Parasites?

[alliersv]

Hi, after a bit of help if poss?

Just noticed tonight that my blue Dwarf gourami seems to be a bit lethargic, hiding away in tall plants. He has lost a bit of colour along his topline, appearing slightly grey, and has a long white/translucent string coming from his bottom. It seems to have sort of lumps in it and does not look like poo. The honey gourami appears fine in itself, but looks to have some white and a few black "spots" on its' head and body. When I say spots, they do not look like whitespot but appear to be very short parasites of some kind. They move in the sway of the water but are very short. I can not see any kind of anchor on either fish.

We have recently changed tanks due to the old one developing a leak, but did replace some of the old tank water and are still running the old cycled filter alongside the new external one while it cycles.

The dwarf we have had for several months, the honey one we have only had for about 10 days, which we bought along with 2 baby angels.
The first angel seemed to lose it's buoyancy very quickly a couple of days ago, and within half an hour it had died. The second one we lost this afternoon. It was fine at about 3, and at 5 I couldn't see it so did a search of the tank and found it dead. It had displayed no signs of distress prior to this other than seeming a bit shy.
Unfortunately we didn't quarantine these fish before we added them to the tank, so I am assuming that they brought something in or the stress of the tank move and new arrivals has brought on a problem.

The tank is a 190 litre tank and houses a BN plec, 6 otos, 4 neons, 7 corys , loads of cherry shrimp and a peacock goby. All of these have been in the tank a minimum of 6 months, maximum of 2 years with no problems.

I'm looking in books and on the net to try and identify the problem so I know how to treat but am not having much luck. All the other fish seem fine and show no symptoms at all.
I have tried to take pics but not having any luck..sorry

Edited to add.. Ammonia 0, NitrIte 0, Nitrate between 20 and 40

 

[drobbyb]

You could use parasite clear made by Jungle Labratories. Be warned though if you have invertibrates as it will kill them.

 

[WILDER]

Can you post your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
Greyish white patches can be many things from parasites, bacterial, bad water quality.
Any exess slime on the fish.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Black spots on fish can be black spot do you have any smails in the tank.

Internal parasites signs are.
Long tsringy white poo, or clear mucas poo.
Worm prutruding from the anus.
Being thin or blaoted.
Sunken in belly.
Bent spines sometimes.
Red inflamed anus, or enlarged anus.

 

[alliersv]

Can you post your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
Greyish white patches can be many things from parasites, bacterial, bad water quality.
Any exess slime on the fish.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Black spots on fish can be black spot do you have any smails in the tank.

Internal parasites signs are.
Long tsringy white poo, or clear mucas poo.
Worm prutruding from the anus.
Being thin or blaoted.
Sunken in belly.
Bent spines sometimes.
Red inflamed anus, or enlarged anus.

Hiya,
Test results are:

PH 7.6 on liquid test kit
Ammonia 0
Nitrate between 20 and 40
Nitrite 0

No obvious excess slime, the black spots seem to have gone, maybe they were just tiny bits of bogwood shavings, stirred up by the plec. We have an apple snail in there but hopefully no others. When I said greyish, I meant more that it had lost a bit of colour on that part, rather than a coating as such if you see what I mean?
No signs of the stringy poo or mucus today from any of the fish.
No signs of flicking or rubbing, in fact the gouramis seem fine today.....however, one of our peppered corys seems to have a red inflammed anus this evening (all the other fish were fine yesterday) , and a couple of the other peppered corys seem to look sort of pinkish underneath their scales if that makes sense..not horrendously so, but I think they do look slightly different than normal, or I could just be being paraniod.
The largest cory (female we think) with the inflammed anus seems to be behaving strangely towards one of the other (healthy looking) corys, but the behaviour seems to be more of an amarous nature than anything else. It is the same as we had a year or so ago which did produce a couple of offspring. It doesn't look like the behaviour of a fish pecking at another dying one, put it that way, and if it was surely it would be the other way round?
I bought a bottle of Interpet #9 (anti internal bacteria) today, based on lastnight's events. Do you think I should start using that? I was going to take out the gouramis and treat them in a hossy tank, but now think dosing the whole tank would be a better idea.

*confused!*

 

[WILDER]

The cory with the inflamed anus does it look thin or bloated.
So it pink and not red beneath the skin, as blood beneath the scales can be septicemia.
The cory with the inflamed anus could have internal parasites.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing against objects in the tank.
Any red patches, red streaking in the fins.

 

[alliersv]

The cory with the inflamed anus does it look thin or bloated.
So it pink and not red beneath the skin, as blood beneath the scales can be septicemia.
The cory with the inflamed anus could have internal parasites.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing against objects in the tank.
Any red patches, red streaking in the fins.

No, other than the inflammed anus the cory looks fine, she is the biggest one we have and doesn't seem to have lost weight. no signs of flicking either from any of the fish.
The pink under the cory's skin is noticeable on a couple of others but not her, is mainly at the back of the head area and is quite subtle, but being peppered ones it stands out more. to the point that I may just be looking too hard and seeing things that aren't there.We have 2 albinos who look absolutely normal too.
Been out all day today and lights now off on tank so not looked at them but other half says they all seem ok this evening.
I will check on them all in the morning and will probably medicate for internal bacteria as a precaution unless you can suggest a better medicine (I couldn't see one for internal parasites) ?
Thanks for your help

 

[WILDER]

Fish can get a red anus with dropsy as well as internal parasites.
I would add the bacterial med and see how they go.
Good luck.

 

[alliersv]

Fish can get a red anus with dropsy as well as internal parasites.
I would add the bacterial med and see how they go.
Good luck.

Thanks again, will see how we get on with that med then

 

[alliersv]

Fish can get a red anus with dropsy as well as internal parasites.
I would add the bacterial med and see how they go.
Good luck.

Thanks again, will see how we get on with that med then

Just an update
The cories all appear fine. They were spawning lastnight like good uns and the big one that had us worried shows no symptoms now. Also, the pinkness under the skin of a couple seems to have faded. It may have just been the light or my imagination
The dwarf gourami is the only one that seems to be suffering. We have put him in a hossy tank on his own with anti bacteria meds. He is quiet and starting to look a bit bloated so he may not be too long for this world. Fingers crossed the meds help him.

 

[WILDER]

Ok good luck bless him.

 

[alliersv]

Ok good luck bless him.

Thanks for all your help, especially considering the constatly changing info!
Will see how he gets on