My Dying Tiger endler has pink spots on tail

[Guppiegarage]

Hi my first post so be gentle with me.
I have a male tiger endler who's gone into lethargic mode and laying on the bottom of the tank .He has 2 pink spots on his tail ,the rest of his body looks fine.
One of his female's died with a rotten tail a week ago ,the other just died no sign of any rot .
Iv put melafix in tank every other day for 2 days ,this being the 4 day .
When I now see these pink wart like spots.
Tank 35lts
Runnig for 8 months
6.8 ph
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5 or less
Yes 400
Temp 23c

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Can you post a picture of the fish?

How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you add tap water to the tank and then add dehchlorinator?
What water conditioner/ dechlorinator do you use?

What sort of filter do you have and how often do you clean it, and how do you clean it?

Do you use a gravel cleaner each week to clean the substrate?

What else is in the tank?

 

[Guppiegarage]

Hi Colin
It's a well established tank had guppies in there before .never had a problem cleaned once a week 30 %
Have a internal filter I clean in tank water once a month
I declirinate / condition water and leave stand for 2 days .I have 6 tanks in total never had problems with any other fish .
The only other occupants are about 50 cherry shrimp all doing fine ,he's been in this tank for about 2 months.
I started with 4 endlers ,one had white dots on tail ,so i moved to hospital tank and treated with white spot.
Next day half it's tail was missing and she was vertical with mouth on bottom of tank
,I moved another female to another tank as she's soon to give birth .
The third female I left in with male .
Treated 1st femail with melafix she died next day ,also the one in tank with male also died no signed of fin rot.
The male is now in a different hospital tank.

 

[Colin_T]

How long ago did the other fish die, within the last week or over a few months?

Does the pink lump stick out on both sides of the tail?

We had another member on here with a guppy that had a black patch on its tail and that was something new. I am wondering if this is something similar to the guppy. The following link has the thread on the guppy if you're interested.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/black-scab-on-male-guppy-tail-fin.447941/

I don't think they are the same thing but it is interesting that both fish are livebearers and both had weird lumps on the tail.

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Are the Endlers wild caught or captive bred?
Wild caught fish can have some weird diseases that haven't been described, and captive bred in Asia can have all sorts of horrible things. However, this is something I have not seen before. It could be like a blister, cyst, blood clot or tumor.

I would monitor it for a few days and if it doesn't get smaller or go completely, I would probably stick a needle in the pink lump and see what comes out. You would have to take the fish out of the tank and lay it on a wet towel to do this and it will stress the fish, but it might give some insight as to what the problem is. If red liquid comes out it is blood. If clear liquid comes out it is a cyst or white blood cells from a blister. If it is hard and solid it is a tumour, but they don't grow rapidly.

If you do stick a needle in it, sterilise the needle first by putting it in some fish medication or flaming the needle. And if you have a microscope you could put any liquid that comes out of the lump, on a slide and look at it under the microscope to see if there is anything moving in the liquid.

After sticking a needle in the pink lump you should apply a drop of methylene blue or a broad spectrum fish medication on the wound, then wait 20 seconds before putting the fish back in the tank. Then monitor the site and make sure it doesn't get infected.

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If you contact your local Department of Agriculture, you can ask them if they have a Fish Health section/ department. If they do you could take the fish to them and see what they think, but they might want to kill the fish to take samples. I usually save Fish Health labs until the fish is on its last legs and about to die then get them to autopsy it. A fish vet can do the same thing but government run Fish Health labs are usually free. You will have to check with them about prices before taking the fish in.

 

[Guppiegarage]

I bought him and 3 female's from a lfs ,about 6 weeks ago. The spots are on both sides ,they seem to have darkened a bit ,hes still calm and on the bottom of the tank ,heres a few more pics of both sides.
He's in a small square glass about 2lts
I did put melafix in his aquarium when the first female got I'll.
I've put 0.2ml of melafix and 0.1ml of pimafix in his hospital tank.
I'll do a small water change every day .just hope he survives as he was quite a character .
I did notice endless are not as ravinous eaters as guppies.
All three female's had fry about 3 weeks ago but only 5,10 And 5. All survived.

 

[Guppiegarage]

Oh.
One female died 3 days ago tail half rotton away facing down in tank.
One female died 2 days ago ,no obvious marks ,just found her on the bottom of tank.
3rd female who I moved out when the first female started looking sic , is looking fine about to give birth but hasn't eaten doesnt seen intrested in food at all and looks lethargic .

 

[Colin_T]

Check the temperature and ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH and make sure they are good. Then do a big (75%) water change on the female's tank and put a few floating plants in for her and the babies.

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Make sure you aerate the water well when using Melafix and Pimafix and don't overdose them. They are made from tea tree extract and are poisonous in high doses. They also reduce the oxygen in the water and can leave an oily film on the surface that reduces or prevents gas exchange between the air and water.

If the male doesn't have an established filter in his little tank, I would change all the water in it each day. Try to refill his tank with water from another tank.

If you can keep the young going then at least you will have local bred stock and they usually have fewer problems than imported fish

 

[Guppiegarage]

I'll stick a air stone in for now .
But All the parameters are/ were good.

Thanks for all the advice .
I'll keep you updated .
.

 

[Guppiegarage]

They all died except the female I took out ,who had 18 fry 8 died at birth ,never had fry die at birth before , but the 10 left are healthy so is mum.

 

[Colin_T]

sorry to hear that