Lost 3 fish already, help

[AaronBurr]

Hey all,

I've lost three fish already to what I think is a fungus infection. I've been treating with pimafix for 4 days but I keep losing fish and no one looks better. Is that the right course of action? I've attached two pics.

It looks like large white spots. But theirs fins look bad too (frayed). So far I only see it on the mollies but I'm treating the whole tank. (Mollies, skirt tetras, angel, snails)

Any help would be apperciate.

 

[V227]

If the white spots are fungus, likely the last symptom of a bacterial infection. The white spots might be Columnaris. I'm not a med expert. Maybe one will chime in. I have not had many bacterial outbreaks, but the ones I had, I just removed the obvious goners from the tank, tried to save the apparently unaffected population by conducting several consecutive days of large WC's. With or without meds expect losses. A lot of members use aquarium salt during the water change method. Hope things level out soon.

 

[AaronBurr]

Thx for the reply, if it's bacteria maybe I can try melifix? Any thoughts?

 

[V227]

Melafix is about the only med I would use. It won't hurt your BB, acts like a tank antiseptic and is not toxic to you.

 

[AaronBurr]

Great I'll pick some up after work and try it. Thanks.

 

[jessfreshwater]

It looks like ick

 

[Angellove78]

Maybe ur not using enough of the treatment. Test ur water and keep testing. Or if the fish r new to the tank 1 might have infected the rest of them. Test ur water do water changes. I'm not an expert either, but I've Reed up on alot and here this all the time from experts sites when people ask and experts answer. Oh, and could b ur filter system. Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[AaronBurr]

@jessfreshwater: Thanks for the comment. I don't think its ick. I've never known an ick spot to get as large as it is on the first fish. That being said I have had an issue with Ick in this tank before.

@Angellove78: None of the fish are new to the tank. They have been in there for a while so I'm not sure what caused this outbreak. Thanks for trying to help.


General Question: Should I try treating multiple things at once? Like should I try to treat Ick and Bacterial just in case? or will the two medications interfere?

 

[jessfreshwater]

It's the worst when you don't know what's wrong with your tank!

 

[V227]

Ick, Oodinium, Columnaris, fungus and all other hazardous bugs are always present in small populations in our fish tank. When a fish is weakened one or more of the bugs take hold and uses the fish as an incubator, increasing its population exponentially. The best weapon against the majority of tank illnesses is your siphon, thorough gravel vacs and WC's. This dilutes the pathogens, keeping the unaffected fish healthy and gives the sick fish a fighting chance to heal. Most meds have the potential to temporarily eradicate the bugs, they also have the potential to cause damage to the fish it's designed to fix and destroy the BB.

 

[Angellove78]

U said u had problems before. Was the tank used for reptiles before. Cause if there's nothing helping. Could be the tank it's self. Maybe it's got the bacteria from reptile in the caulk. Could re-caulk it. Take the fish out treat them in another tank, re-caulk while u treat them. Or just get a new tank. Alot of people buy used tanks and r told fish where in it but, later on down the line u get fish dying with no cure, cause u didn't know they actually had a snake, lizard even hamsters stuff like that in it. wrong kinda bacteria.

 

[AaronBurr]

Ick, Oodinium, Columnaris, fungus and all other hazardous bugs are always present in small populations in our fish tank.

Most meds have the potential to temporarily eradicate the bugs,

@V227, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about illness so maybe you can help clarify something. It seems like if you medicate the tank it can eradicate the bug. As long as its not re-introduced (i.e. new fish) the tank should remain clean. Is this true?

Or do the medication simple keep the illness in check, where the fish's natural immune system can kick in? Keeping the illness invisible (so the fish aren't really affect by it) but it's always present?

@Angellove78: It's a good thought, because this is a used tank. But it had fish in it for at least a year previously, so I don't think a 'land' illness could survive that long in a tank. Plus this illness is presenting very differently then the ick I previously dealt with.

 

[V227]

I believe certain meds can temporarily wipe out parasites, fungus and bacteria or knock their populations back down to size. Whether by WC or air, mother nature finds a way for the bugs to return. It's really no different than our environment, flu, cold and other viruses as well as bacteria are always present.

 

[wendy fm]

I had a similar looking white spot show up on my Molly and it was suggested that I do a partial water change and add salt. I couldn’t use fungal meds,because I have fry and didn’t want to expose them to it.
The water change and added salt worked. So it might be worth a shot for you.

 

[AaronBurr]

Thanks for everyone's help.

I'm just going to continue this thread so that if anyone else runs into a similar issue they can see what did or didn't work for me.

I've switched to Melafix yesterday. One more fish died in the night, but I'm going to tentatively say the other fish seem better. I will update this again in a few days with results.

Thanks again for everyone's input!

 

[Angellove78]

That's good stuff. I use that for my sons gold fish. Fair fish. Should start seeing a difference within a few days. The third day it was gone. But still do it for the 7 days. Hope it works for ya.

 

[AaronBurr]

Final update.

After switching to melafix I started to see improvement . It took several days before the fuz/large white spots cleared up. After that I could see he had ich as well. I treated him for ich and he looks much better. I will continue treatment for a few more days to make sure things are really out of his system.

His fin is pretty raggedy so I will leave him in a separate tank while that heals up. I don't want any secondary infections.

I lost 4 fish total to this, so I hope this thread helps anyone else who stumbled into similar situations.