Bleheri, Assam And 3 Reed Fish Dead!

this my smallest bleheri, about 4.5 inch. I initially thought it had been bit by another fish but am uncertain now. Whatever it is seems to be spreadin. It seems to loose balance now and again, i do not think it is an internal problem though as it is most likely because it seemingly cannot use its dorsal fin. The front half of which seems to of just disintergrated and just white rays visible. Recently one of my reed fish died after an injury, something bit half of its head peeling away the scales and its gill cover which i put down as the reason for its death, the 'bite' mark looked to be a similar shape to that of the mouths of a reed fish, which i doubt would attack the other fish, another channa, or delhezi bichir. There is aggressive fish in there, like the hujeta gar at about 7 inch and a pink tailed chalceus at the same. The chalceus rarely leaves the top level of the water and rarely approach's other fish apart from the hujeta, which is quite aggressive but going off the bite mark on the reed fish is not the initial suspect! Other fish in the tank are in my sig. Any thoughts appreciated, and i really dont want to loose this fish but feel a bit useless until i get a prognosis.

Thanks
David

and just another pic!
oh and please dont give me jip about the bloody discus! i know it shouldnt be in a tank with aggressive fish, just thoughts on the fish in question please!

dave_oddballs said:

and just another pic!
oh and please dont give me jip about the bloody discus! i know it shouldnt be in a tank with aggressive fish, just thoughts on the fish in question please!

Click to expand...

Poor little darling!

It looks to me like a bacterial infection.
What temp is the tank at? (im guessing above 26 with the discus in there?)

Too warm water is known to bring on bacterial infections in snakeheads.

Good luck my snakehead brother!

P.S, please keep us updated.

hmm iam stumped, doe's look to me like some sort of infection, doe's it ever hide own the side of the heater?just wondering weather it got stuck and burnt

i immediately thought burned as well.

looks like a burn to me too,could be wrong though

well i wouldn't rule it out, but at first its dorsal fin looked like it had been bitten, which i was already looking for a culprit for the biting, and eventual death of my reed fish. i did dose the tank with myxazin this morning as even if it was not a bacterial infection, it should stop one forming. i shall give it a course and wait for the outcome. it shows no sigh of slowing down, just the balance which would be directly because of the dorsal damage, i know these fish are as tough as old boots so hopefully he will hang in there while the problem is hopefully solved / cured!
ths the water is around 26.5 c, not ideal i know, it has only been in there a couple of months, waiting to set up a tank just for them, as my assams take up the next biggest tank its a new investment needed! they can cope with higher temperatures for longer than a couple of months as they do in the wild, and it is a majority of the year that they live in the cooler waters so i don't think that would directly be the cause of the problem, all that said they was kept in tropical temps at bas where i got them from and i dont know how long they was there for. i would be tempted to stick to my original thoughts of a bite, which as in turn hasl et a bacterial infection take hold!
as i said i will just go through the course of myxazin and see what happens.
oh and no it doesn't really spend much time in the area of the heater, the bigger one does but doesn't have any burns! might get a heater guard as a precaution!
will keep you informed on the progress and any more advice would be appreciated!
Cheers
David

its been upstairs in hospital tank at about 22 c since last night, treated again with myxazin, the infection seems to have spread all the way to its tail, but it has now turned black apart from a bit round the area its spine is. to me would suggest that the bacteria causing the infection is dieing off? correct me if im wrong! i will try and get a couple of pictures later on so you can see the change and see what someone else can make of it!

David

all three reedfish are dead now, all looking to have the same problem, one side of their heads just go totally white and just looks like the side of their head was peeling off. a can't get any pics of them as they are gone, i just had to get them out and away they looked horrible. nothing else seems to be affected just the single channa bleheri now, i'm gonna just run the myxazin course in the hospital tank with the bleheri and the big tank to make sure any infection is hopefully killed off! i've never seen anything like it though, normally the bacterial infections take hold slowly and gradually get worse! the 2 last reedfish were, or looked to be, in perfect health yesterday and now both dead with some very serious looking wounds, it was exactly the same on all 3 reedfish in exactly the same place, their jaws and their gills so i know it is not the cause of a bite as it is extremely unlikely to be in exactly the same place on all fish! with their quick overnight deaths leads me to believe it is very serious and i guess my bleheri is only hanging in there because of its renowned toughness! i hope it hangs in there! i am very pee'd off about the reed fish but i didn't even see it coming! i hope it is sorted by the weekend as i will be even more pee'd off as i am visiting bas on my way back from manchester on sunday and i wouldn't be able to buy anything i saw!!
never mind i'm just concentrating on getting this problem sorted! if anyone knows of any ideas what this may be then please let me know!
Thanks
David

ive just found this, does the question sound like what the fish have got ? you can tell better from there

Q: The fish's skin has a hazy white covering over it in patches. It looks like a fungus, but anti-fungal treatments do not work.

A: This is a called Columnaris Disease and is caused by gram-negative bacteria.

Treatment: Use TMP-Sulfa -or- Sulfa 4 TMP -or- Triple Sulfa Powder.

hope this can help i will keep looking out for things on the net for you

JAY

If it was columnaris and it looks a little like it, you may also see redness in around around the white patches, which can lead to scepticimia.

If it is, you need pimafix with the myxazin and lower temps. 22-24c

its been at 22 c since last night in the hospital tank, doesn't look at all like fungus as you can see on the pics. its dorsal fin just looks shredded, stripped of all but the bony rays and they are white, it was like a white patch, not white like fungus but white looking, as in all the colour has gone. now its gone black with just a bit of white down the spine, its not moving as much now but im unsure wether that is because its gone into a different tank. but to answer the question no, to me it does not look to be fungal.
thanks
David

Could be parasitic, bacterial or water quality. Do you have your stats, has the ph changed drastically in the last couple of days?

ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0.10
Ph - constant at dead on 7.0
I havent added anything for over a month, livestock, plants, rocks, wood or anything else!
Its things like this that confuse me further, yer could be any one of those for all i know at the moment.
Anyway just took a couple of close pics of the wound, this is in the hospital tank at 21.6c.
and it has spread to a little patch above his right eye now!

Weird one.

Try pm'ing Colin_T, or Wilder, they might have a better idea.