Tinfoil barbs dying, look awful

[sgc2c]

Not sure what’s happening here. They were eating voraciously just 2 days ago.
Today my biggest died (about 4”) and the rest look terrible.
All the other fish (zebra danios, silver dollars, pleco) are fine.

What could the problem be?
What can I do?
See the pictures:

 

[Magnum Man]

how long have you had them??? water conditions??? all the mucus on the fish is one picture, makes me suspect something in the water

 

[sgc2c]

They’ve got to this size since August or September I’d say.

 

[JohnnyReb]

They’ve got to this size since August or September I’d say.

It almost looks like dropsy from the scale appearance. Have you got some Maracryn or Maracryn 2, the shotgun approach.

 

[JohnnyReb]

It almost looks like dropsy from the scale appearance. Have you got some Maracryn 2, the shotgun approach.

It almost looks like dropsy from the scale appearance. Have you got some Maracryn 2, the shotgun approach. It looks like and I by far am no expert, bacterial or fungal.

 

[MaloK]

From the excess of mucus spewing from under the scales.

I would tend to think about external parasites like protozoan or bacteria, the states of the fins and the little white speckles makes me think something is munching on them.

I would go for anything that contains Formaldehyde, Malachite green, Copper sulfate or Acriflavine.

And do a full treat.

 

[sgc2c]

From the excess of mucus spewing from under the scales.

I would tend to think about external parasites like protozoan or bacteria, the states of the fins and the little white speckles makes me think something is munching on them.

I would go for anything that contains Formaldehyde, Malachite green, Copper sulfate or Acriflavine.

And do a full treat.

I dashed off to the Pet store and am now
treating with Marycyn 2. Just started.
Interesting that this is only happening to
the tinfoils (so far).

 

[MaloK]

If they lose the excess of mucus, you're in the good direction. Maracyn 2 does not specify addressing protozoan.

It doesn't mean that it's not also effective towards them.

 

[JohnnyReb]

I dashed off to the Pet store and am now
treating with Marycyn 2. Just started.
Interesting that this is only happening to
the tinfoils (so far).

Fish are like people, some have great immune systems and some nearly none. Maracryn does (gram-positive) and Maracryn 2 (gram-negative) different types of bacteria. Where one fails the other may work. I, IMHO, think I might add some Kanaplex at some point.

 

[sgc2c]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
Despite the Marycyn 2, the last tinfoil died overnight tonight.
The other fish still look all right though.

 

[Colin_T]

Maracyn is an antibiotic and should only be used if there is a known bacterial infection that hasn't responded to other treatments.

Improper use and mis-use of antibiotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria that kill people, animals, birds, reptiles and fish.

External bacterial infections show up as red sores.
Internal bacterial infections are harder to identify.

It's highly unlikely your fish have a bacterial infection.

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INFORMATION WE REQUIRE TO HELP DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water (in numbers)?
What sort of filter is on the aquarium?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

How long have the fish been covered in white stuff?

Have you added anything to the aquarium in the 2 weeks before this started?
Have you had visitors on the day this started or the day before it started?
What did you do to the aquarium on the day before this started?

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The fish are covered in excess mucous that is produced by the fish when they are stressed by something in the water. This can be chemicals from medication, plant fertiliser, aerosol sprays, paint fumes, etc. It is most commonly caused by poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).

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FIRST AID FOR FISH
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[sgc2c]

Not all of the above advice is the best.
I’d side with Big Rich of OFR on this one and just say “I don’t chase pH.”

 

[TNG]

I also see the silver dollar in the photo with fin rot, so I wouldn’t say all other fish are fine. They may appear fine for now, but won’t be for very long.

My guess is that there’s a problem with the conditions of the water. You know your maintenance and water changes routine so you’re in a good position to fix the problem. Even if ammonia, nitrite and nitrate read zero, it does not necessarily mean that the water is OK.

Applying medications will work if correct diagnosis is made, however without fixing the root cause, the problem will persist.

 

[tiffie]

Not all of the above advice is the best.
I’d side with Big Rich of OFR on this one and just say “I don’t chase pH.”

Just a thought: Having lived in Las Cruces, the water quality can be sketchy at best, and when I lived there I noticed our annual water reports had some worrying outliers. You might want to consider the hardness of the h2o and run the battery of tests Colin is suggesting, especially with the other fish in your tank possibly being a tad poorly as well, per TNG.