Not Sure If I Should Be Worried About Flashing/wound?

[cowgirluntamed]

Ok, went to Petsmart and purchased API Triple Sulfa. That's about the only broad spectrum antibiotic they had that will treat all the symptoms of my fish. So, I'm crossing my fingers that I won't lose any of these guys!

 

[WILDER]

It's meant to be a good medication.
Good Luck. Keep fingers crossed for you.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Well, I lost one neon and I think I'm gonna be losing another. I thought the medicine was starting to work, though the first one I lost had rapid breathing. the other fish seemed to look better(and no scales protruding, also, the one that died almost looked like it had yellow stuff coming out of abdomen?). This one the gill on the right side(could be the one I first noticed it in) is swollen or protruding. Doesn't look red or anything and I think the body of it looks ok. But it is having trouble breathing(was staying in the air bubbler earlier) but now it doesn't seem to be able to swim well and sometimes hits itself on things. It's trying to stay out of the current from the filter/bubbler though like the other one did but I don't think it's going to make it. All the other fish I believe look good. The glowlight tetras seem to be doing just fine. I will test my water again just to see, but I tested it before I went to get the medicine and even took a sample in to Petsmart. Petsmart said water was fine. My readings though were a bit strange to me.
 
pH-8.2(stable)
Ammonia-0.25 (combating this with marineland diamond blend(has ammonia neutralizing crystals)
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
 
I have no idea why my nitrates are 0. It was 5 the week and before that 10 or 10-20. It is a cycled tank and not planted. The only thing I could figure is maybe this white stuff growing on my driftwood is causing this reading? I will retest and post those results soon to see what they are. It's not time to do the water change just yet(maybe another 8 hours or so, I'm following directions on this medicine closely). Oh, and yes I took the carbon/ammonia blend out before I started this medicine. Oh, and some of the other fish pick on him a bit, but I was wanting to give him every chance possible. Should I just euthanize the poor thing since I don't have a hospital tank or wait and see? I also don't want this spreading to other fish either. I'll take a closer look at the other neons too when they come out of hiding.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Ok, retested the water and also took a couple of more pictures. It also seems like that his side fin isn't moving either due to whatever is on the right side of him. I just have no idea what's causing it. Anyway, here are the new tests(except pH since that has been stable for a while)
 
Ammonia- between 0 and 0.25
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-5
 
 
 
 
Here is a decent though slightly blurry picture. And yes, the body on that side of him is sort of greyish but not cottony or anything that I can tell.

 
another picture showing a little bit more of the bulging out of the gill. Though he was moving and it seems like it's protruding a bit more than it is, but it's still protruding none the less.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Had to put the little guy down. He just couldn't get around and got stuck to the filter intake twice. Poor thing. I'm still going to continue treatments as followed on back of the box. Should I be doing anything else at all for these guys? Do you still think it's a bacterial infection?

 

[WILDER]

Sorry not been  here.
Sorry for you losses. R.I.P.
 
Any signs of flicking and rubbing. Rubbing gills on objects in the tank.
Any excess mucas on gills body, fins?
Check to see if there a white milky film on red stripe area.
Or a yellow gold dusting on blue area.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Only just a tiny bit of flicking. None of the other symptoms you say. And by tiny bit I mean hardly at all really. Of the two fish that died I only saw one of them do that 3 times in quick succession and that was it. I saw one of the remaining neons do it once just barely the other day. The glowlight tetras are perfectly fine from what I can tell. They all are eating really well though it takes one of the neons a bit to get going. That one also seems to hide a bit more but will come out. I think it's mostly because the other two neons sort of paired up and it just wants to hide. I am still treating for the bacteria. I didn't want to stop that treatment just in case. I was wondering about gill flukes but I don't see any red around the gills so I don't think it's them? I'm hoping it's only bacteria since these other guys SEEM to be doing fine at the moment....

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Just looked at the fish again and my smallest neon seems to have a pale circular patch on it now! Seems to be doing fine other than that. Not breathing heavy or anything. color seems good except for the pale patch on it's side(that does go into the blue a bit). I will be watching it very closely as I don't have a hospital tank. But this guy so far is eating fine and swimming fine. Schooling with the others, not hiding(none of them really hide cuz they always want food! lol). This was the last dose of the meds on the tank. Tomorrow it says to do a final 25% water change and add carbon to the filter which I will. But I'm afraid this fish is gonna go like the others I've looked up symptoms of neon tetra disease but it doesn't seem like that. All the glowlights are perfectly fine as far as I can tell. It seems to only be affecting the neons. Could this be some sort of parasite? I'm at a loss because I can't find anything in pictures that's like this. It's not stringy or fuzzy or slimey looking that I can tell. Just a lighter patch. I would say it could be an irritant in the water but this stuff started before I added salt or the meds so I don't think it's that. Is 77F a good temperature for them? 77/76 that is depending on which thermometer I look at. I just wish I knew what was causing this. Should I try a parasite medicine or a fungus medicine instead? All the others(including the other two neons) seem ok. Glowlight tetras are fine and have been fine since I got them. Or could this just be a bad bunch of neon tetras?

 

[WILDER]

Pale bleached out patches can be columnaris.
Also it can be the beginning of NTD. So keep an eye on them.
 
Thanks for the update.
Been away for 2 days so how are the neons now?

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Well, only 2 left of the 5 I started with. My smallest neon got a patch on it, was fine for a couple days, then started to not eat and had a clamped top fin. Today he wasn't swimming or even acting like he wanted to eat. I had to go to Petsmart(where I got him from) and get some food for my cats anyway so I scooped up some water and put him in a bag and took him there to see if they could tell me what was wrong. Luckily I got their main fish guy who you can tell knows lots about fish and keeps his own fish at home as well. He said he's on some sort of fish forum(not a clue if it's this one). But he stared at my fish for a long time and I showed him the patch and such and he couldn't figure it out. What my fish has doesn't really fit symptoms of any one thing. He said he could have something wrong with the bladder so told me to get some snow peas just in case. But it wasn't anything major, he could hardly tell on it. Anyway, he told me to try Melafix just to do another broad spectrum bacterial thing since I had just done the Triple Sulfa. So tomorrow I will start that and get some snow peas as well and just wait and see how the other two do. It's just weird and I can't figure it out. The glowlights still seem perfectly fine from what I can tell.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

*sighs* Well, I just put yet another neon down. It looked a bit listless last night, not quite as active. And this morning I noticed a patch on him and either the fin on the same side as the patch was clamped tight or was paralyzed or something. It could flap it but it wasn't spread out. And it was white(I don't know if that's because it was clamped or something?) I am treating with melafix. This fish was perfectly fine a few days ago. I don't understand why this is happening to one neon at a time within three days of the last?? Oh, and this time I helped the poor guy along and put him down when I noticed those first symptoms this morning. I don't think he would have made it with that fin and the heavy breathing. Could this be neon tetra disease? Why would it only affect one fish at a time within a few days of the last one dying? And why wouldn't it effect any of the glowlight tetras? I just don't understand this. So, now I only have one neon left. He seemed to like being with the glowlights but I guess I'll keep an eye on him for sure. I suppose if this one dies and the glowlights are fine for a while I'll try some more fish in the tank, though not sure if I want to try neons again.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry for your loss.
I had to deal with NTD. Fish do tend to go one after another but show different symptoms of NTD.
Can you post a pic of the patch as it could be columnaris. 
Also NTD can start off as small white patches and progress further.
What do the gills look like?
 
Remove the melafix as it not very good. Only good on cuts and wounds.
I would use the triple sulfa again

 

[cowgirluntamed]

They've all showed the same signs except that the first two had gills that stuck out a bit. I have pictures of them up on the previous posts I've made in this topic. They had the patch as well. I don't have any more pictures of the fish as now I only have one neon left. So far it is ok, but I said that for the last two and 3 days later they were gone basically. I'm still going to do the Melafix as that is already what I bought. I don't have money for more triple sulfa. This guy at Petsmart swore by this stuff and uses it in his tanks. I think if this last neon goes, I may not get any more of them. I just don't want to deal with this problem again. Hopefully the glowlights will be ok since they seem to be going strong. Oh, and that guy also told me they do treat their fish for bacteria/fungus/parasites when they come in(they only have shipments once a week on fridays).

 

[WILDER]

Thank you for the update.
Good luck with the remaining neon. 

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Well, I just put the last neon down Don't know what the stuff is that's killing my fish but hopefully it will leave the glowlights alone. Though I did see one rub itself on my dragon decoration once and that was it so I just don't know. I did the last dose of Melafix yesterday and was supposed to do a water change today but I accidentally broke my thermometer and I don't want to just try to feel the water temp so I'm going to pick one up after work tonight. I was trying to get a new picture of this neon but he wouldn't hold still enough. I even tried looking at him after I netted him but no luck. After I put him down I looked more and you couldn't even tell anything was there! Otherwise I would have gotten a picture. This spot on him was actually back further than the rest of them, at the start of the red. But it was a patch or a slight bump, hard to tell though really with as small as they are. Anyway, hope my glowlights will be ok. I like them and they've gotten pretty big since I've had them about 3 weeks now.