Still flashing after treatment

[Lajos_Detari]

It's been going on for a couple of months. Honestly, it seems ever since I put a new decoration in the tank and that's what they are flashing off of. They seem to only flash on that side of the tank but that could be because that's where the largest decoration is. It's just so bizzare because they are great eaters and acting normal otherwise. The two Gouramis and pleco aren't flashing and the others just do it at random times.

Is there any fish tht died for the past few months?
If its fluke(especially gill fluke) or velvet, it will kill the fish quite fast.
I guess you continue to monitor before using any medication.

 

[WiccaFish]

Is there any fish tht died for the past few months?
If its fluke(especially gill fluke) or velvet, it will kill the fish quite fast.
I guess you continue to monitor before using any medication.

Yes, all 4 of my Von Rios Tetras died a few weeks ago but the forums all diagnosed them with Whirling disease.
This is a video I took shortly before the first one died. The other three all showed the same symptoms and died a few days later.https/youtube.com/shorts/KkBBEpqIDH0

 

[WiccaFish]

I just realized the video didn't work I'll try it a different way but the image may not be clear.

sick fish

youtube.com

 

[WiccaFish]

Also, my tiger barbs have rapid breathing but they've been doing that since I purchased them 7 months ago. They eat, play and one was even full of eggs. They seem to be happy little buggers besides the flashing and this rapid breathing.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

What are the symptoms before the fish died?
If the symptoms are fish scratching/flashing and fast breathing, then most likely it's caused by gill flukes.

Gill flukes will kill your fish one by one.
At their final stage, the fish will breathe very fast as their gills are infected by flukes and secondary bacterial infection which damaged their gills. They won't be able to breathe when their gills are damaged. This will suffocate and kill them.

 

[WiccaFish]

Honestly, they had no symptoms until they started that strange spiraling. The first one swam like that for several days before he died. He was getting weaker by the day so I euthanized him then one by one the others went and they went quicker then the first. I'll be starting treatment for flukes tomorrow. Do you know what could have caused the flukes? My water parameters have all been normal for months.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish spinning through the water has an infection in the brain. It is usually a protozoan infection but can sometimes be a bacterial or viral infection. Salt (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres for 2-4 weeks) usually stops it spreading but any fish that is spiraling like that is dead.

Salt will also kill most flukes and external protozoan infections like Costia, Chilodonella and Trichodina.

Salt will not treat white spot or velvet and you need heat (30C/ 86F) or chemical medications like Malachite Green or Copper to treat these parasites.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Follow Colin's instructions above.
Its some kind of parasites or bacterial infection.

Did you feed them with live food or frozen food?
In my opinion, most parasites infection whether internal or external are usually due to feeding with live food or some fish may carry the parasites with them whenever you introduce new fish.

Try the salt treatment first.

 

[WiccaFish]

No live food. I feed them flakes.
What is a safe salt dose for a 75 gallon with snails and a Bristlenose pleco in it?

 

[Colin_T]

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

No live food. I feed them flakes.
What is a safe salt dose for a 75 gallon with snails and a Bristlenose pleco in it?

I haven't kept any snails in my aquarium before.
It might be difficult to medicate your tank with snails around.
Can you remove the snails?
I think the snails can't take the salt.

I think Pleco is ok but in case it cannot with stand high salt, you may want to remove it also.

By the way, if you don't feed them live food, then most of the parasites or bacteria are brought either by other fish, snail or plants.
Most likely the earlier fish that died brought the disease with them.
Whenever you buy new fish, you have to quarantine them for 3-4 weeks.
If you buy new plants, you will need to sterilize them with bleach or hydrogen peroxide, etc.

 

[WiccaFish]

I didn't quarantine because it was a new tank and I bought several different fish from the store all at once. I guess I should have had several hospital tanks set up for each species before putting them in the main tank ?
I think the infection may have come from some snails I bought recently. I just wish I knew what I was treating for, this guessing game is so frustrating and I don't want to loose anymore fish.

 

[Essjay]

If all the fish came from the same store at the same time, you don't need to quarantine them separately because they'll all have been exposed to the same things. Most shops have a central filtration system with the water passing through all the tanks. Even if some tanks are on a different system, they'll probably use the same equipment on every tank from nets to water changing equipment. The first fish to go in a tank don't need a quarantine tank either, as the main tank is their quarantine tank.

Adding fish later is a different matter even if they come from the same store as the first fish. A disease could have got into the store tanks between the first fish and the later additions. And fish from a different store need to be quarantined. The same applies to invertebrates invertebrates that come from a fish store as the water they are in could contain fish pathogens.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I didn't quarantine because it was a new tank and I bought several different fish from the store all at once. I guess I should have had several hospital tanks set up for each species before putting them in the main tank ?
I think the infection may have come from some snails I bought recently. I just wish I knew what I was treating for, this guessing game is so frustrating and I don't want to loose anymore fish.

Usually based on their symptoms, you will know the disease.
But some symptoms are not so obvious and it can be difficult to diagnose it.
And sometimes you have multiple infections.

Can you remember when did your fish started to have problems?
If it started only after you introduced the snails, then high chances are the disease was brought by the snails.
Snails are scavenger and they eat dirty stuff which make them easily come into contact with parasites, bacteria or even virus. They can be carriers of disease but they themselves may not be affected by it.
That is the reason why I won't keep any snails.

 

[mark4785]

Has the white dot got any bigger or is it healing? This could just be damage to the scales that has occurred due to flashing.

I recommend you treat the tank for body flukes with Waterlife Sterazin or a similar treatment as this stops flashing. My tank had flukes 3-4 days ago and having dosed with Sterazin the flashing has already stopped mid-treatment.