Can’t work it out

[Fishfinder1973]

My torpedo barbs have been suffering from a problem for a while now and I wish I put this up earlier as my shoal has depleted from 19 to 9,and I have found another dead one this morning.
The first one to go had a white growth behind its dorsal,a sort of white fungus.
The photo below shows a photo and a couple of them have the same. The main fish in the pic looks like this growth or disease is coming out of its scales. I also lost my sultan plec yesterday. He had came out of hiding and I thought,great I will see him more,but he has had some hidden problem,or it could have been old age.
No other fish in the tank has the white growth on then,it’s exclusively the torpedo barbs.
Has anyone any idea what this could be. I might not be able to help the barbs,but I could maybe stop the disease spreading to other fish,which it hasn’t yet.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

Well I am still losing a fish a day,and I’ve decided once I have no torpedo barbs left,that I am packing fish keeping in,selling the tank and moving on.
Losing a fish here and there I can handle,even if it’s still not good,but the way my fish have been dying literally one every couple of days is enough for me.
Whatever’s in the tank has decimated my stock severely. The only fish unaffected are the so called “delicate”corydoras.
If I see my corys being affected I will take them out and deliver them to the local fish store for rehoming. I’ve had them too long to let them just die.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

Well at the end of it all it turned out to be a severe case of white spot. What threw me off the ich theory was the fact each fish developed a growth behind their dorsal fin and nothing else.
I decided to turn the temperature way down in the tank in order to see if it would make a difference,and it did,with lots of fish being covered from nose to tail in ich. I had two more fish almost dead and I turned the temp straight to full,which is 32 degrees. The next day the ich was gone and even the two that were nearly gone pulled through.
I don’t really see the point in this forum when I see 119 views and not a single reply from anyone,a bit weird considering there are supposed to be folk in the know,to be honest. Anyway I will deal with any tank issues myself from now on without seeking advice,as obviously ich can fool even the most experienced on the forum.
All in all I lost 14 denison barbs,a sultan plec,a blue panaque and 3 black ruby barbs.

 

[Naughts]

I hadn't seen your previous posts, sorry you didn't get any replies.
Sorry also for your losses.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

I hadn't seen your previous posts, sorry you didn't get any replies.
Sorry also for your losses.

My own fault Naughts,I should have took the risk and turned the heater to full long before I did. I had never seen ich like this before. It started with a white growth just behind the dorsal fin of a denison barb,then another and another etc etc,it never spread over the fish til I turned the temperature down,then it exploded and only then could I identify it as ich.
I now know that ich doesn’t necessarily sugar coat the fish,it’s just a pity it took the loss of 19 fish,14 of which were my prized denison barbs.

Thanks

 

[Naughts]

Maybe there was another disease first and the ich was a secondary illness that appeared due to the fish being weakened?
How long had you had the Denison's? They looked nice, good colouration and stocky.

 

[lnsaneM]

have you been testing for water parameters

 

[Alice B]

I've been absent for 10 days, sorry for your losses and sorry I missed this. Ich attacks at the weak point on the fish, and obviously when the fish get chilled the whole fish is weak.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

Maybe there was another disease first and the ich was a secondary illness that appeared due to the fish being weakened?
How long had you had the Denison's? They looked nice, good colouration and stocky.

That is a possibility Naughts,considering the way it developed. The first fish to have a problem was a denison barb. There was a white mark half the size of a pinky nail directly on the back behind the dorsal. I put this down to the fact they are skittish and I thought it probably hit itself on the edge of a rock. There was nothing untoward that I noticed with any of the others for a week or so,before another denison had a white mark in the exact same area behind its dorsal fin. The photo I posted shows the white mark behind the dorsal on the denison furthest left. The other denison to the right has more marks,but this only occurred the morning I took the photo.It took a couple of weeks before the first fish passed. After the first fish passed it was a domino effect even though I never seen marks on any others that passed,and this is what caught me off guard.
I’ve only seen ich once before in the tank and the fish were flashing like crazy and the next day they were coated in ich. Colin said to turn the temp up to 30 which I did,and the fish recovered. I simply didn’t recognise it as ich because of the very slow and methodical way it took the fish,and that’s the reason I’m a bit peeved at not getting a reply. I hadn’t even contemplated ich,but maybe someone on here could have explained that ich doesn’t necessarily take over the tank quickly,but can develop slowly over time. This would have at least brought ich to the forefront of my mind and I would have turned the temp up anyway.
I lost another 3 fish yesterday evening,a panda Cory,yellow cory and one of the two remaining ruby barbs,the male. He was a cracker too,fully grown. Hopefully nothing else dies.
Ultimately it’s no one’s problem but my own,but to lose so many fish in the fashion that I lost them is a sore point for me. I can’t afford to replace £340 worth of fish,but it’s not even that,it’s losing the fish full stop. They were in top condition before that Damn disease got them.
Ihad the denison barbs for around 18 months,fully grown and healthy. The blue panaque was fully grown and the sultan plec was still growing. I’m so annoyed with ich right now that if I wrote how I feel I would be banned from the forum,you will know what I mean

Anyway thanks for the replies Naughts and have a good day.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

I've been absent for 10 days, sorry for your losses and sorry I missed this. Ich attacks at the weak point on the fish, and obviously when the fish get chilled the whole fish is weak.

Yes Alice,but turning the tank temp down helped me recognise the disease as ich,so if I didn’t turn it down the fish would still be passing one by one. I will keep this in mind in future.

Thanks for the reply

 

[Fishfinder1973]

have you been testing for water parameters

Parameters are good InsaneM. I test them regularly with a comprehensive kit

 

[Naughts]

That is a possibility Naughts,considering the way it developed. The first fish to have a problem was a denison barb. There was a white mark half the size of a pinky nail directly on the back behind the dorsal. I put this down to the fact they are skittish and I thought it probably hit itself on the edge of a rock. There was nothing untoward that I noticed with any of the others for a week or so,before another denison had a white mark in the exact same area behind its dorsal fin. The photo I posted shows the white mark behind the dorsal on the denison furthest left. The other denison to the right has more marks,but this only occurred the morning I took the photo.It took a couple of weeks before the first fish passed. After the first fish passed it was a domino effect even though I never seen marks on any others that passed,and this is what caught me off guard.
I’ve only seen ich once before in the tank and the fish were flashing like crazy and the next day they were coated in ich. Colin said to turn the temp up to 30 which I did,and the fish recovered. I simply didn’t recognise it as ich because of the very slow and methodical way it took the fish,and that’s the reason I’m a bit peeved at not getting a reply. I hadn’t even contemplated ich,but maybe someone on here could have explained that ich doesn’t necessarily take over the tank quickly,but can develop slowly over time. This would have at least brought ich to the forefront of my mind and I would have turned the temp up anyway.
I lost another 3 fish yesterday evening,a panda Cory,yellow cory and one of the two remaining ruby barbs,the male. He was a cracker too,fully grown. Hopefully nothing else dies.
Ultimately it’s no one’s problem but my own,but to lose so many fish in the fashion that I lost them is a sore point for me. I can’t afford to replace £340 worth of fish,but it’s not even that,it’s losing the fish full stop. They were in top condition before that Damn disease got them.
Ihad the denison barbs for around 18 months,fully grown and healthy. The blue panaque was fully grown and the sultan plec was still growing. I’m so annoyed with ich right now that if I wrote how I feel I would be banned from the forum,you will know what I mean

Anyway thanks for the replies Naughts and have a good day.

Yes, very upsetting and unfortunate. @GaryE has a good understanding of disease and may recognise your description?
There might still be something to help the other fish

 

[GaryE]

I missed this one too. Sorry. It is far from an easy one.

I think it's a Flavobacter or 'columnaris' infection - a highly communicable bacterial infection that can only be treated with antibiotics. I've never had much luck clearing it on the rare times it's come here with purchased fish, but I have often seen it in pet stores. Over the counter antibiotics are illegal here, so I can't make suggestions.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

I missed this one too. Sorry. It is far from an easy one.

I think it's a Flavobacter or 'columnaris' infection - a highly communicable bacterial infection that can only be treated with antibiotics. I've never had much luck clearing it on the rare times it's come here with purchased fish, but I have often seen it in pet stores. Over the counter antibiotics are illegal here, so I can't make suggestions.

Thanks for the reply Gary

Today the fish look ok.I’m running the tank at 30 and it will remain like that for a couple of weeks.
I just wish the ich had broke out in a recognisable way,the way I recognised it in the past. This time it caught me out because the denison barbs only had one white mark behind their dorsal.
I still have the same fish that survived the first outbreak of ich and they seem to be immune to it now,which is a godsend.

 

[Fishfinder1973]

The fish look ok today.