Maybe Something More Serious

[JackoUK]

On and off i've lost on average about a fish a fortnight, maybe more, for the last few months. I put it down to many things at the time but now i'm wondering if it's something more serious.

Because there have been so many changes in my tank recently I was hopeing it just needed to settle down but now i'm not so sure. Firstly I lost my BN down to, I suspect, internal parasites, white stringy poo and lack of appetite. Then I lost my guppies, 3 of them, but I put this down to pH extremes, mine being around 5.3 and of course guppies prefer around 7.5, so I put it down to that. Then I received 4 Praecox Rainbowfish from an online shop. These seemed fine for about 10 days but then I lost 3 in 24 hours. One of them I noticed had a lump on its side. Apart from that the fish don't seem to show any signs of ill health until they go off their food and hang around in one position, then the top. Then they die. Now my final Praecox Rainbowfish seem to be doing this, along with one of my Zebra Danios.

My 'stalwart fish', 2 Angels, 4 Panda Corys, 2 Angels, 2 Rams ad my female 3-spot Gourami all see absolutly fine and are feeding great.

Anyone have any ideas what this may be and if i'm not sure what it is, is there aything I can give them to help with the symptons?

Thankyou in advance.

 

[Tolak]

Sounds like an internal protizoan. Metronidazole or dimetronidazole works, but will have to be obtained through your vet if you are in the UK.

 

[JackoUK]

Sounds like an internal protizoan. Metronidazole or dimetronidazole works, but will have to be obtained through your vet if you are in the UK.

Thanks Tolak. Are they harsh medications which are likely to cause distress to any of my other fish if I treat the whole tank?

 

[Tolak]

Metro is a fairly mild med. I would treat in a seperate tank, there's no sense in treating well fish, and a smaller tank uses less medication & is easier for doing water changes.

Time for the metro copy & paste;

This is what I do for angels, you may want to look into the maximum temp your fish can handle. Metro was originally designed for humans, the closer you can get the tank to 98.6F the better.

Put the angel in a quar tank, I usually use a 10 gallon. Increase the temp over a day or so to 90-94F. Treat daily with 40 mg/gallon metronidazole, with 50% water changes daily. If the fish isn't eating, don't feed for the first 3 days. After 3 days, get some frozen brine shrimp. Take a portion about the size of a few match heads, and sprinkle on some metro. You have to eyeball this one, make the shrimp look kind of like a tiny powdered donut. Once it thaws, mix it in & feed. Sometimes they still don't eat for a few days, but once they start to mouth the food & spit it out, the meds seem to get in their system real good. Continue medicating the water & food for 7-10 days.

Metronidazole is sold as flagyl, het-a-mit, and a few other names I can't recall offhand, used to treat hexamita & hole in the head. They usually suggest 20mg/gallon, this often isn't enough. Metro deteriorates in 8 hours, so you could do twice daily water changes. I've done this on the weekends when I have time.

I've also added epsom salt while using metro, this helps with any constipation issues, cleans out the digestive tract. I start with 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water, increasing by 1 teaspoon daily for 2 more days to bring it up to 3 teaspoons per 10 gallons. You will have to adjust how much you use when doing water changes. You may want to give this a try.

 

[JackoUK]

Metro is a fairly mild med. I would treat in a seperate tank, there's no sense in treating well fish, and a smaller tank uses less medication & is easier for doing water changes.

Time for the metro copy & paste;

This is what I do for angels, you may want to look into the maximum temp your fish can handle. Metro was originally designed for humans, the closer you can get the tank to 98.6F the better.

Put the angel in a quar tank, I usually use a 10 gallon. Increase the temp over a day or so to 90-94F. Treat daily with 40 mg/gallon metronidazole, with 50% water changes daily. If the fish isn't eating, don't feed for the first 3 days. After 3 days, get some frozen brine shrimp. Take a portion about the size of a few match heads, and sprinkle on some metro. You have to eyeball this one, make the shrimp look kind of like a tiny powdered donut. Once it thaws, mix it in & feed. Sometimes they still don't eat for a few days, but once they start to mouth the food & spit it out, the meds seem to get in their system real good. Continue medicating the water & food for 7-10 days.

Metronidazole is sold as flagyl, het-a-mit, and a few other names I can't recall offhand, used to treat hexamita & hole in the head. They usually suggest 20mg/gallon, this often isn't enough. Metro deteriorates in 8 hours, so you could do twice daily water changes. I've done this on the weekends when I have time.

I've also added epsom salt while using metro, this helps with any constipation issues, cleans out the digestive tract. I start with 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water, increasing by 1 teaspoon daily for 2 more days to bring it up to 3 teaspoons per 10 gallons. You will have to adjust how much you use when doing water changes. You may want to give this a try.

Thanks Tolak. I'll get in touch with the vet on Tuesday, bank holiday tomorrow, and try and get hold of some Metronidazole and dose as described.