Very strange

[ostrow]

Hi again. Well after my red wag was found dead upon vacation return, I bought a new platy from my lfs. 36 hours later it was history. Then bought another platy from the lfs. 36 hours later it too was history. All other fish are healthy, ammonia and nitrites are 0, ph is 7.6 water temp 77f.

They were calico platies -- one whitish the other bluish.

Only thing that seems questionable now is one of my blue variatus seems sluggish so I'm worried.

All of these -- including the vacation fatality -- are males. Females are healthy as can be.

What's up???

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Since it was just the new one that were dieing I'd say it was a bad batch. Since your tank stats sound fine.

The other may have been an off day. With out anyother symptons it will be hard to say if there is an illness

 

[ostrow]

I'm concerned about the male variatus right now. He seems thinner, head sadding downwards, slow. But no color or other skin problems I can see...

 

[Davy Reynolds]

The only thing I might say just now is that it's an internal thing and may only be known in a disection

 

[adeyc]

If there are no sores/ulcers/open wounds on him I'd definetly say it was an intenal infection of sorts either bacterial or parasite. have a look at the base of his fins. if you see any reddening there let me know or if his colour changes, bumps/nodules appear or any other symptoms appear. Also check for anything along the lateral line and head. just to make sure.

 

[ostrow]

Head looks perhaps a LITTLE more brownish but I may be imagining.

 

[adeyc]

K. I'd not look for a while and look again l8r. If his head does turn a little bit brownish is it a red brown? usualy there will be other symptoms as well. I'd still say best bet just now is an internal problem. unless some other symptoms show themselves I'm inclined to say that the chances are it's an internal parasite.

 

[ostrow]

For which one does...what?

 

[ostrow]

The blue variatus died. Woke this am to find him on the bottom. Very fast deterioration, no visible body wounds/problems.

Seems like my lfs gave me a fish with a parasite that has infected my tank now.

What do I do? Antibiotics? Salt (here comes that discussion again, but I hear platies like it)? Or just a series of water changes?

Not gonna replace these fish for a few days until I see my remaining fish are ok.

 

[ostrow]

OR...... it seems one of the dalmation mollies is attacking the other fish in the tank. Why would this suddenly happen? I wonder if this fish is killing the others.

What do others here do in such situations? I'm about to get that molly out of there ... if I can catch him ... he's a quick fella...

 

[Rose]

It's either Flex or septicemia with some internal parasites thrown in. Reasoning behind flex or septicemia is they are real quick killers. They aren't always known to leave any signs that they have been there other than dead bodies. The wasting away would be the parasites. I would put in Maracyn and Maracyn II in the water and 1.5x the normal dose. NO more fish untill this clears up. If they all die nuke the tank and start again. Hopefully it won't come to that. Keep us posted on anything else that you see. Don't care how small you think it is. Rose

 

[ostrow]

Well no more died for what, 72 hours so I figured whatever it was had passed. So, unfortunately Rose, I added a couple (I'm impatient that way).

I had looked at the Maracyns prior to your post and the info with them SEEMED to suggest they worked best on external parasites.

So for now I'm gonna watch and wait and if it strikes again I'll medicate as you suggest. Thanks.

Nuke the tank? You mean empty all water, wash it and the decorations and start over. Replace biowheel too?

 

[ostrow]

I saw some early, early signs of Ick on my female wag tail. So, here's what I done. Rose, I'd be interested to hear if you think I've messed up or not. Anyway, this is my plan after a visit to a new (and obviously better) lfs:

1. upped temp to 85
2. Using Quick Cure to get rid of the Ick.
3. using maracyn and maracyn 2 to treat whatever else was going on
4. got an algae eater to, well, eat the algae!
5. IF IF IF any more die from this "pinched body" mystery ailment, I've got Parasite Clear to see if that will address that problem. Any experience with this product? Any guidance on how to use it if I need to -- no real directions on the product so I'm relying on the lfs. In any case, I'm guessing I can't use it with the Maracyns which is why I'm not using it now, so if anyone knows if I am wrong about this...

Will of course do water changes after the Maracyn treatment and if needed after Parasite Clear. And will hope along the way...


BTW: The store had this product called "Prime". Anyone used it? Claims to be a conditioner that does all of the following:

1. Removes Chlorine, Chloramine, and Ammonia;
2. Detoxifies Nitrite and Nitrate
3. Provides Slime Coat and Essential Ions
For Marine and Freshwater.

They highly recommend it as the best conditioner, and it was dirt cheap.

 

[Rose]

Read this article on Ick. I think it will help you a great bit and will make this post quite a bit shorter too.

M/M2 is just fine. Algae eater is a no no till we get this under control. You don't know if he has anything or not. If he does he will only make things worse. Parasite clear tell me what the box says who it's from and what the directions say. I might be able to figure it out from that. I have never used it.

The one thing I can say is you MUST stop adding fish to your tank. Your stressing them out which is why they are all sick. Stressed fish means sick fish. You MUST figure out what is stressing the fish and address the problem BEFORE you do any more fish adding.

As far as water conditioners go I use Amquel (for ammonia) and NovAqua for everything else. Here's a article on AmQuel and NovAqua. It was written by the guy who invented them. If you would like the product sheets I can get those for you too.

That's my money's worth. If I need to go further into detail on something just holler. Rose

 

[ostrow]

Thanks. I got the Ick figured out. There is huge disagreement, as you know, on the temperature question. I prefer to raise it a bit and speed the process up, at least until I experience other problems from that.

The apparent internal parasite/bacteria problems did begin with addition of a new fish a few weeks ago. Only one of my originals has gotten sick in fact. It's always been new ones otherwise. I did have that psychotic molly but we don't have that anymore.

In any case, I have generally waited 72 hours of apparent stability before thinking of introducing a new fish. I guess I should increase that time period.

I'll update if anything happens (algae eater after things settle down, I know...)