WHAT'S GOING ON?

[SHANTYMAID]

Hiya folks well i have no idea what so ever to what's going on in my tank at the moment. My Golden Gourami has had a white spot on his pectrel fin for the last it much be coming up to 3 weeks now, i have written on this forum for advice. Which i kindly got, thinking it was most likely a external parasite, he also had a sore base to the pectrel fin. Well he's being treated with salt and that has eased the soreness its definatly not so inflamed as it was, and the white spot has shrunk till you can hardly see it. The problem now is that i can see only on occastion that 1 of my Serpae Tetra's and my Pearl are flashing. Stupidly i thought that my golden gourami had been in the main tank for so long that i would treat the whole tank with the salt just in case the tank had gotten infected. So know to my way of thinking is that it possible has got infected with what ever the gourami had and a couple of others have the same thing.
I do very frequent water changes every 3 to 4 days and my water parameters are all ok. The fish have not lost any of the appetite, the only thing i noticed tonight was that the tetra that is doing a little of the flashing is that she has a couple of lightened patches on the top of her body. There are no patches of fungus no white spots on any of them, no streaking so if anybody would come across and give me a clue, i feel so bloody stupid . 1 note i would make the only new thing to go into my tank have been plants.

 

[WILDER]

Flexibacter columnaris (Columnaris disease or Saddleback disease)



A. Gram-negative slender rods (3-8 microns)



B. The disease is a serious disease of young salmonids, catfish and many other fish.



C. This is a highly communicable disease. Lesions usually first appear as small white spots on the caudal fin and progresses towards the head. The caudal fin and anal fins may become severely eroded. As the disease progresses, the skin is often involved with numerous gray-white ulcers. Gills are a common site of damage and may be the only affected area. The gill lesions are characterized by necrosis of the distal end of the gill filament which progresses basally to involve the entire filament.



D. Flexibacter columnaris infections are frequently associated with stress conditions. Predisposing factors for Columnaris disease are high water temperature (25oC-32oC.), crowding, injury, and poor water quality (low oxygen and increased concentrations of free ammonia).



E. Flexibacter maritimus: cause similar problems in salt water environment.

 

[WILDER]

I think the neon might have saddleback columnris.
http/ukdiscus.co.uk/columnaris.htm#Ident...ng%20columnaris

 

[black angel]

could be neon tetra disease that starts with loss of colour on the back.

 

[WILDER]

Usually lose colour in the red stripe first and saddleback columnaris can be false NTD.

 

[SHANTYMAID]

I didnt realise that NTD could effect other tetra's

 

[WILDER]

NTD can effect a wide variety of fish.

 

[SHANTYMAID]

Hiya sorry i didnt get back to this thread but being a bit sick myself, Wilder all my water perameters are normal, nirites0 nitrates 0 ammonia 0 PH 7, i'm doing lots of water changes and i have started them on Melifix and Primafix together plus salt. The small Tetra has bucked up quite a lot and from what i can see there is no more flashing unless of course its happening when i'm not looking. All the fish are eating well, so what do you reckon should i keep on going for the week. It does state that i can keep up the meds if the 1 week is not enough, god i hate putting anything into my tanks but if it will work all the more better.
The bad luck is my goldfish are also having problems but thats another story, thanks for reading this await your reply Shanna
There has been no carbon in my filter in case you think the meds wont work and water change has stopped until 1 week has passed for the med to work :

 

[WILDER]

Finnish the full course never stop treatment when a fish is looking better, they soon go down hill again if you stop the med to soon, good luck.

 

[SHANTYMAID]

Thanks for the reply Wilder i will continue with the course until all the symtoms have gone and the Serpae is clear

Best wishes Shanna

 

[Jezah]

Stop the salt! Salt will kill tetras! They are super sensitive to it, and even the smallest amount will cause them to get sick and die. I didnt know this and added tetras to my livebearer tank that had salt...they all died within days. All the other meds are fine, but tetras are particularly sensitive to salt and any in the water will kill them.

 

[SHANTYMAID]

I have never heard of salt killing tetra's before, or that they are sensitive to it. I can believe if you over salt a tank yes it would do great harm or if you had scaleless fish or catfish which obsorb salt and cannot clear it out of there systems. I have had my Serpea's now for about 9 months in my big tank and if i have needed to salt i have 1 tesp per gallon for lesser infections. I have heard that you can go as far as 1 tabsp per gallon if the desease merits it, i have never done this. I have 1 Serpea sick at the moment with Columnaris ( saddle back desease ) whom i've been treating with salt as well as other meds and i'm happy to say that she is inproving and eating like a hog!!!!!!!.
Thanks for your input though and i will be finding out more.
Best wishes Shanna

 

[SHANTYMAID]

Jezah i am assuming that you are talking about aquaruim salt not table salt which has additives.

 

[WILDER]

That great, hope she carry's on improving, good luck.