Platies dying.

[FishFriend0]

A couple of months ago one of my platys was staying at the surface and gasping for air. It did this for quite a few weeks until one day. I arrived back from short holiday to see some family over Christmas and when I returned, it looked bloated and was floating. It did not really swim down for the next few days before I had to euthanise it. I never worked out what the problem was. Then a couple of weeks later, another one of my platys was also gasping at the surface. It never looked bloated or floated but a couple of weeks later it died too. Now one of my younger platys is showing similar symptoms. It is gasping at the surface and when it is not at the surface, it is hiding in amongst the plants at the bottom. It still eats and I have noticed a small white patch on it's tail. This could be unrelated but I just wanted to ask to make sure. I will attach a picture of the fish that is showing the symptoms. I cannot see any obvious signs of any problems on the body other than the tail. If you have any idea what this could be it would be appreciated.

 

[gwand]

A couple of months ago one of my platys was staying at the surface and gasping for air. It did this for quite a few weeks until one day. I arrived back from short holiday to see some family over Christmas and when I returned, it looked bloated and was floating. It did not really swim down for the next few days before I had to euthanise it. I never worked out what the problem was. Then a couple of weeks later, another one of my platys was also gasping at the surface. It never looked bloated or floated but a couple of weeks later it died too. Now one of my younger platys is showing similar symptoms. It is gasping at the surface and when it is not at the surface, it is hiding in amongst the plants at the bottom. It still eats and I have noticed a small white patch on it's tail. This could be unrelated but I just wanted to ask to make sure. I will attach a picture of the fish that is showing the symptoms. I cannot see any obvious signs of any problems on the body other than the tail. If you have any idea what this could be it would be appreciated.

What are your water parameters: ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

 

[FishFriend0]

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - Around 0
I did a water change 2 days ago. I have a fluval 407, the tank is 230l ( 60 gallons). The water is 25.7 degrees Celsius. ( 78 degrees F).

 

[FishFriend0]

The test.

 

[Fishfunn]

It sounds like your tank has a weaker strain of columnaris, which is a deadly gram-negative, aerobic bacteria and is contagious.

I see you live in the UK; if your fish can tolerate aquarium salt, you can add this to the water. Salt can help reduce transmission of the bacteria.

Here is a recommended salt treatment in this post
Early Columnaris?? Please help my guppies!!

I would also try a Methylene Blue dip for any fish that has white lesions on their bodies.

 

[FishFriend0]

Ahh this makes sense. A few of my other fish do spent a fair amount of time near the surface. It does seem minor but I will still try these. When I arrived back from the previously mentioned trip at Christmas, another fish died. It was a guppy who's tail looked rotted. I did not think it was related until I just did some research on columnaris bacteria. I will attach a video that I took at the time. https://www.fishforums.net/media/img_2345-mov.157796/
It looks similar to pictures of fish with columnaris bacteria who's fins have rotted. I will get some more aquarium salt as I recently ran out. I have lemon tetras which I believe can handle some salt but not too much. I do have methylene blue so I will try doing a methylene blue dip soon. Thanks for the help.

 

[FishFriend0]

Could I try some sort of antibiotic such as Melafix or some kind of specific medication?

 

[Essjay]

Melafix isn't an antibiotic, it's a mild antiseptic - it's tea tree oil.

We can't get antibiotics without a vet's prescription in the UK. If you could fine a vet willing to prescribe for fish it would be very expensive.

The best meds we have are Waterlife's Myxazin and eSHa 2000.

 

[FishFriend0]

I have some eSHa 2000, should I use that?

 

[FishFriend0]

It is looking much worse now. It's tail looks torn like the guppy's did. Does anybody know of any treatments other than salt. Could you also tell me how to effectively do methylene blue dips. More and more of my fish have started showing minor symptoms. It's gills are also starting to be covered in white film and it is gasping at the surface constantly.

 

[Fishfunn]

Why cant you use salt?
Probably one of the best “first response” treatments when used as part of a fish bath or even dripped directly on a fish for both internal and internal injuries and infections.
Generally used as a 30 minute bath/dip at double dose, in fact Methylene Blue has a wide safety margin and is nontoxic when used as recommended. Fish tolerate relatively high dosages of Methylene Blue without side effects.

Follow the dosage instructions on the Methylene Blue bottle.

 

[FishFriend0]

The salt has not had much effect yet. I will try a 30 minute bath at the recommended dosage on the bottle this evening and see how it goes. How would you suggest reacclimating the fish as I assume that the bucket that it is having the dip in will lose some heat. I have a small 25 watt heater, maybe I could use that to keep the water at a stable temperature? Thanks for the help.

 

[Fishfunn]

Just reacclimate the fish back to the tank like you would if you bought a new fish. Put the fish into a plastic bag with the dip water and slowly acclimate him to the temperature of the tank.

 

[FishFriend0]

I have been doing methylene blue dips for the past few days and there does not seem to be any improvement yet. How long should I try before giving up? Should I try using eSHa 2000 or get some Waterlife's Myxazin?

 

[FishFriend0]

Here it is now: