tank is only 100 litre or 22 gallon so its a bit too small for the hoplo...

 

[Colin_T]

How big is the Hoplo? They only get to 6 inches and a fish that size should be fine in a 100 litre tank for a couple of weeks for treating. You can move them back into the bigger tank after treatment is complete and everyone is healthy again.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Thank you very much for the replies. The medicine the lfs gave me had no effect, I realize its the wrong one.

It looks like Esha Exit is correct treatment, its for whitespot.
http://www.eshalabs.eu/europe/products/esha-exit.html

I'll go about it like this:
Since I have the illness in both my aquariums I'll go ahead and move the Cardinals to our 220 litre tank (also infected so it should not matter right?) and treat them there with normal dose. Moving the cardinals was planned later anyway. Other fish in aquarium are Emperor tetra, two Black marble hoplo (Megalechis thoracata) and a Siamese algae eater. The hoplos are so big that I thought they will not be that sensitive although they are catfish?

Then I'll treat my smaller tank with smaller dosage since it has my young corydoras panda. Only other fish are emperor tetras.

Is this ok?

Matias,

It isn't Ich nor another protozoan.
It is clearly Dermosporidia, which is untreatable but quite harmless on the other hand. It isn't a nice sight though.

Please google and read about it.

So there is no reason nor use to use Esha Exit.

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[Matias]

Yeah I give up on finding a cure, all online sources I've found says its uncureable and my LFS too. At least I learned a bit about dosing medicine I think I'll set up a separate tank for my cardinals and see if they improve.

 

[Colin_T]

I wouldn't say it's harmless because you have been losing fish haven't you?

Is there any info online about what medications have been tried to treat Dermosporidia?
In situations like this I experiment and try different things. However, it doesn't always turn out for the best