Rainbow problems

[Waterloo Kid]

Last night while feeding the fish I noticed that one of the neon rainbow fish has a relatively large 'wound' on its flank. I put this down to a fight or other physical damage. This evening the wound is still apparent and now another of the rainbows has developed popeye syndromes! What the heck is going on here? can anyone sujest a link between the two or am I just being unlucky?

Help is gratefully taken!

WK

 

[dolphin]

Hi Waterloo Kid

The link between the two is either

a). These fish are suffering from Abdominal Dropsy

B). The fish are suffering from Aeromonas (hole in the side disease)

Both have symptops of pop eye and ulceration's.

Not sure about a treatment though.

 

[Harmony]

It sounds to me that your fish have Tuberculosis. The symptoms are: fin deterioration; a paling of body color; clamped fins; excessive weight loss; ulcers; and pop-eye.

If in fact you do think that your fish do have TB then be extra careful because it can spread to you, use plastic gloves. I know its hard but for the sake of you and the rest of fishes health I would kill them. A painless way to that is if you put them in to water cooled by crused ice. They will fall asleep and die.

But if you dont think its TB then I would still quarentine them and see if you can find any treatments for pop-eye at your local fish store and use MelaFix for the open wound. But still use gloves just to be on the safe side.

Hope everything works out for you!! Let us know!!!

Shannon

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Looks like a trip to the shop to buy a hospital tank!

Money, money, money!

Are any of the diseases mentioned above water born or particularly contagious?

WK

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi waterloo,

Before you take any drastic action look at the environmental issues first!

Symptoms can be down to a variety of problems - particuly popeye which is more often than not linked to water quality and as you said the the rainbow may well be physical....

What are your water parameters and maintenance schedule like.... lets check the basics before we jump to any conclusions and start euthanising any fish!

Hospital tank wouldn't be a bad idea though

Have you got any test kits?

 

[CFC]

A painless way to that is if you put them in to water cooled by crused ice. They will fall asleep and die.

The topic of euthanasing fish came up a while back and the general feeling was that freezing (whether in a freezer or ice bucket) was a inhumane way of doing it,by far the best way is a sharp blow to the head with a hammer or other heavy object or if the fish is too small to remove its head with a sharp knife,not for the screamish i must admit but much quicker and less painful for the fish.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Water parameters are as my signature. I will be re-testing tonight. I change approximately 20% of the water weekly. Changed water is dechlorinated tap water. I have all the major test kits (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, GH,KH and phosphate). The two fish affected are both rainbows. Could there be something that is specific to this species?

WK

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Well, both fish are now in the hospital tank and I'm using an anti bacterial treatment. I think I might have left things a lot too late for the one fish. His poor eyes are popping right out of his head and his stomach is quite distended. Dropsy for sure. He's very sluggish and was easy to catch. The one with the ulcer was a different matter. He's still very active and was a complete pain to get in the net. Let's hope they both pull through!

WK

 

[wetwetwet]

Sorry m8 been away for a few days....

Were all water params OK?...

As you say he is unlikly to recover if this is the later stages of dropsy. but fingers crossed for the other one

With just these fish affected and nothing wrong with the water then possably these fish allways had a problem or came from inferior stock - were they new additions? Also sometimes (just like all other creatures) there is a problem that doesn't manifest itself untill a later age....

Keep us upto date with how they get on.....