Help !

[shelaghfishface]

hes in a 4ft tank ( yes i am getting a bigger one) and was treated for septcemia,
he was fine last night, but just now i have noticed his scales are going black and his poo is pink

water tests are fine

whats wrong now??

 

[shelaghfishface]

also has 2 identical sores(ulcers??) behind his head (side)
hes eating fine and swimming about, cant bear to see him ill again

will upload pic soon

 

[WILDER]

Do you mean black all over all black patches.
Black patches are ammonia burns that are healing.
Ulcers are bacterial but also can be caused by parasites.
Are you still treating with the anti internal bacteria med.
http/www.fbas.co.uk/Ulcers.html

 

[shelaghfishface]

photos not very good for the colour, but going very dark all over, you can just make put the red patch on his side, he has another one on the other side.
have the carbon filter running in the tank at the moment (since yesterday morn)was going to start the treatment after a water change in the morning (sat)

what about the pink poo, what does that indicate?

 

[shelaghfishface]

just did another ammonia test definatley 0

 

[shelaghfishface]

WELL THE BLACKNESS HAS FADED!!

this is a bit of a mystery, i did a 60% water change ( still have the old filter running) although the water tests were ok (ph was a bit low,so was the gh poss due to meds)
also have the carbon filter running, i was going to do this in the morning, but glad i did it today now as the black has gone,and hes looking normal again, though i can assure everyone the test for ammonia came back as 0, i added some stress declorinator as i wanted to tidy up the tank ( been a bit messy as not wanted to disturb him while ill- tho have been doing WC)

the little red patches are still there tho- i looked at that link wilder they are not like that, they are just a red mark- tho they may develop.


so any ideas what this may have been?? the photos dont really show it on here as i had to use the light on to take the pic, but it definatley looked like he had been dipped in soot ( my kids saw it too)
would be good to know for future

ALSO SHALL I START THE INTERNAL BAC MED AGAIN IN THE MORNING?, NOW THAT THE WC DONE AND FILTER WILL HAVE BEEN GOING FOR 2 DAYS

 

[WILDER]

You can double dose on the anti internal bacteria med but I would only advise it in issolation.
The pink poo can be due to food dyes, do you feed any pink foods.

 

[shelaghfishface]

only feed them nutrafin max flakes, there are pink flakes in there tho

 

[kribensis12]

I feed my fish nutrafin max ands have noticed once in a while my fish will have red poo. Im thinking there might be a reddish to pink dye in the food. Ohhh well, my fish love it( note, mine is the livebearer formula, so the flakes are all red , there are also pieces of Tubifex worms in it also).

 

[Colin_T]

Take the carbon out of the filter because it absorbs chemicals like fish medications. Throw the carbon away and don't put any more in until you have finished treating.

Why did you treat him for septicemia? That's blood poisoning.

Black patching as mentioned is usually cell damage similar to bruising on people.

The combination of problems with this fish could have an underlying cause. If the ulcers don't heal up and the fish continues to have problems I would be thinking it has fish TB (Mycobacteria). If the ulcers do clear up and the fish gets better then it won't be TB.

 

[steelhealr]

That shark looks gaunt, or wasted. I would think it's an internal problem and would hedge my bet with antibiotics and place him in a quarantine tank if you have one. Agree with removing the carbon if you are going to treat the fish. Carbon pulls out the AB. SH

 

[CFC]

You can't get anti biotic aquarium treatments in the UK without a prescription from vet, which in all honesty is far more expensive than it is worth in 99% of cases, sorry if that sounds harsh but there is little point in spending around £100 on vets fees to treat a replaceable fish that costs under £10.

The shark does look very skinny, i would be pretty sure that it is suffering from some kind of internal infection, either bacterial or possibly parasitic, although with the presence of ulcers i would be more inclined to go with bacterial, unfortunately these kind of problems are nearly impossible to diagnose without taking smears from a recently killed fish so at best we can only make educated guesses as to the cause of the problem.

Which medication are you using? I would recommend the Interpet #9 medication which is the best anti bacterial treatment on the UK market available without a prescription, it is a VERY strong medication though so be sure to get the doses right and do not double dose with it, it is also a good idea to add some extra aeration to the tank while using it as well as it will drop the available O2 levels. Another note to add is that the Interpet treatments need to be added to clean warm water to activate the ingredients, this should be tap water from a boiled kettle which has cooled down to hand hot temperature.

 

[shelaghfishface]

Take the carbon out of the filter because it absorbs chemicals like fish medications. Throw the carbon away and don't put any more in until you have finished treating.

Why did you treat him for septicemia? That's blood poisoning.

Black patching as mentioned is usually cell damage similar to bruising on people.

The combination of problems with this fish could have an underlying cause. If the ulcers don't heal up and the fish continues to have problems I would be thinking it has fish TB (Mycobacteria). If the ulcers do clear up and the fish gets better then it won't be TB.

septicemia was about 2 and a half weeks ago,had lots of blood in his fins and was swollen all over ,first i treated him with myzxin,then interpet no9,today i have started the 2 nd round of no9 as advised, but was told to do a water change and run the carbon first( tho i am a bit behind,say a day due to the flu)
all the water tests have been fine apart from PH being down to 6.6 and GH being bit up( i assume to meds)((( just so you all know i wasnt guessing at meds or anything, i think i would have lost this fish ages ago if it wasnt for WILDER, she helped me from the min i noticed the first blood in his fins,and am very gratefull to her for all that she did)))

,as soon as he recovered he got black( tho only for a matter of hours back to normal now)
he`s not actually looking bad as he does in the pic,( shine is on him) hes def not gaunt,he is eating very well now and as active as when i first had him, the red patches are still there but not really doing anything do get worse or better.. this fish has been thru a hell of a lot,and i would hate to loose him now, all started when he jumped out of the bucket during a water change ..yes my fault

ps....too scared to try issolation, im not experienced enough to know what im doing, so i have been treating the whole tank...i have an empty 40 litre tank,spare heater,pump,filter( not cycled-but one that is in with my platys so i could with advice move things about)

 

[Colin_T]

So the fish jumped out of a bucket and landed on the floor. Then it developed the bloody fins and body. If that is what happened then the fish damaged itself on the floor and the blood was probably bacterial infections getting into the damaged tissue.

If you want to use a quarantine tank simply fill up a small aquarium with tank water and move the sick fish into it. Have a heater and pump running. You can have a filter in it if you want but most medications kill the filter bacteria. Therefore it doesn't really matter if you use a filter from an established tank, or just a new one.
When the fish is in the quarantine tank you don't bother to feed them and you try to change half the water every few days. Once the fish has recovered you can start feeding it and doing partial water changes each day to keep the ammonia levels low.

out of curiosity, why was the fish in a bucket to start with? Do you take the fish out of the tank when you do water changes? If so that isn't necessary. Normally you just leave the fish in the tank, drain 1/4 to 1/3 of the water out and refill the tank with dechlorinated water that has a similar temp and PH to the tank water.

 

[shelaghfishface]

thanks colin T

yes i can do all of the above
no he wasnt in there for a water change, i wanted to change the gravel,from bright colured stuff to neutral pea gravel,he landed on laminate floor so its possible he did injure hiself even tho i didnt see anything at all.
to do water changes i simply suck on (and quite often get a mouthful) a pipe and as the tank is in my hall way its next to the downstairs loo, so i drain it into that,then refill by placing a dish into the bottom of the tank,
another thing when i put him in the tank after doing all the changes,i forgot to turn the heater back on and the water was quite cold,so instantly he went upside down,so i quickley took him out and held him in a net in the top of my other tank,and stroked his tail (( i know)) to keep him going,so.. i could have infected him in any number of ways.

thats good advice as it will be easier in my pcket too ( dont want to sound mean) with the meds, thankyou