Please help!!

[Jimjamjamejim]

Hello, first of all I’m new to forums so not sure if I’m writing this In the right place. I need some help urgently, my fish is acting so strange, not eating, has a sunken belly and has some white flakey stuff on his top fin and all his fins look pretty frail and torn. Can someone please help to identify what disease he has. Thank you.

 

[Cichlidscrub]

There are two answers to the problem either the fish had fin rot and if treated right away with something like Erythromycin from api it will be fine
Do you by chance see other fish nipping at it’s fins

 

[Jimjamjamejim]

There are two answers to the problem either the fish had fin rot and if treated right away with something like Erythromycin from api it will be fine
Do you by chance see other fish nipping at it’s fins

Hello, thanks for reply, il get the treatment right away, also not very often do I see them nipping him as he spends most his time in the corner.

 

[jake37]

First i would not treat it right away - a small dab of fungus normally forms on wound or damage fin and will usually go away on its own after the wound heals.
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As to your fish condition - how long have you had the fish and what are the tank conditions (this look like an african cichlid and they require hard water). Also what other fishes are in the tank ?

It is hard to tell if it is simply being bullied by tankmates or if there are fundamental problems with the tank.

 

[Jimjamjamejim]

Morning Jake, thanks for reply. I have had the fish for around 6 months, ive just lost another exact same fish abo a week ago, woke up and he was covered in white flakey stuff all over his body and fins, literally wouldn’t move anymore and the others kept nipping at him until the practically finished him off. Was hard to watch as I didn’t have another rani to get him out as I’m pretty new to fish keeping. I have spring 8 or 9 African cichlids in the tank, who occasionally have a little scuffle but that’s normal in African cichlids as there quite territorial fish.

The water is pretty hard here, i

 

[Jimjamjamejim]

My water parameters seem to be fins to.
Water temperature 25 -26 degrees
Ph - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0

I will mention that I also have 3 mbunas In there and the biggest one seems to be the one to kill off fish when’ there’s signs of illness or weakness. Il be getting rid of him ASAP.

Also just been out to buy a hospital tank, and have separated him for now. Treated with interpet anti fungal and api aquarium salt, fingers crossed he’s going to be okay.

 

[jake37]

Hi. I'm going to presume your water is moderately hard. Here is my guess what happened (it is a guess):
The new fish had an bacteria infection that spread to your existing fish. The white dots could be one of two diseases - if they were uniformed it was likely ick which you can ignore as long as the other fishes don't get ick. If they were not uniformed and clumpy it was [can't remember] which is much more serious.
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You will likely need to treat the fish with something that will kill the bacteria - furan-2 is a good general medicine. You might wait a day to see if your salt help but the problem is the bacteria infection moves super fast and in a day or two it might be dead.
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This is just a guess - also if the white dots were not uniformed small then i'll try to figure out what that other disease is - it is frequently confused with ick.

 

[jake37]

For future reference I wanted to mention that one thing i use for a hospital tank is a 5 gallon pail (if you are in the us lowes/homedepot/wallmart/target/... sells these for $3.50 - i have several dedicated for fish only use.

 

[Jimjamjamejim]

Yes I think the problem maybe a bacteria Infection then as my other fish that was infected literally died out of nowhere and was covered in this white flakey stuff. All other fish all seem to be doing fine and have no health problems that I’ve noticed. Also I am in the uk and the furan-2 you mentioned is not sold here, is there any chance you know of an alternative that I may be able to purchase here?

 

[jake37]

This is from the internet so i can't say if these are as good or treat different infections (furan-2 is an api product):
Mardel Maracyn-Two (Minocycline)

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Hum they are very different - furan-2 is nitrofuran; maracyn-two is minocycline and different gram-negative treatment - however there is no telling which one is most effective for your specific bacteria.
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Ok you live in the uk this is going to be difficult since it sounds like for any treatment you will need a perscription.
=
You could call your petshop and ask them but it looks like unless you resort to ebay or something it will be difficult to buy any treatment in the uk.

 

[Jimjamjamejim]

Omg

This has now devolved, what the hell is going on

 

[Jimjamjamejim]

Developed*

 

[Jimjamjamejim]

So sorry to keep posting but literally just seen these.. please help im freaking out.. there’s little clear tadpoles attached to them..

 

[jake37]

how small are they ? Could be some sort of parasite if they are tiny but there is no sense of scale. To be honest they look like some sort of fry with the yellow part being an egg sack - did you put a plant or something in the tank that could have had eggs ?
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At this point i can't help much more - i just don't know - i also don't understand the connection between the tail shot and the tadpole like picture - are you saying those little things are on the tail ?

 

[Jimjamjamejim]

No I was sending you a picture of her tail as it’s now got red bloody bits on, but then I moved the ornament in the tank and all these balls came flying out which I’ve now found out are fry haha. There’s no connection at all, I just have an ill fish who has just spat out her babies. What next? Lol

 

[jake37]

Well i would say she has a very serious bacteria infection and you have days to treat it. I know nothing about how people in the uk get antibiotics for fishes in the uk (in the us where i live we just order it). I think you need to call your pet shop and ask them how you can get furan-2 or similar - you might also yell at them for selling you an infected fish though that probably won't be helpful.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Well i would say she has a very serious bacteria infection and you have days to treat it. I know nothing about how people in the uk get antibiotics for fishes in the uk (in the us where i live we just order it). I think you need to call your pet shop and ask them how you can get furan-2 or similar - you might also yell at them for selling you an infected fish though that probably won't be helpful.

Antibiotics containing Nifurpirinol are vets prescription only here in the UK. Good luck finding a vet who does fish, and if you can find one they will likely want you to take the fish to the surgery. Generally its a lot of hassle. So its usually make do with what you can legally acquire and accept that it has a lesser chance of success.

Not sure if i should say this, but its fairly easy to purchase prescription fish meds online. I recently read a Practical Fishkeeping article about retailers unknowingly selling meds illegally due to confusion on legislation. Link if anyone is interested.

https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co...lers-unknowingly-selling-illegal-antibiotics/