My freshwater tank has been setup for about six-months now. It's a 20 gallon tank with some driftwood. I do regular weekly 15% water changes and vacuuming of the gravel. It currently has 1 cherry shrimp, 1 albino longfin bn pleco, 5 glofish, 2 female guppies (1 quarantined) and 1 male guppy.
My problems started when my female breeder (1 year old) was being picked on by her female babies (3 months old), there were 4 of them that kept pecking at her back. Normally a dark gray, her back had then turned to a shade of light gray. At the time while this was happening, I also had a SAE (Siamese Algae Eater) in the tank that would keep trying to "clean" her in the same spot. Anyhow, I separated my breeder into a hospital tank in an effort to get her healthy again, and I have since sold the 4 female babies and the SAE.
My breeder was discolored on her back and I saw a couple of very tiny dots (white?) on her fins and some sort of protrusion sticking up by her mouth. Thinking this could possibly be ich after a study on the Internet, I tried the salt and 86 degree heat technique for 7 days, along with Ich Ease medication and it didn't help. During this time the disease seemed to get worse and it looked like her skin was coming off, or maybe scales were dying off and peeling up on her sides. I could also see a transparant stringy thing hanging on her side. That being said, I decided to change the course of action and treat for columnaris, using Maracyn 2 and bringing the water back to normal parameters. I did the 5 day Maracyn 2 treatment and now she has turned totally white, looks bloated and swims with her tail down and nose stuck upwards. So needless to say, she's not doing well.
Since everyone else in my tank is doing fine, I assumed that this was an isolated incident, so a week ago I went ahead and put in a new pair of guppies to breed. Already after a day, the female (also gray) got the same white discoloration on her back. So I started the Matacyn 2 treatment on the tank. The disease spreads fast, it looks like a single scale turns discolored and then it spreads sporadically on both the sides and back of the fish, possibly as individual scales. The male is also being affected by it. In fact, the male (black guppy) had a tiny white dot on his caudal fin, then after a day it became a hole, and now today that whole part of his fin is gone.
To assist the effort, three days ago I also started doing a Methylene Blue treatment of 1 ml to 1/5 gallon of water, then soak the fish in it for 30 minutes. I don't know if this is helping the cause any, but I'm fighting a losing battle here. I'm really at a loss here and don't know what to do. I would really appreciate any help or advice.
Thank you,
Kirk
Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5
My problems started when my female breeder (1 year old) was being picked on by her female babies (3 months old), there were 4 of them that kept pecking at her back. Normally a dark gray, her back had then turned to a shade of light gray. At the time while this was happening, I also had a SAE (Siamese Algae Eater) in the tank that would keep trying to "clean" her in the same spot. Anyhow, I separated my breeder into a hospital tank in an effort to get her healthy again, and I have since sold the 4 female babies and the SAE.
My breeder was discolored on her back and I saw a couple of very tiny dots (white?) on her fins and some sort of protrusion sticking up by her mouth. Thinking this could possibly be ich after a study on the Internet, I tried the salt and 86 degree heat technique for 7 days, along with Ich Ease medication and it didn't help. During this time the disease seemed to get worse and it looked like her skin was coming off, or maybe scales were dying off and peeling up on her sides. I could also see a transparant stringy thing hanging on her side. That being said, I decided to change the course of action and treat for columnaris, using Maracyn 2 and bringing the water back to normal parameters. I did the 5 day Maracyn 2 treatment and now she has turned totally white, looks bloated and swims with her tail down and nose stuck upwards. So needless to say, she's not doing well.
Since everyone else in my tank is doing fine, I assumed that this was an isolated incident, so a week ago I went ahead and put in a new pair of guppies to breed. Already after a day, the female (also gray) got the same white discoloration on her back. So I started the Matacyn 2 treatment on the tank. The disease spreads fast, it looks like a single scale turns discolored and then it spreads sporadically on both the sides and back of the fish, possibly as individual scales. The male is also being affected by it. In fact, the male (black guppy) had a tiny white dot on his caudal fin, then after a day it became a hole, and now today that whole part of his fin is gone.
To assist the effort, three days ago I also started doing a Methylene Blue treatment of 1 ml to 1/5 gallon of water, then soak the fish in it for 30 minutes. I don't know if this is helping the cause any, but I'm fighting a losing battle here. I'm really at a loss here and don't know what to do. I would really appreciate any help or advice.
Thank you,
Kirk
Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5
