Help! Unknown Fungus / Disease - Warning-Distressing Pix

[Msesassi]

Right, where to begin?
My biggest tank has been up and running for around 10 months. It is approx 800l including the sump.
I had my green severum for approx 2 years.
One day I noticed a white, what I assumed to be cotton wool fungus near his mouth.
http/s375.photobucket.com/albums/oo199/elsdon/?action=view&current=photo-2.jpg
He was eating and acting normally. I took photos in to a couple of local fish shops and was advised to treat with methelyne blue as had already recently treated with the green 'waterlife' brand medicine the name of which I can't remember as I sit here....not protozin... the other one which is green.
A few days later he looked like this and the day after this photo he was dead.
I've never seen anything so awful looking on a fish, he got weak so quickly and its progression was so rapid. http/i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo199/elsdon/photo-4.jpg
We have 4 tanks in total, and this one never seems 'quite right'
Although we get 0 ammonia 0 nitrite minimal amount of nitrate PH 7.5 high KH high GH but this is the same as in all my tanks.

I'm sure we must not have it set up correctly, we have an outflow pipe going in to the first section of the sump which flows into the second section, which contains sponges, rocks and carbon inside tights. Then it goes over the bubble trap and into the final section where we have a pond pimp pumping it up and back into the opposite end of the tank.
Have we missed something out? It's never been crystal clear like my other tanks are (200l)
As I say it's 6ft long and we do a 25% ester change every week or sometimes 2 weeks.

Today we lost another fish to what seemed like columnaris or mouth fungus. It was a little Uaru chiclid.
I'm concerned for my other fish, which are as follows,
2 red spotted severum
3 severums (rotkeil or green - now 3-4" fry from another tank from a mother rotkeil father gold severum)
1 opaline gourami
8 albino cories
2 other cories
1 green phantom plec
1 galaxy plec
1 black fin shark catfish
1 gold severum
2 Uaru
2 clown loaches

Please help us!
I don't know what else to try as there was 6 weeks between the green severum passing on and the Uaru getting the same thing.
It is a calm placid tank, no bullying or stressing, and I feed them fresh veggies, bloodworm and good quality pellets and flakes.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I don't want to look at the photos, but what you're describing sounds like a bacterial infection that can only be cured with antibiotics, such as Myxazin. I had 11 trilineatus cory that all died but one, and I had treated with antibiotics starting too late. I would do a huge water change, then treat with the antibiotics, then 24 hours later repeat the process. I haven't had any occurrences since then, thank goodness.

Edit: I just noticed your water change schedule. I change my water 50% at least once a week. About once a month I do about a 90% water change.

 

[Msesassi]

Myxazin was the name I couldn't remember, that I had used previously. I didn't think it was an antibiotic? I know of nowhere in the uk that I can get any antibiotics. I tried ringing around local vets. No luck.
I thought myxazin was machelite green and formaldehyde? Or is there something else of the same name?
A little confused!
So concerned for the other fish in the tank.

 

[This Old Spouse]

What I ended up using was an antibiotic I got from my veterinarian. He actually gave me doses in syringes with which I dosed the tank every day.

 

[Msesassi]

how can i persuade my vet to prescribe a med? how would i know what dosage i needed - and how would i know what med?

 

[onidrase]

how can i persuade my vet to prescribe a med? how would i know what dosage i needed - and how would i know what med?

I'm guessing you could take photos, or take the fish, in to get the vets to diagnose whatever illness that was, and would do the rest for you.

 

[afremont]

how can i persuade my vet to prescribe a med? how would i know what dosage i needed - and how would i know what med?

You shouldn't have to persuade them if you already do business with them. Besides, they're vets, it's their job to help animals. They will certainly know the dosage and possibly give you better meds than you can buy off the shelf. If you take them a dead fish, they should be able to sample it, stain it, look at it under a microscope and tell you in thirty minutes if it is protozoan, bacterial or fungal; and if it is bacterial, whether it is gram positive or negative.

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1

 

[Msesassi]

how can i persuade my vet to prescribe a med? how would i know what dosage i needed - and how would i know what med?

You shouldn't have to persuade them if you already do business with them. Besides, they're vets, it's their job to help animals. They will certainly know the dosage and possibly give you better meds than you can buy off the shelf. If you take them a dead fish, they should be able to sample it, stain it, look at it under a microscope and tell you in thirty minutes if it is protozoan, bacterial or fungal; and if it is bacterial, whether it is gram positive or negative.

I don't have the severum, it was 6 weeks ago. And the Uaru Did not look that white, just had a slightly swollen white lip.
My vets said they'd happily treat my cat but have nothing to do with fish they said.
With their being such a gap between infections I was wondering if I could have a problem with my setup in thy tank, it's my first experience of having a sump, and all my other tanks have fluval internal filters on, and have no such problems, and they look clearer.

 

[Msesassi]

Can anyone else help
With what I should do
Now?
Should I consult vets with photos?

 

[Reret]

yes or find a better vet

 

[Tolak]

Most fish antibiotics were originally designed for use in humans, and many are still commonly used for both humans and fish hint; your medicine cabinet. There is much information available on the dosage of antibiotics for fish, covering a wide variety of medications.

 

[afremont]

I don't have the severum, it was 6 weeks ago. And the Uaru Did not look that white, just had a slightly swollen white lip.
My vets said they'd happily treat my cat but have nothing to do with fish they said.
With their being such a gap between infections I was wondering if I could have a problem with my setup in thy tank, it's my first experience of having a sump, and all my other tanks have fluval internal filters on, and have no such problems, and they look clearer.

I can't believe your vet isn't willing to do a few simple procedures and take your money. I'd check with other vets about it, especially the "exotic pet" vets. They should be able to scrape a live fish without stressing it too much. It doesn't matter how big the spot is, they can identify it just the same.

To be honest, partly because of these same issues, I bought a microscope. Best money I ever spent on "fish" accessories. I positively identified nematodes in one tank and chilodonella in another. Without the microscope, I'd still be guessing what was wrong with the fish and what med to use. Now I know exactly what I'm up against and will be able to tell if I'm curing it or not.

 

[Msesassi]

So what does it look like it is from my photos? Any guesses?

 

[snazy]

I can't see the pictures but columnaris can be caused by water quality problems and stress. Check what is causing the cloudiness for a start. You said there were two weeks time frame between the deaths of the fish. Columnaris kills a lot faster and is highly contagious. Maybe the medication helped to stop whatever killed the first fish from spreading to the others and the second fish was just weaker and couldn't cope with the stress of sickness and medication or just got a secondary infection of some kind.
Were the symptoms the same on both fish?