C. Atropersonatus - Red Belly, Feathery White Pelvic Fin

[Cory_Dad]

I'm having a heck of time with my C. astopersonatus 25 gal. tank.

3 weeks ago when I went to feed them, one of the smaller ones went spastic and darted all around the tank then floated on it's side. By the time I could get the hospital tank ready, he was dead. He had pink around his pelvic fins.

2 weeks ago I noticed another one of them with a pinkish tinge in the same area. I treated the whole tank for 4 days with API Erythromycin. Things looked good after that.

Today when I went to feed them I saw one of them with a lot of red on the belly and white growth on one of the pelvic fins. I can't exactly tell if it's feathery. At first I thought it was a clutch of eggs but it isn't.

I've started treating the whole tank with Meracyn and Maracyn-Two.

Questions:

1) Are these the correct medications?

2) Should I be treating the whole tank (25 gal) or should I move the infected fish to a hospital tank? (I don't care about the cost of treating the 25 gal).

3) Is there anything else I should be doing?

4) Why is this happening?

Tank specifics:

NH3/4 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, pH 7.6

Weekly 25% water changes. Last week I did 2 x 25% water changes because of the previous Erythromycin medication.

Aquaclear 50 & Eheim 2215

Air stone curtain.

Temp 78F

Silica sand substrate.

Live planted tank.

Any and all help would be appreciated. I really love these guys.

Thank you

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

that there sounds like worms boy....."humpy says in his best yokal voice" and yes they're some meds thats you should use but dude. the worms r in your tank. i would have first probably gotten rid of all your substrate and then run the meds through cause i would be worried the worms may be able to survive under that large sheet of sandy substrate you have! then after a week of treatment and providing no one else ends with worms then buy a new bag of sand to put in!. just my thoughts! and thats what i would do!

 

[Cory_Dad]

that there sounds like worms boy....."humpy says in his best yokal voice" and yes they're some meds thats you should use but dude. the worms r in your tank. i would have first probably gotten rid of all your substrate and then run the meds through cause i would be worried the worms may be able to survive under that large sheet of sandy substrate you have! then after a week of treatment and providing no one else ends with worms then buy a new bag of sand to put in!. just my thoughts! and thats what i would do!

Thanks for that humpy..etc.

It would be no problem for me to siphon out the silica sand and bleach the heck out of it. Can I use de-wormer at the same time as the Maracyn & Maraqcyn-Two?

 

[WILDER]

The fish has a bacterial infections if the belly is red.
Red beneath the skin is septicemia.
Do the gorwths on his fins look like a cluster of berries or a cauliflower.

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

i stand corrected LOLS shoulda looked beyond the red belly hehe sry thought that might have been fat, not bacteria XD sry

 

[Cory_Dad]

The fish has a bacterial infections if the belly is red.
Red beneath the skin is septicemia.
Do the gorwths on his fins look like a cluster of berries or a cauliflower.

Hi Wilder.

From what I could tell it looked a bit like a clutch of eggs but at this point it doesn't really matter anymore.

This morning he/she was in the corner of the tank, nose facing the glass. I suspected the worst but decided to not disturb him.

Well, it's as I suspected, he was dead.

He didn't move all day and the snails were starting to swarm on him.

At this point I might as well continue with the treatment, only 3 days left and I don't want to end up with any 'super' bugs in the tank. The others look ok and it can't do any damage, except to my filters' bio material. The DO should be ok as I have a lot of agitation between the AquaClear 50 and the Eheim 2215. I also have a curtain air stone going; that's been in for weeks already.

An esteemed member, privately, suggested I stop the meds, 50% water change and treat with Melafix and lots of aeration but it was already too late. The diagnosis was red blotch disease due to pH or nitrite crashes. I'm not certain about that as all the reading are still at 0,0,0 and the pH steady 7.6+. In speaking with the dealer I bought the fish from he suggested that it was the high pH that's been bringing on the deaths. And possibly the substrate.

After this is all over I'll do a 50% water change.

What, in your opinion is the best way to lower the pH? And what about the silica sand, should I replace it? I may just replace it with pea gravel anyway as it's a pain to keep clean.

Thanks again very much for your help.

 

[WILDER]

Bless him R.I.P.
Just look under lymthocystis to rule it out.
http/www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm