Ick? Bacterial infection?

[Randomflutterby]

So I lost a green tiger barb when I brought him home to what I thought was ick... No other fish had spots but I've been treating the tank with ick x.

2 days ago another tiger barb got a spot, but I'll not sure it's actually ick or something else entirely. Seems a little raised, but it's so darn hard to see. I haven't actually seen him eat in a day or so, but again it's hard to pick out in a school of 7 tigers lol.
Water parameters are fine, no ammonia, no nitrites, low nitrates


Any guesses?

Attached are photos of the green barb I lost and the one I'm worried about. The spot is next to the second black stripe

 

[Colin_T]

The small green tiger barbs with spots has damage to its tail, a minor bacterial infection to the caudal peduncle area (where the tail meets the body), damage to the dorsal (top) fin, and is looking a bit skinny. It also has white dots on it that look like white spot.

I'm not sure if the normal tiger barb has white spot but if the little green one is in the tank, they will probably all get it if you don't continue treatment for a week or so.

How long have you been using the medication for?

Do you have carbon in the filter?
If yes, this needs to be removed because it will remove the medication from the water.

 

[Randomflutterby]

The green barb died a day after I got it, but I got all the barbs at the same time. I've been treating since Tuesday, so almost a week. I took the carbon out when I started treating.

I noticed the spot on the normal Tiger yesterday.

 

[Randomflutterby]

The normal Tiger is now swimming funny and definitely not eating. Any suggestions?

 

[Colin_T]

What are you treating the fish with?

Post pictures of the new sick fish.
Did you work out the volume of water in the tank before treating?

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To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

 

[Randomflutterby]

It's the same fish I posted the picture of, the regular tiger with the one spot. Tank is 36 gallons, treating with ich x

 

[Colin_T]

Does the normal tiger barb still have that 1 white spot?

Can we get a 1 minute video of the tiger barb that isn't eating?
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally so the footage fills the screen. upload video to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

Did you work out 36 gallons for the tank or is that what the shop told you?
If you overdose with medications you can kill fish so if you haven't worked out the volume for yourself, please do it using the information in post #5.

If you have been treating with Ich-x for a week, it is unlikely to be white spot. It looks like excess mucous but it's hard to say from the angle of the fish in the pictures.

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Have you checked ammonia, nitrite and nitrate today?
Have you cleaned the filter in the last 2 weeks?
Is there lots of aeration/ surface turbulence in the tank?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

 

[Randomflutterby]

Good news is he's looking better today... So much so that I can't really single him out on video. I 'think' the spot is still there, but it's not as obvious. I'm including a link a video of the the whole bunch, excuse the tablet noise in the background and the slight glare.

A few of the other barbs are flashing now and then, which makes me think maybe it ich? I dunno.

36 gallons is what I was told, and it's a bow front so it's hard to work out.. But it looks exactly like the one I saw at PetSmart that was a 36 gallon bow front.

you checked ammonia, nitrite and nitrate today?
Have you cleaned the filter in the last 2 weeks?
Is there lots of aeration/ surface turbulence in the tank?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5ish ppm

Cleaned the filter a few days ago.

There's both a bubble bar and a sponge filter, plus a hob filter.

Been changing 1/3 water daily per ich x instructions.

Yes I gravel vac.

Do you think the other fish are flashing because of ich? No mark that I can tell on them. Slightly suspect maybe an internal parasite.. Been some white poop. But it's not stringy and I've been told it could just be mucus.

 

[Colin_T]

Bow front tanks are a pita to work out the volume. If you provide a picture of the tank showing the internal dimensions and water depth, we might be able to work out the volume and see how close it is to 36 gallons

Can you make another video of the fish but have the filter and air pump off?
One of the green tiger barbs seems to sink when it stops swimming. This could be a swim bladder problem but it might be you have lots of water movement in the tank. Doing a video with the filter and airstone off should rule out water movement being the cause.

Two of the green tiger barbs appear to have white patches on the front of their dorsal (top) fins.
Can you post pictures of all the green tiger barbs?

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Fish rubbing on things can be external protozoan parasites like white spot, velvet, Costia, Chilodonlella & Trichodina. However, Ich-X contains Malachite Green and that kills all of those parasites.

To check your fish for velvet, shine a torch (flashlight) on the fish after dark when the lights are off. See if any fish has a yellow or gold sheen over part or all of their body. This is velvet. You can also use a digital camera with the flash on, to photograph the fish and see if they show any yellow/ gold colouration.

Fish can also have itches and might occasionally rub against something, but it's rare and doesn't happen very often (maybe once a week or once every few weeks). If it happens every day, there is an issue.

Poor water quality and chemicals can also cause fish to rub on things in the tank.

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Stringy white poop is caused by an intestinal problem, either an internal bacterial infection, internal protozoan infection, intestinal worms.

If the fish are eating well and doing a stringy white poop, it's usually worms.

If the fish suddenly bloat up (get really fat) overnight, stop eating and do a stringy white poop, it's an internal bacterial infection.

If fish eat a bit but not as much as normal, lose weight over a week or two, and do a stringy white poop, it's an internal protozoan infection.

The following link has more information about this subject. However, don't do anything about the stringy white poop unless the fish fall into one of those categories. Then wait until this first issue is resolved.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Randomflutterby]

I'll try and get measurements tomorrow. I can't find my measuring tape. I'm pretty sure it's a 36 gallon though. I do have a pretty substantial substrate because it's a dirtied tank, so I've been knocking off a few gallons in dosage.

Here's a videos with everything off.

You can see a a few of them flashing as well.

Included are as good of pictures as I could. Didn't see anything crazy when I shined light on then in the dark.

I'm holding off on treating for parasites until I can figure out what's going on with them.

I'm just thankfully my bristlenose doesn't seem to have anything going on.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish is definitely rubbing so I would keep treating the tank for a second week (2 weeks in total) and then see if they are still rubbing. If they are still rubbing their face, then it could be gill flukes but we can deal with that later. A two week course of Ich-X should kill any external protozoan parasites so let me know how they look after the second week of treatment.

The green tiger barb that rubbed its face on the wood also seemed to drop a bit just after that when it stopped swimming. Keep an eye on the fish and see if it continues. If there is a swim bladder problem, the fish will sink when it stops swimming. There is no cure for it and it isn't bad at this stage, but if it gets worse, you normally euthanise the fish because they burn themselves out trying to keep swimming. But at this stage, just monitor it for the rubbing, and sinking when it stops moving (something they don't often do).

One of the green tiger barbs in the new pictures has a tiny bit of excess mucous on its dorsal fin and tail but that is nothing to worry about and is probably form the original problem.

At this stage, keep treating for a bit longer and monitor them.

 

[Randomflutterby]

Thank you! It's so nice to have some input on all this. I've been trying to research it all and that's so much conflicting info out there. Just want to do the best thing for the fish. I'll check back next if things aren't better. Or if something else happens

 

[Colin_T]

Make sure you turn the pump and filter back on if you haven't already

 

[Randomflutterby]

I did! Lol.

You mentioned the discolor on the green barbs. Here are a few better pictures of them ( well I tried at least.) Do you think it could be columnaris? Or just weird coloring on those two? Or something else? Do I need to be concerned?

I never thought I'd worry so much over fish

 

[Colin_T]

It's not Columnaris.

I think it's colouration but monitor it and if it changes, post more pictures. But it looks like colour that 2 have and one doesn't have.