Danio with Mouth rot

[nphsmith]

One of our Danios has what looks like a tuft of white beard/cotton wool on his chin. We've been to LFS, who sold us Interpet #8 - (Reviewed here - Interpet No 08 Anti Fungus and Bacteria - Review - Has your fish lost it's tail or grown a beard). This looks to be the right treatment.

I've also done a 30% PWC, and checked by parameters - ammonia, NO2/3 all zero. O2 5mg. I did notice more brown algae than we usually.

We have 5 danios, 3 (Previously 4) guppies, 4 corys, 2 platys, 3 pentazona barbs in a 78 Litre tank. Also a red-clawed crab. Tank is 3/4 months old.

We did have a Betta in the tank who attacked the Danios, but that was about 6 weeks ago. Could that attack still be causing stress?

Any other suggestions that I can do? My real worry is root cause...

 

[alLexX]

i know this isnt what you asked about,but the crab is not fully aquatic

 

[nphsmith]

Thanks, but I asked about that previously -
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/red-clawed-crabs-undersea-pineapple-146582.html

 

[nphsmith]

Two of our guppies are now showing the same symptoms. Daughter is distraught - made worse that we go on holiday tomorrow morning. Neighbour will be popping in - anything she/we can do other than keep an eye for fatalities?

 

[alLexX]

aquarium salt should help,dont know exact amounts though

 

[Shadowraven]

Mouth rot is bacterial infection caused by the organism flexibacter columnaris. It is fully treatable. Salt may help.

You can treat it by giving the fish a bath in a phenoxyethanol product or by the use of antibiotics like Maracyn 2.

 

[nphsmith]

Thanks. The active chemical in our medicine is pheon...what you said (on phone cant see yourvpost and type!)! They appear to have lost the fluff before we went but the danio seems to have lost a lot of mouth. Will he be able to eat and/or will he repair? Or should i consider euthanasia?

 

[Shadowraven]

Thanks. The active chemical in our medicine is pheon...what you said (on phone cant see yourvpost and type!)! They appear to have lost the fluff before we went but the danio seems to have lost a lot of mouth. Will he be able to eat and/or will he repair? Or should i consider euthanasia?

He should be just fine. IME, danios never have too much trouble eating food! Fish can be pretty resilient in my experience. In time most of his mouth should grow back. They have amazing recuperative powers as well.

 

[nphsmith]

Sadly, we came back from lovely holiday, and found that the danios are fine, but one of the Platys died, and our 3 remaining guppies had vanished into what looked like a primordial soup. We assume they had died, and the crab had done his clean-up job on them.

My 8-year old was pretty upset about it, as you can imagine. I desperately want to do my best to ensure that my next steps prevent any more deaths as far as I can as I don't think she can take any more .

I immediately did a 20% water change last night, scrubbed the bio filter, and replaced the carbon filter. I intend to do another change tonight, as well as giving the ornaments a chemical wash (per appropriate instructions).

It being Tuesday today, I would like to think that by Saturday, (Our 'fish-buying' day), the tank will be back in a state where we can replace some of the casualties. Does that sound right or should I put off till the next weekend? If our current fish are still stressed I don't want to add to that.

Any suggestions for *resilient* tankmates? I was thinking Platys or Mollys?

 

[Shadowraven]

When you say "scrubbed the biofilter" does that mean that you cleaned it out completely?

A biofilter sponge should never be cleaned or rinsed in anything but tank water. If you are using filter floss you should save at least 20% of it to "seed" the new material. Floss or similar material shoudn't be changed until it is literally falling apart or clogged. I refer to both since I don't know what you are using now. If you have nothing left of the old biomaterial, or if you cleaned a filter sponge in tap water, your tank is going to start cycling again. Since you still have bacteria in the substrate it may not take as long, but it will still cycle.

Do a good vacuuming job on your gravel since you had dead fish in there. You don't want any part of them to remain in the tank. Watch your parameters closely and try not to let ammonia levels exceed 0.25ppm. No amount ammonia is good, but if the tank is cycling again you're going to get some. Keep on your PWC as needed.

I wouldn't get any more fish for that tank until everything is under control again. Make sure when you are able to add to the tank to wait a couple of weeks. You need to ensure that there are no more deaths that are going to occur and the problem is gone before adding new residents.

 

[nphsmith]

Thanks, I 'spoke' badly. I took the filter out and rubbed it a bit in tank water - it's gone back in fine, all bacteria should be intact.

Amonia was at 0.25 after PWC last night so probably was higher before that while we were away. The tank looked much cleaner today, but did another PWC and it stirred up a fair amount of rubbish. I have to say the Corries are looking rather plump and self-satisfied currently.

Thanks for the advice about waiting a bit longer - I think my head knew that, but heart was wanting to please daughter. We'll hold off till settled.

 

[Shadowraven]

Make sure that you vacuum out as much of that rubbish as you can (if you haven't already). That is the stuff that will cause you trouble later if it is not removed.

Sorry for the extensive response there. Just trying to cover all bases up front so you didn't have to wait for an answer.

 

[nphsmith]

Many thanks for your ongoing advice - the wordier the better!

A couple more water changes with big gravel suction and upheaval, and we still have ammonia at 0.25, so I think you are right a mini-cycle is going on - but it hasn't crept above 0.25, and 0 Nitrites, so I think I'm managing it ok. Water is looking *much* clearer.

My daughter has noticed that one of our Danios (All of whom survived) has got his right gill extremely noticeably red. Left gill is not noticeable, so it's definitely not natural colouration. Is that likely to be ammonia stress? Or something else we should look out for?

 

[Shadowraven]

Red gills are a common sign of chemcal burns. This is caused by ammonia or chlorine most commonly.

If it doesn't get any better soon, then only soultion for this is to do at least a 75% water change to ease the problem. If you are lucky, then the fish may heal from this problem. Getting the water quality right is the most important issue here.

Sorry to neglect you, I've had some 16hr work days in the past few days and could not get back to this.