what's this white stuff on my guppy?

[freshy]

Hi,
I'm at the end of my wits now. One of my female guppys hasn't been well for about a week now, she had been hiding and swimming erraticly so I came up with all sort of diagnoses like swimbladder disease, giving birth (which she didn't). She looked very weakened during the weekend so I put her in a maternity cage and gave her some fish vitamins in her food. That seemed to cheer her up as well as a pair of female platys to give her a break from the constant attention of the male platy and guppys. When I first noticed my fish was sick I immediatley did some tests and got: ammo 0 nitrites 0 nitrates 20ish. Today I got the same readings but I've noticed different symptoms, I hope someone can help me.

At first I did'nt see any marks/spots so I though she was just stressed or had swimbladder disease because of the erratic swimming. Today she was right under the lamp and I noticed two or three whitish "stains" on her body. They don't look like grains of salt, but rather like as a patch. And she looks very pale. It's hard to notice because her natural color is light gray. Tonight I took a better look and looks at her from "above" without the lid and noticed that she's slimmed down quite a bit, although she's been eating well, and has some protruding (sp?) scales on her side. Barely noticeable, it took me quite a while because she spends so long hiding between the plants and rocks.

So far I haven't treated because I don't know what the disease is, and as I said before, she hadn't shown physical signs until now. So far I've added some salt and stress coat to the tank, put her in a maternity plastic box, and given her vitamins (the name is: fishtamins, by SERA).

Although she seems a LITTLE more lively than she was on Sunday (she looked like she was on the brink of death then ) she's not well yet.

What can I do? Any thoughts?

 

[The-Wolf]

It sounds like fungus ,not to be confused with Columnaris.

It is really a fungal problem and should be treated with
Protozin, or similar anti fungal medication.

 

[freshy]

Hi, thanks for your reply.
Oh, I've been reading about it and I think it might be columnaris. I took a closer look and is not so much that her scales are protruding but she has small "lumps" on her back near the dorsal fin from above she looks a little deformed from the sides.
Could it be columnaris? That's a bacterial infection right?
Damn! I lended my digit. camera so I can't post a picture right now, but these lumps or lesions are most visible from above. She doesn't have the pinecone look.
Please feel free to contribute guys! I could use the advice.

 

[The-Wolf]

fungus and columnaris are often confused as its hard to be certain which one you have without a laboratory.
If you really think it is columnaris then treat for that as it's more deadly than fungus. If there is no reaction to the treatment then, by process of elimination, it will be fungus.

This site gives a bit more hepl with columnaris
http/www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-1...27387--,00.html

 

[WILDER]

It sounds like columnaris to me, you will need an anti internal bacteria med and salt if the fish can tolerate, also a suggest salt baths as this desease hates salt, before medicating I would do a gravel vack and water change, even better if you can issolate the fish for treatment.

 

[freshy]

Hi Thanks for your answers.

I read several articles on columnaris and they recommended tetracycline amongst other medications so I bought T.C. Capsules from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and I applied the recommended dose. I dont have a QT tank so I put the fish ina maternity box. Last week the gave me a good scare getting stuck in the powerhhead's "sucking orifice".

I started the treatment yesterday and a weird thing happen, I wish someone could give me some insight, maybe someone has gone throught the same experience.

I took the guppy to my LFS so the so-called-experts could give an acurate diagnose. As you can imagine I was the one who ended up teaching them about the columnaris info I had read on the internet and bringing the fish was a complete waste of time not to mention a stressful thing for her. When I got home I added the recommended dose to the tank and after 1 hour or so she had gained her color back after being "pale" for several days. The bad thing is that she was swimming "upside down", so I think "OK this is it for this little one". But early today I went to check up on her and she was swimming in "horizontal position" but very pale again.
Does anybody happen to know what this means? My thought are that maybe her body was reacting to the meds, but I'm not sure

Thanks for any help!

 

[WILDER]

Yes she is reacting to the meds, she might not be strong enough to cope with them, have you added any extra aeration to the tank, also antibiotics can take days to kick in, you can add them to water, but the best way is adding them to their food.