Whirling desease of swordtails ?

[ing_monkey]

I observe something like whirling disease symptoms on some of my sowrdtails:
- Swimming in circle
- Turning the head from side to side staying on same place
- Hiding, staying often on the bottom, not eating well
- Development is slow. Fish can live even 1 month after observing first symptoms.

I euthanazed first fish showing this symptoms several months ago. Now always new fishes start to show the symptoms. Today i euthanazed 2nd fish. One died before like 2 weeks and was probably eaten by pleco.

Is this whirling disease or there are other diseases which can show similar
symptoms?

Will it move to other fishes also (SAE, some tetras, platies and pleco) ?

How i could possibly introduce this disease to my tank? I didn't feed any tubifex tuboxex for years. Could the introduction be done by plant ? Affected swordtails are from my own breed. From start i thought its genetic defect caused by incest. But it seems like it will kill all of my sowrdtails soon. There is only 1 of them which is still happy, and not showing any disease symptoms

I was searching internet for at least 4 hours today, but didn't find lot of help. I seriously need some advice from more skilled aquarists !

Thank you for any help

My test parameters are good: Nitrites/Ammonia are 0, GH & KH & CO2 & pH in optimal ranges and Nitrates around 10 mg/l

 

[Phrozian]

Hi there,

I'm so sorry to hear that your fishes are suffering.

I've just done a quick search in google, and came up with these:
Myxobolus cerebralis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Forums - Possible whirling disease
Also:
[FONT=arial,sans-serif]"Whirling disease spores are hardy, resist freezing, drought and can remain viable for decades."[/FONT]

Since you've once fed them tubifex, it is very possible that the parasite spores remained dormant, until recently.
There are no reports of an effective treatment for this parasite... The safest way to deal with this is to isolate the only healthy fish into a quarantine tank, and keep an eye on the rest of the fish.
Recent introduction of plant life can also introduce this parasite, but since the disease was first spotted several months ago, and now it has continued to infect other fishes, I am quite sure that the tank itself is housing the spores.
My suggestion would be to isolate the only remaining healthy fish, and keep an eye on them all. Since this disease is known to be fatal, if your fishes don't survive, you will need to bleach your entire aquarium setup and start again.

Again, I'm so sorry to hear that this is happening to your fishes.
Best of luck.

Alex.

 

[ing_monkey]

didn't fed live tubifex, but frozen one

Yes, i searched a lot in google and i found these things. Actually, i was not feeding live tubifex, but frozen one bought from shop (not homemade). I think i will not buy it again, as it was probably the source.

What is however another commonly wrote information over internet is, that it only affects certain fish species (salmon similar).
Only sowrdtails have been showing these symptoms so far. Other fishes look aboslutely healthy.

I will see, how other fishes go, if this disease doesn't appear on other species, i will not take painful tank restart with wasting all of my plants.

As i understood good, sick fish only cannot spread this disease to others as this parasite needs tubifex tubifex for his reproduction cycle, which is not present in aquarium ??? If it just cannot jump from one fish to another one.

 

[Phrozian]

I agree, the trouble of cleaning everything is a painstaking one, however, I am unsure whether this parasite can only reproduce strictly in tubifex tubifex, as I am aware of a few strain variants that can reproduce in dead fish, or even, damaged tissue from currently afflicted fishes can be eaten or picked up by other fishes, where the infection may spread (although, in very rare cases).
Given the case that you've fed them frozen tubifex several years ago, and the infection has spread (although not all your fishes are afflicted), this indicates a distinct possibility that the parasite has found a medium of which to reproduce in, or there are enough dormant spores in your tank to infect multiple fishes.
Although, my personality would dictate me to clean everything since I am unsure, but since the tank is so massive, it really is a personal judgment call.

Again, I wish you best of luck, and I certainly hope that the infection wouldn't jump from one fish to another.

Alex.