Diagnosis Needed

[who-izzet]

Don’t raise the temp too much because it will quicken the growth rate of bacteria, fungus and the whitespot. If they just had the whitespot it wouldn't be an issue, but because there is a possible bacterial or parasitic problem you don't want to encourage that to grow faster. Also the higher temperature will mean the water holds less oxygen and that can stress the fish even further.
Try to keep everything stabile and run a course of whitespot medication, and keep the salt in there.

Lucky I didn't turn the temp up then. My tank is 79F at the moment. Checked them today. No casualties for the first time since it happened. 1 spot of whitespot on 1 fish now and only 2 fish slightly infected with possible fin-rot. What a difference today. You can tell from the fish, with their movements and how they swim they are beggining to feel better. All my black lyre tail mollies are showing no signs now too, they are pure black again and feeding well this morning.

I havn't added whitespot treatment yet. Is it ok with mxyazin?

 

[Colin_T]

Good to hear they are doing better. But make sure you treat for whitespot. The parasite spends part of its life on the fish (as the little white dot), before dropping off and living in the gravel for a few days. Then it hatches out and the fish get covered in spots. If you don't keep treating, then in a few days time the fish will have a massive whitespot infection.

I'm pretty sure Myxazin can be used to treat whitespot. It gets added every day for a week and then every few days after that. Something along those lines. It is normally used to treat whitespot on sensitive fishes like catfish and loaches. But check the instructions, because it's been a while since I used it.

 

[who-izzet]

Good to hear they are doing better. But make sure you treat for whitespot. The parasite spends part of its life on the fish (as the little white dot), before dropping off and living in the gravel for a few days. Then it hatches out and the fish get covered in spots. If you don't keep treating, then in a few days time the fish will have a massive whitespot infection.

I'm pretty sure Myxazin can be used to treat whitespot. It gets added every day for a week and then every few days after that. Something along those lines. It is normally used to treat whitespot on sensitive fishes like catfish and loaches. But check the instructions, because it's been a while since I used it.

I think the Myxazin is doing a treat like Wilder said. I have been putting in Primafix too and the salt like you salt. The aquatics salt seems to do the trick. Can't see any whitespot now and there is very little flicking. My big molly is the only infected fish I can see now and just 1 swordtail is sitting around the bottom but not showing anything. Big difference, lets hope it doesn't go to pot this time.

 

[Colin_T]

nah it should be ok now everything is starting to settle down. It's just a matter of monitoring everything and finishing the treatment and then start getting things back to normal.

And no new fish for a month at least

 

[who-izzet]

nah it should be ok now everything is starting to settle down. It's just a matter of monitoring everything and finishing the treatment and then start getting things back to normal.

And no new fish for a month at least

haha I won't be adding any for a long time after this! I'm suprised they still had babies and the babies are ok. I have a sunset platy and a green swordtail that look close to dropping. I hope their little ones will be ok.

 

[Colin_T]

they should be fine.
You won't need to buy any new fish at this rate. The tank will be full before you finish treating it

 

[who-izzet]

they should be fine.
You won't need to buy any new fish at this rate. The tank will be full before you finish treating it

I know. I wouldn't be suprised if a few of the guppies are pregnant too. I've got a few mates that will be taking some of these off me when they are ready.

I have 3 baby Berlin Swordtails (although I'm not sure they are) but they look great. I will get some pictures on here at some stage because I really like them. I'm going to pair 1 up with a red swordtail later, perhaps after a female berlin gives birth so I know she won't be carrying and see what they look like. Blue and Red would look lovely on a Swordtail.

Thanks for the help Colin and Wilder too. Much appreciated. I've kept fish for years and should no the score but I would have put the temperature high without you guys and perhaps not have added the salt unless I had whitespot. I've never used Myxazin or Pimafix either. I would have used Anti-Fungus but these have worked well.

I've never seen a bacteria quite like this one I've had! Fish normally take time but this fin-rot could show new signs on a fish and kill it same day!

 

[Colin_T]

Some batcerial infections are real nasty. Guppies in particular seem prone to a few types that will wipe out entire tanks in a mater of 2 or 3 days. It happens in the shops.You get a bad batch of guppies in and they look ok in the bag but the next day there are a few bodies. You take the bodies out and watch them throughout the day. later on that day there are more dead so you treat them. The next day half the fish in the tank are dead.
A lot of it is to do with inbreeding making guppies pretty weak as far as fish go. The other issue is drug resistant diseases being made by improper use of medications.

 

[who-izzet]

Some batcerial infections are real nasty. Guppies in particular seem prone to a few types that will wipe out entire tanks in a mater of 2 or 3 days. It happens in the shops.You get a bad batch of guppies in and they look ok in the bag but the next day there are a few bodies. You take the bodies out and watch them throughout the day. later on that day there are more dead so you treat them. The next day half the fish in the tank are dead.
A lot of it is to do with inbreeding making guppies pretty weak as far as fish go. The other issue is drug resistant diseases being made by improper use of medications.

Yes it was the guppies that got wiped out. I'd say about 90%. I've noticed 1 of the last 3 males today with a small bite (I hope) in his tail. Doesn't look like the finrot but I will keep an eye on that. The big molly looks worse, quite abit of tail gone now but they grey patches seem to be dissapearing, he's not swimming too well though. 1 Platies side fin is white and rough looking, that is a new break-out but the rest are looking good. I guess it's not quite over yet.

It's unbelievable how weak these fish are now and I guess it's down to the inner breeding like you say.

 

[who-izzet]

I've had 1 new out-break on a female guppy today. Continueing the treatment. The big mollies tail has got slightly worse but not lost a fish in 2 days.

 

[who-izzet]

Just thought I'd let you know how they are getting on.

Just the two fish looking abit rough. I done an experiment and took the guppy out and placed it in 2.5ml of salt bath in a small amount of water for exactly 1 minute. You could see how the fin-rot came off and although the fish scales seem to be missing in that patch (on its body) the bacteria has gone and is still clear this morning. I've done the same again anyway with this fish and she's swimming happily around the tank and feeding. Added the Pimafix too.

 

[who-izzet]

19:47 Female guppy fin-rot looks better BUT 2 new out-breaks on males. I've tested the water yet again. Readings....

PH 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0.1
Nitrite 0.3
GH 3
KH 3
Co2 10

One problem I have found is the GH - General Hardness. It should be between 6 and 16 but is this because of the salt and will it effect them too much? I brought some fish recently and the water they came in was hard. Could this have had anything to do with this lethal break-out?

 

[Colin_T]

your GH is pretty low. It might have contributed to the issue particularly if the new fish came from hard water. Bacteria don't do as well in hard water either, so if you can increase the GH you will make it more difficult for them to survive and cause problems to the fish. You can use a Rift Lake conditioner to increase the GH or add some Epsom Salts, it is primarily calcium and magnesium.
The salt won't lower the GH.
You have a slight nitrite reading which could be causing the fish to stress and develop the finrot. Make sure there is no excess food on the bottom of the tank.
Is there lots of aeration or surface turbulence? If not try increasing it by aiming the outlets of power filters towards the surface. Perhaps add a couple of airstones running from an air pump.
Maybe do a water change as well but you will have to top up the medications and salt in the tank afterwards. Only retreat the new water going in unless you are due to do a normal dose anyway.

 

[who-izzet]

your GH is pretty low. It might have contributed to the issue particularly if the new fish came from hard water. Bacteria don't do as well in hard water either, so if you can increase the GH you will make it more difficult for them to survive and cause problems to the fish. You can use a Rift Lake conditioner to increase the GH or add some Epsom Salts, it is primarily calcium and magnesium.
The salt won't lower the GH.
You have a slight nitrite reading which could be causing the fish to stress and develop the finrot. Make sure there is no excess food on the bottom of the tank.
Is there lots of aeration or surface turbulence? If not try increasing it by aiming the outlets of power filters towards the surface. Perhaps add a couple of airstones running from an air pump.
Maybe do a water change as well but you will have to top up the medications and salt in the tank afterwards. Only retreat the new water going in unless you are due to do a normal dose anyway.

Yes mate, I've got lots of aeration going in. I'll try it with the Epsom Salts if I know where to buy them? What is it?

I checked the tap water for nitrate and I'm getting 0.2 from the tap.. Done a water change and added the medications again. Today there is no new break-outs. 2 male Guppies are close to death now though. That will leave me the Molly still and the female which looks like a patch has grown back on the treated area.

bath salts? Epsom Salt. Never tried that. I will get my g/f yo get me some while I am in work.

Ah yes, I remember them saying their water was a little harder than it should have been before I brought them. At last there may be some reason as to why all this happened. I wasn't expecting my water hardness to be this low.

 

[Colin_T]

you should be able to get Epsom salts from any supermarket. They are commonly called bath salts. It should state "contains magnesium & calcium salts" on the box.
2 Points to you for getting that one

You can increase the rock salt in the tank if it looks like the problem is still affecting some of the fish. Use the same dose as before 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres.