Zebra Disease Outbreak

[sfgiants13]

 

[sfgiants13]

Something looks wrong with the cory. That photo is steering me back in the direction of columnaris but I'm not sure. Either that or I'm paranoid over losing so many fish in a short period of time.

 

[itiwhetu]

Just can't see enough detail. He doesn't look happy sitting there tho

 

[sfgiants13]

He's not there anymore so it's hard to tell. But the corys would usually be all over the pellets I dropped in but not so much anymore. I'm not sure if they're even eating honestly. It's been a few days since I've seen them actually eat anything.

 

[itiwhetu]

Be careful that you are not getting excess food lying around the tank. Remember ideally ever bit of food you put in the tank should go through a fish

 

[sfgiants13]

It's possible but I also have a small army of amano shrimp that should pick up anything that's not eaten. I also gravel vac with my water changes and that picks up a good amount of debris every week.

 

[sfgiants13]

Now my corys aren’t doing so well and I’m baffled. Here’s a couple of videos. One is vertical and not moving. The other it’s kind of hard to tell because it looks like he swam through some fuzz type algae ive been fighting.

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[sfgiants13]

So now I've noticed one of the zebras has white stringy poop. Does that mean parasite? Or it's possible it's stress from the medication. But this is the first time I've noticed it. The remaining fish seem fine except the zebras look like they have mucus near their gills.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons.
1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be cured because massive internal organ failure has already occurred.


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2) Internal Protozoan Infections cause the fish to lose weight rapidly (over a week or two), fish continues to eat and swim around but not as much as normal, does stringy white poop. If not treated the fish dies a week or so after these symptoms appear. Metronidazole normally works well for this.

There is a medication (API General Cure) that contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole.

It's interesting that API and the Californian government have listed Metronidazole as a carcinogen. That's a concern considering it was widely used to treat intestinal infections in people.

Anyway, if you use this or any medication, handle with care, don't ingest or inhale the medication, and wash hands with soapy water after treating the fish or working in the tank.


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3) Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

In the UK look for:
eSHa gdex contains praziquantel that treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
eSHa-ndx contains levamisole and treats thread/ round worms.
NT Labs Anti-fluke and Wormer contains flubendazole.

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.
You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment.

Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

 

[sfgiants13]

I just saw that reply. Thanks. A quick update. I haven’t lost any stock in 2-3 weeks now. The corys all seem to be eating normally and the neons still seem unaffected by any of this. 1 of the 2 zebras left looks extremely bloated though. He seems to be breathing rapidly but then again most fish are still opening and closing their mouths frequently. Tested the water again and it’s 0 nitrite and 0 ammonia, although the test kit might be a shade past 0. It’s an API kit though and there’s no reason for ammonia to be above 0 so I’ll assume that’s a false positive like I read is common. I wonder if only having 2 zebras is stressing him? I’ve been hesitant to add more fish because if the mess that killed 10 fish. I wanted to make sure whatever caused that is fixed.

 

[Colin_T]

If fish suddenly bloat up and breath heavily, it's over. The fish in the picture is also swollen around the butt and that indicates something is putting pressure on its internal organs. And it appears to have a bit of pop-eye.

My guess is you got a bad batch of danios that have an internal problem and are dying off. I would avoid buying anymore fish for a while and see if the problem spreads to other fish in the tank. If could be a few months or more before other fish show symptoms if it's Fish TB.

In the mean time, don't stick your hands in the tank if you have cuts or scratches on them. And wash your hands and arms with warm soapy water after working in the tank.

If no more fish die after 6 months, then it's probably ok to add some more but wait a while.

 

[sfgiants13]

Yeah several danios have had this issue. 2 corys died off too but they all seem healthy now and it appears it’s only affecting the danios. One fish was likely at the bottom for a bit before I could get him out and I’m guessing those corys nipped at the body and whatever it had must’ve spread.

Either way I’ll be finding a new store for fish because this is not the first issue I’ve had with the fish. I just wish I knew what was causing it. Was hoping the medications I tried for bacterial and parasite fixed the issue but I guess not unless they were already in bad shape before the treatment.

Also to mention I had a zebra a few months ago that had a curved spine and he died. So if it is indeed fish TB I guess I’ll have my answer soon enough.