Harlequin Died Of What?

[koinukun]

Hi everyone.

One of my little harlequins died this evening and I was wondering what would have caused it...
It had been looking strange for a while. It had a cloudy smudge on one eye and looked slightly grey and faded in places when you looked at in from certain angles. I didn't have a quarantine tank then so I couldn't isolate him for treatment then. I went out and got myself one last week. Still, the grey patches went away but the eye stayed the same, the a small amount appeared on the other eye a few days ago.

This morning I found his condition suddenly much worse! He was very sluggish and his mouth was huge and agape. He'd never close it.

I put him in the Q-tank and put some anitbacterial/anit fungal medication in. Things slowly got worse. He would slowly swim like he was trying to swim into the air or his head was full of air and couldn't sink. Then he just lay on the bottom upside down twitching until he died!

Here's a couple of pics I tried to take of him before I buried him. They're not that great a quality...



It's kind of hard to see I know, but his mouth had red splotches around it and it looked like the top part of his head had worn away, it looked smaller compared to the other harlequins...

Any ideas what it would have been? I'm keeping a close eye on all my other fish for any signs of anything so I'll be ready the next time something shows up!

~koinukun

P.S My water conditions are fine, I do water changes and gravel vacs every 3-4 days and everything else is fine, my lemons are testament to that as they are constantly laying eggs in my plants. They sure do have some stamina!

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons or litres is the tank.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph.
Any excess slime on the gills or body of the fish.
Grey patches can be many things from parasites, bacterial, bad water quality.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
The red mouth could of been bacterial.

Cloudy eye is as symtom of a desease, not a desease it its own right.
Causes.
Bad water quality.
Old age.
Stress.
Irratation.
Bad diet.
Parasites.
Bacterial.

 

[koinukun]

Thanks for you reply Wilder!

My tank is in my profile, 155L with 1 angel, ram, keyholes lemons and harlequins.
There was no excess slim on the fish, my water is fine, everything is at zero, even the nitrates due to heaps of plants and regular water changes.

On the odd occasion I see a fish rub against a plant but that's only on the odd occasion. I thought fish were like any other animal and get itchy now and then...

I feed once a day with flakes, sinking cichlid pellets for rams and keyholes and micro granules.
Once a week I feed frozen bloodworms and give a small feeding of flake before bed as the bloodworms are not that big a feed and the next day I do the same only with frozen brine shrimp to clear out their systems.

I'd give them a starve day but Mr. Angelfish is getting to that size now where if he gets too hungry he might take a bite out of some of the smaller fish. He keeps to himself normally though, unless he finds the lemons breeding, then he goes crazy for the eggs!

The harlequin could have just been a bit weaker than the rest, I think he was the runt of the group, and more susceptible to catch something, I don't know...

 

[WILDER]

Lost harlequins myself to stuck open mouths they never make it once the mouth stuck open.
Not much info on it either on the net.
It can be locked jaw.