Problems In One Of My Tanks

[WILDER]

Just looked the wormer plus up dosn't say it treats costia.
Taken from this link.
http/www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm
Costia



Symptoms:

Infected fish have soft, film-like skin turbidity. A grayish white film of excess mucous covers the entire body of the fish including the eyes. Severe infestations can lead to skin inflammation and deterioration. Reddening of the skin and bleeding, most often occurs on the underside of the mouth and the pectoral area of the body. Sick fish often rub or scratch against objects in the aquarium in an attempt to relieve irritation. Severely infected fish may become reclusive, listless, lie on the bottom of the aquarium and stop feeding.



Cause:

The parasitic flagellates Costia necatrix and Ichthyobodo necatrix. Costia is a small bean-shaped flagellate which attaches tightly to all areas of the skin, destroying the flesh. This parasite can only survive for approximately one hour without a host and does not tolerate temperatures above 86 - 90 F.



Treatment:

Raising the water temperature to 86 - 90 degrees may be helpful if your fish can tolerate the high temperatures. Quick Cure, Formalin, Malachite Green and Copper Sulfate are the drugs of choice for Costia. Costia infestations are highly contagious. All fish, including the aquarium, should be treated.

 

[Gypsy5]

Hi, we did a water change last night (not quite 50% but alot) and added the Protozin, half dose. Will keep trying to get a decent picture but they don't turn out right.

Thought it was costia after reading the fish-disease.net site, which said the symptoms of costia are

Infected fish have soft, film-like skin turbidity. A grayish white film of excess mucous covers the entire body of the fish including the eyes. Severe infestations can lead to skin inflammation and deterioration. Reddening of the skin and bleeding, most often occurs on the underside of the mouth and the pectoral area of the body. Sick fish often rub or scratch against objects in the aquarium in an attempt to relieve irritation. Severely infected fish may become reclusive, listless, lie on the bottom of the aquarium and stop feeding.

Sounds perfect (if you know what I mean!).

xx

Don't know if I can raise the temperature with what I've got in the tank, is there a website that says what the max temperature for each fish is?

 

[WILDER]

If the fish are ok with the half dose med, increase the dose to 3 quarters.
Costia a nasty parasite.
The fish will be fine with the high temp as long as there plenty of aeration in the tank.
Do you have a pump and airstone.

 

[Gypsy5]

We have a big air bubble disc in there, but could always get another one today. The internal filter can also be raised slightly to agitate the surface as it's just a secondary filter, the main being an undergravel with a powerhead.

Lost 2 gouramis in the night and it looks like that's it.

 

[WILDER]

You need to highter the temp as the parasite will kill them than the heat.
Need to get rid of the parasite fast as they cause alot of damage.
Good luck.

 

[Gypsy5]

Right, up it goes then.... fingers crossed!

 

[WILDER]

Good luck gyp5y5.

 

[Gypsy5]

3 guppies, 3 honey gouramis, 1 peppered cory and a minnow gone today. The sharks look terrible, they can't see cos the coating is so thick on their eyes. Their fins and tail are red and they have so muich slime on them that it's starting to come off in little chunks.

Is it worth adding salt after removing those fish that can't tolerate it?

 

[WILDER]

Wow there dropping like flies.
To be honest you havent got much to lose, add a teaspoon to a gallon for now.

 

[Gypsy5]

Another minnow and a honey gourami gone. Both sharks are now laying upside down on the gravel, looks like they're resting on their top fins. They can right themselves and have a little swim but when they rest they go upside down again.

Went everywhere today for more Protozin because we only had enough for one day. Couldn't get it so got the Interpet slime and velvet stuff which says it treats for costia. Did a massive water change which all the fishies seemed to like and started with the new meds. Didn't want to chop and change like this but have no choice and alot of the fish are all but passed it now away. Damned if I do and damned if I don't!

Never had anything like this before. Have lost 30 fish since last Thursday.

Temperature now up to 80 degrees.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry been awful for you.
R.I.P.
Tanks can get wiped out if there in bad shape, plus parasites cause bacterial infections on top.
Just hope you can save the rest,
Good luck.

 

[Gypsy5]

Thanks Wilder. Only lost a guppy so far today but obviously the mds might actually be working but the fishy was too far gone for it to help. Alot of the fish that are left are nice and lively but the cory cat keeps swimming about in the middle of the tank which is not normal. I wish it would say on the med bottle how long it takes to work.

Will keep going...

 

[WILDER]

It can take longer than it states on med bottles some parasites take some getting rid of.
Keep your chin up and hope there no more deaths.
Good luck.

 

[Gypsy5]

UPDATE: I lost 2 more guppies and my oldest and bestest fishy yesterday morning. a bronze cory called Dave. R.I.P. little missy (only found out after we'd called her Dave that she was a she. Too late to change her name then, she would have got all confused. lol)

45 fish gone in total in just over a week but woke up this morning to everyone else still with us so today has been a death-free day so far (touch wood). My sole remaining cory has eaten today for the first time in about a week - he was fighting with a piece of algae wafer for about 2 hours so is stuffed full now. His eyes are still coated though, although they do look a bit better.

I would still like advice on my next step though. After doing a 50% water change, I put Interpet anti-slime and velvet meds in on Tuesday and have been adding a half dose of Pimafix and Melafix for the last two nights so our final diagnosis of costia could have been correct. Now, what to do now? Should I do a 50% water change again and add the same meds or something else (Protozin, Anti-Internal Bacteria etc) or a smaller water change and nothing? I'm thinking we should medicate again seeing as we lost so many and there's still a little bit of flicking.

Also, when should we do this? Would today/tomorrow be ok to do it?

Thanks for reading. x

 

[WILDER]

Forget about the pimafix and melafix there not that good anyway.
Go in with another round of velvet, then you might need to add anti internal bacteria med by interpet.
Test your water stats before you do a water change to see how much the meds have knocked them.