What's Wrong With My Dalmation Molly?

[garycooper34]

Hi,
 
Unfortunately, the deaths have continued and I am now left with 4 fish. Although, with the white spot treatment started on Friday, nothing else has died.
 
More worryingly however, I have seen on the last remaining angelfish a furry patch around it's side fin which has massively grown since yesterday. The patch also has a very slight tint of blood.
 
I have included a photo for you to see this growth on the fish. Do you know what this might be and how I should treat, or is it likely all of my fish will die and I shall have to start the tank again?
 
 

 

[garycooper34]

Unfortunately, it's now spread to the angelfish. It has no balance, cannot keep itself upright and keeps flipping round etc.
 
Please help. What could this be so I can try and save the last 2 fish?
 
 
Thanks,
Gary

 

[This Old Spouse]

At this point all I could suggest is to do a 90% water change. The angelfish photo looks like it has a fungus, so you might try a fungus treatment after the water change. So sorry for your losses.

 

[garycooper34]

To reduce stress, should I isolate the angelfish while doing a change?

 

[garycooper34]

On closer inspection of the angelfish, what was a furry like substance yesterday is now a big scar with scales hanging off. Could this be fish TB or something else?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Unfortunately, the signs seem to be heading towards fish TB, and the only treatment I've heard of for that is euthanasia.    I'd wait a bit more, but it seems as though things may not turn around.  Are there any of the other symptoms?

 

[garycooper34]

Hi,
 
Like I say, there were no other symptoms previously.
 
Just after I got fish, a dalmatian molly died however, that could have been down to stress, bioload etc etc. A few weeks after, a small black platy lost its tail fin in the filter, so this could have been the breeding ground as it was next to die. I had isolated it in a fry net, but I hadn't had a chance to get a 'sick tank' by then.
 
A week or so after this, I got the 5 stripe barbs and angelfish. Then there was the molly that was struggling to swim and had the arched back that soon died followed by its partner.
 
Then one barb died and within a few days I noticed what appeared to be white spot on one of the others. At this point I added internal bacteria and white spot treatments (not simultaneously). One or two days following this all 6 barbs and an angelfish died. Followed by another angelfish then the furr appeared on the most recent angelfish to die.
 
The furr turned to a lesion with scales hanging off and the fish lost all balance, was upside down and tried to swim but kept falling over. Now I am left with two fish, a tuxedo platy and a red wagtail platy. The tuxedo may possibly have one of two scales missing, but it's hard to tell. The red wagtail has no signs on it at all. The behaviour of the remaining fish is normal.
 
Could this be TB or could it be a different internal bacteria that killed some fish and fish it didn't, let to white spot?

 

[garycooper34]

Ok.
 
Since last week and doing a 90% water change, no more fish have died. The remaining tuxedo and red wagtail platy have remained healthy and are acting as they always have. The tuxedo has a little silvering where the black changes to yellow, but I understand this is quite normal.
 
The only thing different is that there is fur growing from one of the pieces of driftwood?
 
Is it likely whatever disease/bacteria there was has cleared up or could it still be present? I'd like to get some more fish in a few weeks time, but want to be sure so I don't have any more die? And also, if I am safe to put my hands in the water again.
 
 
Thanks,
Gary

 

[eaglesaquarium]

There are always going to be diseases present in the tank, there's just nothing we can do about that, except drastically cut down their number with a UV sterilizer.  That's not 100%, but its very near.
 
 
"Fur" on the driftwood?  Can you post a pic of that?
 
 
I'd give it a full month.  If after a month, no more fish die, then the ones who did were more vulnerable.  When the disease is present in a fish, it is more communicable than when it is just in the tank.  I'd stay fairly cautious with my hands and the tank if I were you, but as long as you have no open wounds, you should be fine. 

 

[garycooper34]

Hi eaglesaquarium,
 
Ignore the reflection, but you can see the white fur on top of the driftwood.
 
I will look into a UV sterilizer to help.
 
 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

What kind of wood is that?  Is it mopani - hard to tell from the pic?
 
Are you sure its a "fur" and not a "mold" or even a white "slime" of some sort?  My mopani did that when I first introduced it to my tank, it took a few weeks, then it did this, then it disappeared (not sure if my fish ate it or not) and it hasn't happened again.

 

[garycooper34]

Yes it's mopani. I was just wondering because the larger piece didn't get any.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's also happened to me.  I think that some of the pieces are more dried out than others.  I had two pieces in one tank that it happened with, and I bought two pieces for a different tank where it never happened.  I think it might be some residual sap or something similar.  Its not dangerous.  You can scrub it off if you don't like the look of it, or wait it out and it will go away on its own.
 
 
One danger you may have, is that I had a massive snail outbreak right afterwards - they were the ones eating it I think, and where snails have food, they breed like crazy.  Cleaning would remove a good amount of food if you have any snails lurking about.  Looking back, I'd rather deal with the snails than try to clean it off though.  Just my opinion.  It took me about two months of sucking the snails out as I saw them during each water change - and then adding a BN pleco finished the job.  He didn't eat the snails, but I think that he might have eaten the eggs, and I know he was out competing them to the algae.  They just died back, and now I might see a lone snail every two or three months.  They are still in my tank, no doubt, but I never see them.

 

[Jojocool555]

Really sorry for the loss of your fish. X x x

 

[garycooper34]

I'm thinking of moving my remaining fish to a smaller tank in our kitchen and use the larger tank to change to a marine tank. Ultimately a simple marine tank is what I've always wanted to keep and seeing that I can just transfer the fish, the water and the filter, the move should be ok for them. This will also, despite my fish loss, move me to getting the bug and having 2 tanks .
 
The larger tank shall have a deep clean with bleach though to make sure if there was anything it is killed.