So Sick Of Parasite

[kowgirl_kate]

Ok well this isn't really an emergency as I've had this problem for months but I'm so sick of losing fish that I think this must be the underlying cause and I want to get rid of it once and for all.

Firstly stats are all fine
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
PH 7
They've been all good for months with no changes.

Now all of my fish have been rubbing and flicking off live plants & ornaments at diff times since I've had the tank setup for 5 & a half months. First off I just thought it was them adjusting to the water quality but I've averaged 1 fish death a month from the beginning.
1 from ammonia poisoning I believe.
2 baby clown loaches wasted away but were always flicking. Died thin with pink gills.
1 guppy was bloated but wouldn't eat a pea & died.
And just 3 days ago, my eldest beloved cory, who died all of a sudden after becomming lethargic with laboured breathing, his death unknown.

I don't want to put meds in until I know what I'm dealing with.
I can't use salt because of the corydoras.

They still continue to flick. Some look like they're breathing heavier than usual as well.
There have never been any whitespots that look like they're sprinkled with salt.
Their gills aren't red, inflamed, pale or mucassy.

I did notice just yesterday that 1 guppy tail has white spots but it doesn't look like salt, they're much bigger. Looks more like his tail has been splattered with white paint or white talcum powder.
I can't get a pic cause the tail is constantly moving and clamped up. He is now bloated & lethargic too.

Also a Bristlenose Catfish has big black spots/patches about 3mm around his mouth.

I have had Melafix & Pimafix in the water for the past 4 days as the guppy tails started to split with a white edge.

They're all playing and eating normally apart from the guppy I believe is constipated.

Anyone have any ideas what could be in my tank?
I do a 25% water change weekly. Maybe this has slowed the parasite down but not completely removed it?

I'm at my witts end trying to figure this thing out so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[blue acara]

could well be skin/gill flukes- to be 100% sure you need to take a skin scrape (read link)
flukes info
link

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like skin flukes with a bacteria infection on top, flukes like any parasite can cause bacterial infections on top.
http/article.dphnet.com/cat-02/flukes1.shtml

 

[kowgirl_kate]

Damn I was really hoping it would be something else cause where I live I can only get Sterazin by Waterlife or AquaMaster Fluke Tabs and I can't use the fluke tabs with the corys cause they're sensitive to the main ingredient.

What do I use for Bacteria infection? Do I still keep using the melafix & pimafix for the guppy tails? They've had 5 days treatment of that but still their tails aren't any better. How long does it take?

I just found on an Australian website 'Aqua Master Paracide tablets' & 'Aquarium Science Anti-parasite tablets'. Are these any good do you know? I can't read what the ingredients are so I don't know if they're suitable for catfish either.

 

[WILDER]

The waterlife med no good as i had gill flukes with my fish and it took me ages to get rid of them.
Need to treat the flukes first as they are causing the bacterial infections.
Well if you don't add the fluke tabs the fish are going to die so you will have to risk it with the corys, if you increase aeration they should be fine.

 

[kowgirl_kate]

Ok Wilder. Is it safe to add the tabs with melafix & pimafix or should I put carbon in for 24hrs first?

 

[WILDER]

To many meds in the tank, I would run some carbon to remove the melafix and pimafix.
The melafix should be fine with the fluke tabs.
Increase aeration though as its going to be tough for the corys on the bottom with the meds as it will reduce 02 in the water.
Good luck.

 

[kowgirl_kate]

Alrighty I'll start with the carbon & water change now. Thanks for your help.

 

[fry_lover]

i am glad people have mentioned flukes

i recently have had this problem in my livebearer tank, despite very good water parameters a lot of fish were always flicking

unfortunately the only way i solved it in the end was stripping the tank down and putting the fish in isolation tanks

my treatments included

- Waterlife Sterazin
- King British WS3, which contains malachite green at quite a high dose
- 0.5% continuous salt solution with one salt bath for 5 mins(marine level salt) was treating livebearers
- approx 12 hours of high temp, slowly raised to 90F

i would say about 50% of my fish survived the treatments are okay to this day

i did a lot of research on flukes, i believe i had some very resistant ones. I didnt get a skin scrape so i am still guessing to be honest. Cant obiouvsly say for sure

Waterlife advised me to use Sterazin 2x Daily for 10 days in a row, this is a MUCH higher dose than they advertise on the bottle (1x daily dose for 5 days out of 10)

If fish are wasting away then you also need to consider internal parasites, and if you have this problem then its even worse than flukes.

I know EXACTLY how your feeling, when i read this post it reminded me so much of what i went through recently.

Also, although flukes are generally invisible to the naked eye, one guy from Waterlife told me that if the fish has "blurry" kind of white spots on its back fin it can be a sign of really high levels of fluke infestation. It is especially lethal to fry. I lost about 90 guppy fry in the space of 2-weeks to this.

To this day i am failry convicned the propblem started through feeding live bloodworm and tobifex worm to my fish. I only use frozen now and have not had this proble since.

 

[kowgirl_kate]

That's a very interesting story, thankyou for sharing fry_lover.

I think it was the clown loaches that brought mine into the tank. They did have blurry white spots on their fin which I mistook for whitespot. I quarantined the one for a month and used a broadspectrum med that made him last alot longer than the other one. They both wasted away in the end. I had them in the big tank but separated from the other fish so I think that's why the others aren't wasting away but they're still very itchy.
I put the net in this morning to get some plant leaves out and 3 of the guppies started flicking off of the net.

I think alot of people are having an outbreak of flukes here as I went to the lfs to get the fluke tabs, they had 20 boxes last week and this week 'none' so I had to order them online and now am having to wait 3 days GRR.
I noticed the shop online has put the price up on them as well probably cause everybody else has sold out and they're the last ones with them.

When they come I'm thinking I might put the corys in a separate tank with a smaller dose at first to see how they handle it and just use the full dose in the big tank.

 

[WILDER]

Flukes can cause a fish to waste away, good luck.

 

[andyt_uk]

the sounds like what i am suffering now
worth noting that melafix is purley tea tree oil - 100% natural and i personally dont consider it a med - unless any med you are adding states to not mix with tea tree oil assume it to be ok. <-- probly get shoued down for that
i have just got some methylene blue to try to treat it - can be quite tough on the aquarium though

 

[kowgirl_kate]

Gee andyt_uk, you're brave using meth blue. I will never ever use that stuff again. Everything in my tank now has a bluish purple tint that won't ever come off cause of that stuff.

Has anyone ever completely got rid of flukes without having to strip the entire tank down and start again?

 

[andyt_uk]

Gee andyt_uk, you're brave using meth blue. I will never ever use that stuff again. Everything in my tank now has a bluish purple tint that won't ever come off cause of that stuff.

Has anyone ever completely got rid of flukes without having to strip the entire tank down and start again?

yeah i did read the warning about it staining AFTER i added it
if its that bad i dont mind replacing stuff if it cures it - colour is fading slightly in the water and suspect even the gravel is stained, but as in my other thread i will be removing some anywayas long as the glass doesnt stain i'll be ok

i'll probly end up taking all down as my heater stat is stuffed, i'not too impressed with the filter, everything will probably be blue and i need to loose about half my gravel.... after 3 years pretty trouble free fish keeping its all gone a bit pete tong ......

 

[WILDER]

Lol, i've used king british methylene blue dosn't stain stuff like some do.
I had to strip my tank down then added the med, got rid of them.