What's Wrong With My Wcmm? Pics Included.

Hi,

I am getting very concerned about my tank. I have has two deaths in the least week or so and today I discovered another poorly fish. I am really worried that all my fish are going to die of a mystery illness.

Here's the story so far:

A fortnight ago I noticed a dead white cloud mountain minnow in my tank. It had a bubble like growth next to its tail. I am annoyed at myself for not noticing it sooner and I have no idea what caused the growth.
A day or so later one of my lovely fantail goldfish looked very sad and was not swimming around or eating. After a few days of desperately trying to find out what was wrong it developed dropsy and I had to euthanise it a couple of days ago.
Today I noticed one of my WCMM has a horrible looking problem around it's face and gills (photos attached).

So, here are my questions:

1. Do any of you what what this fish is suffering from judging by the photos?
2. Is there any treatment or is the fish past it?
3. Do I need to somehow separate it from the rest of the fish?
4. Is this an illness that is spreading around my fish? (My fantail goldfish did not have any noticeable physical problems).

BTW, the water quality is excellent, I have also recently added aquarium salt.

Last photo...

Well the gills are definatley inflamed looking. Any other odd behavior? Does the fish hover at the surface?

Crossfire said:

Well the gills are definatley inflamed looking. Any other odd behavior? Does the fish hover at the surface?

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Hi, thanks for helping. No, other than the appearance the fish is behaving as normal.

greengoddess said:

Crossfire said:

Well the gills are definatley inflamed looking. Any other odd behavior? Does the fish hover at the surface?

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Hi, thanks for helping. No, other than the appearance the fish is behaving as normal.

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Hmmm...strange....Adding salt was a good idea, kudos to you....If it is due to a bacterial infection, the salt should help. Is the minnow scratching or flashing?

Have you done any water changes recentky? What, exactly, are your water levels? I know you said they are fine but I am curious as to what exactly they are. Also we need other info about your tank. Size, temp, air stone, other tank mates, chemicals added, any type of chemical that shouldn't be added but might have possibly gotten into the tank?

What is your ph? I have seen this before when the ph is too high / too low for the fish to handle.

Something could he irrtating their gills. perhaps you have small debris in your tank. Is your water cloudy. You could always add a lil stress zyme and stress coat to improve thier slime coats

AshP1986 said:

Have you done any water changes recentky? What, exactly, are your water levels? I know you said they are fine but I am curious as to what exactly they are. Also we need other info about your tank. Size, temp, air stone, other tank mates, chemicals added, any type of chemical that shouldn't be added but might have possibly gotten into the tank?

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fishprotector said:

What is your ph? I have seen this before when the ph is too high / too low for the fish to handle.

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deftuch said:

Something could he irrtating their gills. perhaps you have small debris in your tank. Is your water cloudy. You could always add a lil stress zyme and stress coat to improve thier slime coats

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Hi,

I've just re-tested the water to make sure. Here are the details of my tank:

240ltr tank
Water temp: 21c
Stock: 10 WCMM, 1 Fantail goldfish
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
pH: 7.8
Nitrate: minimal

The water is crystal clear and I did a 25% water change 5 or 6 days ago. There is no debris in the tank, just standard 1/4 inch gravel, a large piece of driftwood and 3 artificial plants. Lots of oxygen in the water and a good efficient filter. I added the first of 4 stages of a swim bladder treatment 5 days ago in an effort to try and help my poorly goldfish. As the sick goldfish is no longer with us I do not intend to carry on the treatment process.

Did you do a 50% water change to remove the meds?

Crossfire said:

Hmmm...strange....Adding salt was a good idea, kudos to you....If it is due to a bacterial infection, the salt should help. Is the minnow scratching or flashing?

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Hi, the fish is not scratching. I don't know what you mean by flashing, sorry. The fish appears to be behaving normally like the others. Sorry for my typos above, my iMac autocorrect replaces mistakes with silly words sometimes.

AshP1986 said:

Did you do a 50% water change to remove the meds?

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No. I added the salt and the 1st stage of the swim bladder med after the last water change. Do you think I need to do a big water change now?

I would do a 50%.... nothing helps a fish more than fresh clean dechlorinated water

AshP1986 said:

I would do a 50%.... nothing helps a fish more than fresh clean dechlorinated water

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OK, thank you. I am really busy for the next 24 hours but I will do a 50% change as soon as I can. Should I leave the sick WCMM as it is? Is there any chance of it recovering?

I'm not familiar with that fish... I am hoping someone else will have more info for you... I can say though that daily 50% wc will be good for them.