Fish Illness (part 2!)

[dzsigmond217]

Ok, so I've gotten some great information from all those that have posted a reply. Thanks so much guys! I don't think that my fish have ich. I've veiwed some pix online and the one fish, which is a guppy, doesn't have anything on it that looks like salt granules on its body. Neither do any of the fish. He does have what appears to be the total loss of color on some scales on the top of his body infront of the top fin and near the back of his body near the tail. The scales have gone completely white when once they were black. The black molly has no other visible problems other than the white fluff on its bottom lip. My neon tetras and velvet wag swords have no visible signs of any disease. My white skirt tetras and lyertail molly have little bits of white fluff on their tails or fins. So far 2 dalmation mollys, 1 lyertail and 1 betta have died in the last week. I am doing 20% water changes every other day to decrease the amount of nitrite in the water as well as reducing the feeding(I think I was overfeeding and it was creating too much waste). I have also purchased the gravel vacuum to reduce the waste at the bottom of the tank. The filter I am using is a Whiser filter for tanks size 20 to 40 gallon. my tank size is 29 gallon.I've been changing the filters every 2 weeks. I've also gotten a water conditioner for when I do my water changes. As of right now all I have is the one strip which tests for the following: nitrite, nitrate, hardness, alkalinity and ph levels. all were good except the nitrite level which shot off the charts to super dangerous. I also bought the strips for ammonia testing which indicated that the ammonia level in the tank was slightly high. I want to get the water conditions right and treat the fish as well. Today I will be doing a 20% water change with the gravel vacuum, adding the water conditioner and retesting the levels later on tonight. I'm not sure how to treat the fish though. Would mouth fungus create the small tufts of fluffy white on their tails and fins? Plus how do I treat mouth fungus? If anyone can describe the steps I should take I would appreciate it highly! Thanks so much!
Dianne

 

[WILDER]

Best to keep to the same thread or its get comfusing.
I given you information on columnaris in the other thread.
Scales can go white with columnaris.
I would check the scales to see if you can see a parasite underneath them.
Have you read that link I left in the other thread.
http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdcolumn.htm
In the uk for columnaris myxazin, and pimafix.

 

[WILDER]

You shouldn't be touching the filter sponges.
Also you don't do gravel vacs till the tank cycled.

 

[dzsigmond217]

Thanks Tweety for the advice! I went to the site you recommended and yes it seems that all the symtoms qualify for columnaris. Any knowledge as to what the best medicine is? Thanks for the quick reply!
Dianne


oops..ok got the med names..
why shouldnt I do the vacuum on the gravel?
Dianne

 

[WILDER]

In the uk myxazin and pimafix for columnaris.


You don't preform gravel vac till the ammonia and nitrite are 0, thats when the tanks cycled, as you need benefical bacteria in your substate.
Also are you cleaning your filter sponges as you shouldn't be touching them.
I think you need to read up on cycling a tank.