Reoccuring Problem

[Waterloo Kid]

OK, here's the story.
I keep loosing fish, always with the same symptoms. My danios tend to get dropsy-like symptoms (swollen abdomen, popeye, raised scales) and my M. Praecox develop red sores followed by dropsy typical symptoms. I have tried treating with anti-bacterial medication in a hospital tank but have not been able to save one single fish yet. Also affected with similar problems have been my rams, my dwarf gouramis and black neon tetras. I'm getting a bit fed up of loosing fish yet have no success in treating them. All my water parameters are fine (see sig) and some fish seem totally unaffected. My glowlights haven't had a single problem. They were the first fish in the tank during cycling and not one has died! In the main it's the rainbow fish and danios that seem most susceptible to the problem.
My thought is that it could be a viral infection resident in the tank, slowly picking off the fish one by one. My guess is fish TB. Another theory is that the fish most affected are the greedy ones and maybe they are eating too much so getting a liver problem. The rainbow fish eat unbelievable amounts!

Anyone got any pointers for this?

It's getting me down!

Ta,

WK

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Sounds suspiciously like Dropsy to me. Just wondering what type of food have you been feeding your fishes? Live foods by any chance most recently?

 

[Waterloo Kid]

70% flake with about 30% frozen and freeze dried foods.
Can dropsy remain dormant in a tank for a length of time?
Any ideas about how to stop this?

Questions, questions....


WK

 

[tstenback]

Dropsy isnt a disease all by itself but it is a condition caused by an underlying disease usually an internal bacterial infection of the kidneys. Real hard to treat. But i think what we need to do is try to isolate the cause. WHat is your maintenance schedule like and do you vac the gravel often? Just asking as dropsy type incidences are often water quality/maintenance related. Keep us posted

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Maintenance is a 25% water change once a week with the gravel being cleaned during the change (apart from inbetween plants and under rocks). I'm pretty sure the disease came with a couple of rainbow fish I bought a year or so back. Things just seemed to happen after they were put in the tank.
The one affected rainbow I have now is currently in a hospital tank undergoing treatment with Interpet No 9 (I think). It's still pretty active and healthy apart from a small blister showing on its back.

WK