Fish Dieing

[mark4785]

Any advice for me?

I explained my rams were flashing in the sand and seem to be eating the same and pushing it out there gills, he said it's gill fluke, i got some methalyne blue? but he said it's too strong just put some pennies in the water or a copper pipe, but now my cat fish are doing it =(.
I explained to someone else they had white spot a week ago and he said to treat them again for the same stuff incase it's coming back, but when they had it they didn't rub on the sand.

Hellllp i don't fancy losing any of my fishes.

It would be best if you took one of your fish to a LFS and have them conduct a scrape on their skin. The scrape should contain the parasites which can then be identified under a microscope. If your fish have ich, not fish pox or anything similar, ensure it matches up with the characteristics and appearance of Ich before treating it. I also strongly advise you create a separate topic to discuss this issue where it will be spotted better.

The female GBR is still continuing to get better; the gills are not moving so fast, but it is hard to get her to eat and she is still prefering to stay in areas where there is more water agitation. There have been no signs of fish itching themselves after using the medication which is brilliant, but I have read that if the fish have flukes in their gills, the gills are a safehaven for that particular parasite, and it is only when they come out of the gills that the medication will kill them.

Despite the parasite problem, I do still need to conduct weekly water changes and one is due soon. What should I do with regards to ensuring there is enough medicine in the water bearing in mind I take 15-20% of the water out which will inevitably remove some of the formalin medication?

If anybody can advise on what should be done I'd really appreciate that!

 

[PDSimon]

Redose the percentage that you've taken out?

Glad to hear she is improving slightly...I hope that continues. Do higher temps not kill these things/weaken them? Bloody annoying!

 

[mark4785]

Redose the percentage that you've taken out?

Glad to hear she is improving slightly...I hope that continues. Do higher temps not kill these things/weaken them? Bloody annoying!

The high temperature is only effective against viruses I think. It seems trematode parasites are able to cope with such temperatures however.

I've had my hand in the tank again literally putting the blood worm into the female GBR's mouth lol. She tried to swallow one but it appeared too big and she probably only consumed half of it. The male, on the other hand has eaten 4-5 pieces and a high protein flake! The people at the LFS and yourself have said that flakes are not suitable given that Rams are omnivores, but surely any food containing multi-vitamins and high protein gives a more balanced diet?

I'm hopeful that the female GBR will live now but I'm quite aware of the gill being a different colour (more reddening) so might have to treat that with salt once the meds are out.

 

[PDSimon]

Hmm? I don't think I said that. flakes are fine but to provide a balanced diet you should provide various foods, not only will it keep them more healthy but visually they'll look better I feed my rams some sera flake food that has 20% bloodworm, brine shrimp, other worms etc and the rest is high quality flake so is perfectly healthy for them. I also give them tablet, blood worm and peas at the moment. typical cichlid behaviour is that they won't stop eating They're greedy generally... So the flake is fine as long as its good quality. GBRs often reject flake but you should get them to eat it as its good for them.

I'd try and frequently feed her small amounts if it was me... The more she eats the more likely she will survive I would think.

The male looks great, lovely fish to watch so I do hope this works

 

[mark4785]

Hmm? I don't think I said that. flakes are fine but to provide a balanced diet you should provide various foods, not only will it keep them more healthy but visually they'll look better I feed my rams some sera flake food that has 20% bloodworm, brine shrimp, other worms etc and the rest is high quality flake so is perfectly healthy for them. I also give them tablet, blood worm and peas at the moment. typical cichlid behaviour is that they won't stop eating They're greedy generally... So the flake is fine as long as its good quality. GBRs often reject flake but you should get them to eat it as its good for them.

I'd try and frequently feed her small amounts if it was me... The more she eats the more likely she will survive I would think.

The male looks great, lovely fish to watch so I do hope this works

I've just taken a look at what is contained within my cichlid flakes and they do indeed contain brine shrimp, salmon egg extract and similar healthy-sounding things. I haven't introduced a tablet yet, it may mess up the currently spotless sand substrate lol. I'll consider getting some sinking tablets for use on special occasions I think

The female GBR is completely normal now behaviour-wise. I don't think I've ever seen anything go from nearly dieing to churpy in such a short space of time!

 

[PDSimon]

Good, I hope it stays that way!

 

[JoshuaA]

Our first GBR deteriorated from being absolutely fine, to dead within about 12 hours. Happy one night ate, ate in the morning swimming around brilliant colours no heavy gill movement nothing at all, then my gf got in from work and it was dead, water stats were fine, Nitrate was 5! It was a strange instance, I wish you the best of luck though and hope everything keeps going well!

 

[mark4785]

Our first GBR deteriorated from being absolutely fine, to dead within about 12 hours. Happy one night ate, ate in the morning swimming around brilliant colours no heavy gill movement nothing at all, then my gf got in from work and it was dead, water stats were fine, Nitrate was 5! It was a strange instance, I wish you the best of luck though and hope everything keeps going well!

That sounds very strange. Maybe it had a tape worm or something more discrete. Having said that, even water changes can make them become unhappy so just be extra careful when doing anything with GBR's lol.

The female GBR is fine now but the Rams do occasionally itch themselves so it's clearly taking a while to kill all of the flukes. I can't wait to re-dose the aquarium with formalin.