Possible Fungus Or Something

[WILDER]

Try and find the info as not sure how much you lower temp by.
Just drop it 2 dsgrees for now.
Sorry about the fish it awful when you have to end there life so know how you feel.

Do you have an issolation tank.
If so you could go to the vets and ask for antibiotics then move the sick fish to be treated.

Also it says to increase aeration though you have to anyway with meds.

The hospital tank should be heated to approx. 74 degrees. 76 and above is the ideal breeding temperature for columnaris. Though there is some dispute over lowering the temperature, my experience has been that 72 is too low for the medication to work rapidly, 76+ causes the disease to breed more rapidly than the anti-biotic can kill, and 74 is "just right." Remember to keep this temperature stable!

 

[pirate monkey]

The gibby and the 2 SDs are in quarantine at the moment. I have no more filters ( have 2 running on QT) so cannot isolate further... Will turn heater down a couple of degrees. Will also euthanase the one SD. Carbon going in filter now, will try other meds tomorrow after a water change.

Thanks for your help

 

[WILDER]

With a bad strain of columnaris you really need antibiotics.
They say salt baths but I find it just stresses the fish out to much, having to do them 5 times aday.

 

[pirate monkey]

I'll call the vet on monday to see if they can help.

I'm glad I got those guys out of the tank when I did, the remainder in the main tank look ok so far, in fact really good! Keeping a close eye on them and lots of water changes.

Just hope the others pull through.

Will it help to put salt in the quarantine? Can plecs tolerate salt? I can't remember...

 

[WILDER]

They can only tolerate a small dose, you can't even half dose with plecs, so I wouldnt bother adding it.
Water changes on the main tank.
Columnaris is an obsolute nightmare when you get a bad strain.

 

[pirate monkey]

I have a new problem now...

A couple of days ago I got home and the electric was off, not sure why... It came back on not long after, but the timer for the fish tank lights were 3 hours behind!! Since then I've had a lot of trouble with the ammonia and nitrites on the quarantine tank. I've been 50% changing at least 3times a day, but it's still creeping up to above 5ppm. I have 3 filters running on this tank, all with mature media taken from my 2 other tanks. I even took swapped some more media last night! The tank is small considering the bioload of a 10" gibby. He looks horribly stressed.
The silver dollars mouth is getting worse so I think I might have to end his life too.

So here's the dilemma - keep the gibby in the quarantine with high ammonia and nitrites, or put him back in main tank. If he goes in tank again, I suppose I am risking the others getting ill, and also him getting his wound picked at by the green terror (I could remove the green terror).

Would my main tank be ok if water changes done daily and keep up meds - currently dosing pimafix and interpet anti mouth fungus + finrot (it says it treats flexibacter, couldn't get any myxazin)??

I'm sorry for the blurb here but I'm in a panic and upset for the fish, don't know what the best option is! Any advice please!

 

[WILDER]

That anti fungus and finrot med not that good on columnaris.
If you can keep up with water changes I would leave the sick fish in the hospital tank.
Always best to lose one fish than risk losing more,.

 

[pirate monkey]

I suppose you're right - if that's the way it's gotta be... it's just horrible to see such an unhappy fish. He's blob has improved a lot since I've started treating so I guess the interpet stuff must be better than nothing. it's odd - the lfs stock protozin and octozin(?) but not myxazin. They'd never heard of it... There's another one a bit further away from me I'll see if I can get there tomorrow.

I wonder if you may be able to answer a question I have - why the fish that have got ill (not including the gibby) were my large silver dollars? I Have 3 small SDs and some others so I am wondering why those 3 in particular were the only ones that suffered?

Thank you once again for your advice, I'm sure I'll be back again soon though.

 

[WILDER]

Some fish are more prone to parasites and bacterial infection than other fish,.
Also if a fish is stressed it immune system is weak and ends up getting ill. Also when fish are stressed there slime coat gets thinner.

 

[pirate monkey]

Victory!

Spike is now back in the tank with his buddies again!

many long weeks, too many water changes to count and a lot of pimafix! the fungus finally went away and I have a happy sail fin.

The remaining big silver dollar has also returned to the main tank as he seems to have recovered, although a close eye is being kept on him.

We are looking forward to an external filter (which will now be coming after christmas) which should help us in the future keeping the water oh-so-amazingly-clean. I'm not sure the juwel filter copes so well with the size of the tank...

We are now performing bi-weekly water changes until new filter arrives, which is a lot of hard work, but worth it to keep the fish happy and problem free.

I wish I had quarantined spike in the first place, my excuse of not having a big enough QT was not good enough, and I ended up having to get one anyway lol - ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS quarantine new fish!!! (I have learned this lesson before, but thought I'd get away with it this time...)

Thank you to Wilder for your help and advice!

 

[WILDER]

Glad he made it.
I had 3 juwel tanks and ran another filter with the juwel powerheads as they are not that good.
There fine if the tanks not stocked to much but if you have full stocking they don't seem to cope with all the fish.