What Is This?

[WILDER]

Do the brown spots, or patches look like velvet,rusty coloured varnish, or fluffy like cotton wool.
Are any of the fish flicking and rubbing?

 

[Tuxyu3]

No flicking or rubbing noticeable although I have very dense plants which they often swim through, hard to tell if rubbing though. I googled velvet and compared it to my fish, could be it but it's hard to tell. The danio appears to be acting erratic and is staying in the same area of the tank. The edges of his tail fin are turning white, I assumed this was natural as another danio is doing the same as they get longer.

 

[WILDER]

Turn tank lights out and shine a torch on the fish to see if it looks like a gold dusting, or rusty coloured varnish.

Brown patches like velvet can be velvet.
Brown fluffy patches can be columnaris.

Here some info on velvet for you.

Oodinium (a.k.a. Velvet)

Symptoms:

Oodinium is commonly called "Velvet" because infected fish have a yellowish-brown "velvety" coating that covers its body. When the gills are affected rapid gill movements will be seen. Infected fish often scrape against objects in the aquarium in an effort to remove the parasite. In severe infestations, the skin may peel away in strips. Lack of appetite and lethargy usually accompany these other symptoms.


Cause:

The dinoflagellate Oodinium pillularis. This parasite feeds on the flesh of the fish, destroying the cells of its skin and can even infect its internal organs. This parasite is highly contagious due to the fact that it can survive up to 24 hours without a host. When without a host, they drop to the bottom of the aquarium, where they multiply and wait to find a new host.


Treatment:

Because Oodinium is extremely contagious, all fish, and the aquarium they inhabit, should be treated. Recommended medications include Paraform, Acriflavin, Quick Cure, and Formalin.

fish-disease.net

 

[Tuxyu3]

Looks like they have a layer of 'dust' on their slime coat but then again, this could just be their natural shininess or reflective ness if you know what I mean. If it is this, would you say it fits the symptoms?

 

[WILDER]

A layer of brown dust?

Turn tank light out and shine a torch on the fish to see if you can see any golden areas on the fish.

 

[Tuxyu3]

I did but because of the Danios gold colour it is difficult to tell, I will go check again. Doesn't help it freaks them out and they try to hide

 

[WILDER]

OK. Didn't know you had already shined a torch on the fish.

If they had velvet would of expected to see more fish flicking and rubbing?

Sorry getting tired now. My head spinning. So concentration not that good.

 

[Tuxyu3]

Not to worry,as I said I have all weekend to ponder on this and observe, nothing I can do till next week. Feel free to leave this to another day but the danio was swimming against the glass just then. I have taken a video of it's general behaviour but photo bucket won't let me login will try again later or tomorrow.

 

[WILDER]

It's up to you if you want to treat for velvet. Doesn't sound like columnaris if the patches are more of a texture of dusty coating.

 

[WILDER]

If you do start to see more signs of velvet I would get treating straight away.

I will wait for your update.

 

[Tuxyu3]

Would there be any undersirable side-effects or risks if I treated? At the moment velvet seems to be the only thing that reallly adds up.

 

[WILDER]

It best only to add medications when you know what you are treating for.
If you think it is velvet I would start treatment now.
If you have any sensitive fish make sure in medication instructions that you can use full dose. As you should only half dose with copper medications for sensitive fish.

 

[Tuxyu3]

I presume kuhli loaches and possibly even cory's count as sensitive, being scaleless and all. I will sleep on it for now, thank you for all the help.

 

[WILDER]

Loaches & corys are sensitive to coppper based medications.

Ho are the fish now Tuxyu3.

 

[Tuxyu3]

No change. I took out 50% of the water, let them settle down and then dosed with the stress coat and the only behaviour i noticed was that the fish all began to shoal together, not in an insecure and scared way though. The danio's all seem to be happy and as i can not be fully sure what is wrong with them i have decided to try and avoid medication as best i can. I am going to continue to observe and keep the water as clean as possible. Will be sure to get a new filter as soon as i can.