Disease or just an injury?

[RoK]

One of my Ornate Rainbows seems to have developed some red stuff INSIDE of it which kind of looks like blood (You can see the insides of these fish kind of like some tetras). The spots are large compared to how big the fish is. It appeared with 1 spot at about the middle of the anal fin. Today there are 3 of these red spots, the one at the middle of the anal fin, one in the middle of the body, and one higher at the head. It's also swimming strangely now, I'm scared it won't make it.
Anyone know what it could be? Is it fatal? Can it be treated? Can it be constipation? My 2 other Rainbows are perfectly fine, no red spots and swimming normally.
They were introduced to my tank 2 days ago and seemed fine at the fish store.

 

[TCTFish]

This is when QTs come in handy. Isolate the affected fish. If you don't have a spare tank, then use a bucket with an airstone. Make sure to use as much of the tank water as possible in the bucket to lessen stress without taking out too much from the tank. Don't want to stress them either. Return the fish to the store you got it from. It's only been a couple of days. Test your water too for the basics...pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Add some freshwater aquarium salt (half the recommended amount). Make sure temps are stable and carbon is fresh.

If for some reason you cannot return the fish, then use a mixture of Methylene Blue and Malachite Green (half dose of each) and medicate the fish in the bucket. A lillte 25 watt submersible heater to use in the bucket would be great. Having a picture to see these spots would be helpful in diagnosis.

 

[RoK]

The thing is I would like to keep them in their trio, I haven't seen any of these rainbows at any other store around here. There already is some aquarium salt in the water, the specific gravity is at about 1.0025 or so, might be tiny tiny bit more like 1.0026.
I'm thinking it's having constipation problems, I saw some stringy poo in the tank. Yesterday it did seem to eat a lot, so could it be it ate so much that it's stomach got clogged or something of that sort?

 

[TCTFish]

The thing is I would like to keep them in their trio, I haven't seen any of these rainbows at any other store around here.

That's fine. You still can see if you can return the fish for a replacement and have a trio. If you can then that's one less problem to deal with and you can focus on the ones that are doing good. Whether you exchange the fish or not, it still should be isolated and medicated. Red spots have nothing to do with constipation and if the fish was constipated it would not poop at all. What color is the stringy poop?

 

[Menagerie]

This fish needs to be QTed, separating the trio will not affect the fish in the long run and may save the two healthy ones, if the ill one is contagious.
Does it look like the fish is bleeding under the scales? If so, you are dealing with hemorrhagic septicemia. There are two causes, bacterial and viral. There is no treatment for the viral infection, but I have successfully treated the bacterial infection with kanamycin-based meds, such as Kanaplex from Seachem. Others on the board have had success with this treatment.

Take a look at this site to help figure out what is wrong with your fish:
http://www.aquatronicsonline.com/hobbyist/hobbyist3.htm

 

[RoK]

Whether you exchange the fish or not, it still should be isolated and medicated. What color is the stringy poop?

Well, I added some triple sulfa to the tank just in case. I am trying to get my 10 fully cycled so it can be a QT and/or breeding tank.
Would the fish do ok even if the tank isn't cycled?
The color of poo was reddish brown.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

speed cycle the 10 gal using water from the 75 Gal. you could also use some filter media, and it will bear the bioload of a single fish instantly..

Just a thought. Best of luck.

 

[RoK]

Does it look like the fish is bleeding under the scales? If so, you are dealing with hemorrhagic septicemia. There are two causes, bacterial and viral. There is no treatment for the viral infection, but I have successfully treated the bacterial infection with kanamycin-based meds, such as Kanaplex from Seachem. Others on the board have had success with this treatment.

It does kind of look like it's bleeding under the scales. The Triple Sulfa I have says it treats hemorrhagic septicemia, do you think it may work?

 

[RoK]

speed cycle the 10 gal using water from the 75 Gal. you could also use some filter media, and it will bear the bioload of a single fish instantly..

Just a thought. Best of luck.

Well, when I started putting water in the tank I filled almost half of the 10 gal with the 20 gal's water. The 20 has been running much longer than the 75 (and obviously the 10).
I don't get exactly what you mean about the filter media. Do you mean add some? Use some from one of the other tanks? I have a filter running in it right now.

 

[Titandriver1]

I've got a sw tank and my two yellow tangs had red spots that sound similar to what you've described, and they appeared to be hemorrhaging at the base of their fins as well. I talked to a guy at the lfs who said it might be hemorrhagic septicemia. He suggested treating with furazone green and it worked great in my case. I just finished treating them for five days and they've got they're normal color back and appear very healthy. Just another suggestion!

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Yes, use some media from an established tank, it will establish the tank almost instantaneously.

 

[RoK]

Just checked the parameters today and I'm pretty sure it's cycled. 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate, 75 gh, 10-15 kh, and pH something between 7.0 and 7.2.
The 20 gal has pretty much the same water, except the kh is like 0, pH something between 6.7-6.9. What makes the difference is the 10 gal has a coral rock, at least that's what I've been told it is, and the 20 has driftwood.
I'd like to know a good method of getting the fish used to the different pH and hardness, what methods do you guys use?

 

[RoK]

Anyone?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I would think bagging the fish and introducing it as you would a new fish from the store would be good enough..

 

[RoK]

Won't the new pH stress them out?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=28818&highlight=acclimating+fish should help

 

[RoK]

Well, the spots are much smaller now, not sure if they will totally go away. :?

 

[RoK]

Thought it was getting better but it's now gone.

 

[JohnPaul]

As for moving filter media, the easiest way is to get the filter out of your established tank, and wipe off some of the "goop" on it into the filter media of your QT.