Red Sores

[Atlantis]

In the last 6 months I have had 3 of my fish get red sores on them. The first two were more like gouges. The first, my Blue Paradise, had the gouge on its side past the dorsal fin. It seemed to recover in about three weeks, but died shortly after. The second, my buenos aires tetra, had the gouge right next to the dorsal fin on the lateral line. I put it in a hospital tank for about two months and it had just about recoverd and I decided to put it back in which was four days ago. It died two days later. Yesterday I noticed my fruity tetra has a red sore right behind its anal fin. The sore isn't really deep. I don't know what is going on. It must be some sort of bacteria or parasite. What should I do? Should I bid farewell to my fruity tetra? I don't really want to put it in the hospital tank. It seems to be swimming fine. Will my other fish get sick? Why aren't they all sick?

Here is a link to some pictures of my buenos aires tetra I took. Sorry I didn't compress them. http://anthony.project04.net/fish.htm

 

[crocodylus]

Hmm i've heard of hole in the head disease, never on another part of the body.. weird, maybe some new kind of flesh eating bacteria

 

[Allivymar]

Holy cow. Those aren't just red sores, those are major ulcers!

Hard to say exactly what it is; ulcers can be indicative of HLLE (similar to Hole in the Head disease as crocodylus mentioned) as well as tuberculosis. Could also be a badly infected wound. There is also an "Ulcer disease" which is usually caused by bad water or found in recently imported fish.

There's lots of questions that need to be answered to help figure out whats going on. What's your water parameters (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte)? What size tank and how many fish (and what kind)? Were the fish who died new to the tank? What other symptoms do you see (eating, fins, behavior)?

I would definitely put him in a hospital tank; you've had 3 fish so far show up with the similar symptoms...it could be contagious to fish who are stressed for one reason or another. Why take a chance on the rest? As for medicating; really hard to say without knowing what it is (for example, tuberculosis is almost always fatal, Ulcer disease can be treated with Kanacyn, and HLLE responds best to very good water quality and anti-biotics for secondary infection)

 

[i3k]

I had similar sores on 3 of my Danios but they were a lot smaller then that...at first I noticed redness in place where later the sores appeared...I immediately removed them from the tank and treated them with quick cure in a 10 gallon tank for about 3 weeks. All 3 of them recovered and the sores disappeared...the smallest Danio has a slight scar left though. They all seem fine now it has been about a month since they recovered. The 3 weeks the Danios were getting treated I decided to transfer all the fish from the main tank to another 10 gallon I had sitting and let the main tank sit without fish for the 3 weeks. I turned up the temperature up to 88 degrees in the fishless tank hoping it would kill off the bacteria that might of done the damage to the Danios. I also added the quick cure to the fishless tank and did a whole tank clean up and a 35% water change before adding all the fish back. They all seem in really good condition now and i see no signs of any ore sores on any of the fish.

 

[Atlantis]

My B.A.T. took quite a while to cure in the hospital tank. At first I was adding kanamycin until I ran out, then I added salt and increased the temp. It took at least 2 months, but it was a pretty big ulcer. To answer your questions Allivymar: My nitrIte and ammonia is at 0. I don't know what my nitrAte is. My pH is 7.7. It is a 20 gallon tank with 1 fruity tetra, 2 buenos aires tetras, 2 yellow lab cichlids, 1 kuhlli loach. The fish were not new I got the blue paradise on 8-24-02 and it started showing symptoms on 12-12-02. Currently my fish aren't showing any out of the ordinary symptoms and the same was true with the other instances.

 

[Atlantis]

I've put photos up now for my fruity tetra. They are at this link: http://anthony.project04.net/fish.htm

 

[Atlantis]

I've got the tetra in a hospital tank now. I am adding tetracyclin, aquarium salt, and the temp is at 84. Should I increase the temperature to 84 in my main tank to try and kill what is eating my fish?

 

[Allivymar]

Heya Atlantis:

Sorry..was away for the weekend or I'd have gotten back to you sooner. Sounds like your parameters are fine, and your tank sure doesn't sound overloaded, so I'm guessing its not the tank parameters that's stressing the fish and making the susceptible to disease.

I checked out your lil guy. Ack. Poor thing. Thats another huge ulcer.

Tank temp is a hard thing to suggest in this case. Usually its said to up temps when the fish have parasites; it quickens the cycles of the buggies and they die off quicker cause they are more exposed to medications. Also, higher temps kick the fish's metabolism into high gear. There's 2 different opinions when it comes to infections tho. One camp says do not raise the temp; bacteria like warm places and will multiply faster and kill the fish. The other camp says really high temps help kill the bacteria; kinda like humans get high temps when they get sick. I have to admit I haven't had any bacterial probs to test out either theory.

Personally, I would chose to do exactly what you are doing. Keeping it separate from the other fish to both keep them from getting infected and to keep stress levels down on the sick guy. Keeping the tank at a decent higher temp. Adding salt to the tank. Adding anti-biotics. You may want to purchase another back-up anti-biotic other then tetracycline in case the bacteria don't respond to it..

Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[i3k]

When my Danios got sores I just took all the fish out the main tank and had it sit fishless with high temp. about 88 degrees...but I also cleaned up the whole tank replaced filter pads and did a 35% water change.

 

[Atlantis]

The tetracyclin seems to be starting to work, but now the fish won't eat. I know I am supposed to reduce feedings anyway, but the fish won't eat at all. It has been three days since it has eaten last. Is there anything I can do? Also I haven't changed the food. I am feeding it the same food it has eaten for its whole life with me (2yrs).

 

[Allivymar]

As long as your fish wasn't emaciated to begin with (and it didn't seem to be in the pics) I wouldn't worry yet. Most fish can go a week or so without eating and not starve to death.

If it continues, look up your to find out what their fav foods are; if you've been feeding him the same thing for years, a new treat may be more enticing. I had an angelfish who stopped eating for over a week (for unknown causes; we think it may have been chemicals in the new QT tank I had just bought). Found out angelfish LURVE frozen bloodworms, which I had never tried before. They went over well *grin*