Possible Columnaris Or Tb.

[Atlantis1]

Hi all,
I posted a while ago about a prolapse on a female guppy and a lump on her side. She has been 100% fine since she got better (for about 2 weeks or so) until about 2 days ago, I noticed she was swimming slower, then her tail dropped and looked like it was weighing her down. Once this happened I moved her into a quarantine tank. She appears to have no use of her tail, she can still move her fins but that's all. I have no idea what happened, she's still eating, she can adjust manage to push off the bottom of he he tank to get food on the surface.
Other then that she has no other symptoms. At the same time too I noticed that one of there other guppys (her sister) stopped eating, and a platy stopped eating too and has become very thin.
I'm worried that this might be TB or colomnaris, do you have any idea what it might be? I've also just noticed the plants in the aquarium seem to be a little fuzzy and there looks like there is something sticky out of the mouth of another guppy, it's small and white, I can't tell if it's fuzzy. She's still eating, but I've moved her into another quarantine tank just in case.
I swear guppies will be the death of me...

Thank you for any help.

 

[Atlantis1]

Out of the 5 fish I have suscepted of the most serious illness, 2 have died, the girl that was paralyzed and a platy that was just acting a little strange. I have three left, 2 of which are I'm pretty sure getting dropsy, and the very skinny platy which wasn't eating and I just checked on then and started spinning around and then fell to the bottom of the quarantine tank.
They have been treated with furan-2 since last week, on their second round (of 4 rounds it says on the instructions) and the two girls getting dropsy are getting twice daily epsom salt baths, but it don't think it's going to help..
Please can someone tell me what this is? I am so worried it's fish bt, but I haven't seen any sores.

 

[star4]

I am not familiar with furan 2, what does it treat?, it is a possibility with having bloated fish and one going skinny that it could be worms, untreated it can produce very similar symptoms. Have you noticed any red threads hanging from any of the fish? or stringy white faeces, if you have noticed any red threads treat for camallanus worms, stringy white faeces treat for internal parasites.

 

[Atlantis1]

Thank you for your reply, the thin platy and one of the guppies with dropsy have died, so there is one left in quarantine. I haven't noticed any red threads and one of the guppies in have main tank does have stringy white faeces, I treated the main aquarium with praziquantel and after treatment the guppy still has stringy white faeces and doesn't seem very active..
I notice last night at feeding time, they all at first got excited about food, but didn't eat as much as normal, and after eating I noticed a few of them flashing.
Can external parasites produce the symptoms? I haven't seen any flashing this morning yet.. I really have no idea what is wrong, it's so confusing trying to figure out what is wrong with them :'(
Sorry I forgot to add, furan-2 is a broad spectrum antibacterial for both gram pos and gram neg, I didn't know what else to do and there's limited drugs available in australia. I have furan-2, tetracycline hydrochloride, tri sulfa, praziquantel, trichlofon and an ich treatment that contains 37% formaldehyde (which I think is another way of saying formalin), and also a multi cure with malachite green, methylene blue and acriflavine

 

[star4]

I do not know of an external parasite that would produce the same symptoms I am afraid. Are you able to get garlic infused food? ie frozen brine shrimp and garlic? if not you could always crush some garlic and add it to the food. Garlic helps build up the immune system, stimulates their appetite and it also an irritant to parasites and would be safe to use in combination with the furan-2.
 
Sorry you lost the others

 

[Atlantis1]

That's not good do you think it could be TB? I'm hoping because none of them have any sores it's not.. And none of them seem to have the white patches that come with columnaris..
I have a food here called spectrum and it's for 'finicky eaters' and one of the ingredients is garlic.. They don't seem to like it though unfortunately.
Do you know the garlic to food ratio I should use if I am crushing up my own garlic? And after I soak their food in it, do I feed them the garlic too or try to separate it from the food?

 

[star4]

TB is very very rare and almost impossible to diagnose without a post mortem on the fish. I usually slice up some garlic and leave it in tank water with a bit of food for an hour then remove the garlic and feed the fish, this is ok for food that does not mush up quickly, you only need a couple of drops of garlic juice in 5ml of water for it to work.

 

[Atlantis1]

Alright great, can the fish be overdosed on it? Like if I accidentally add too many slices to the food? Also, how often do you do this?

Thank you so much

 

[star4]

I have never had any adverse affects using garlic. I have lost count how many times I have done it with various rescued fish. Only do it a couple of times in a week to get them feeding, dont do it every feed.
 
Hope this helps.

 

[Atlantis1]

Thank you for you help star4, I'll give it a try next feed