Khulis in danger STAT!

[Christmasfish]

My lfs got khulis yesterday, we got a sneak peek and my daughter fell in love. Despite the fact tghey are literally dropping dead she took a chance. She thinks it was a water issue.
Today he had only 30 left out of more than 100.

He warned her they are in QT and not likely to make the week. He cut her a deal.
First thing she did was dip water from his tetra display tank and put very little of their tank water in. Immediately two stopped writhing and gasping.

Now that they have some spring water added and a almond leaf..two look VERY good.

Number three is still restless and red gilled. He is no longer swimming upside down at the top, but doing some normal laps. She has them in a gallon Betta jar with a heat pack instead of the bag while she adds QT tank water in 5% increments. She is also areating the jar to leave nothing to chance.
His color is pale striped and kinda..chapped looking skin..dark reddish. And his gills were on fire though looking better now.

Any suggestions on something that can help reveive him to be able to fight for his life better? No slime/ich/parasites in eveidence.

 

[Allivymar]

My guess is he is likely ammonia burnt; they were showing all the typical signs of ammonia poisoning: heavy breathing, red gills, internal hemorrhages. If his gills aren't too badly damaged he should make it with just fresh clean water; if they are badly damaged unfortunately not much one can do; the scar tissue interferes with O2 exchange even if the damage heals. I wouldn't add anything else to be honest; not even salt. If he's as raw as I think, any sort of product which "improves slime coat" will likely irritate things even more.

 

[Menagerie]

Goodness! I hope the little guy makes it. Those are one of my favorite fish. I was just at the LFS and looking for the striped khulis--no luck and the ones they have remind me of eels--no thank-you!
I was talking to an employee and he said the striped ones are harder to get and in their last shipment, none made it 8O
I never realized the little guys were that picky, or is it the shippers are than awful!

 

[Christmasfish]

Well, time will tell.. so far it looks like she saved 2 out of 3.
On a check-up, the wobbly one now is more loachy with only his belly looking spanked....his gills still look swollen and reddish. But he still upside down on the surface alot..poor lil tyke.
The lfs pH is much higher than usual..least in that tank. His usual 7.2-7.3 was up to 7.7 when I got the cories yesterday. This water was over 8?
I wonder if he knows? 8O
The khuli tank smelled salty. I am now wondering if his doofus teen did sometjhing wrong as my daughter is certain. She talks to him more.

 

[Allivymar]

Urk. Higher pH means ammonia is more deadly (lower pH causes more ammonia to be converted in ammonium - same way those "ammonia reducers work" in preventing damage to the fish, although I don't think they lower pH). At 8.0 pH, and 77F as little as .4 ppm ammonia can be deadly. You might wanna bring his attention to the prob.

 

[Christmasfish]

I gave him a ring on the dinger. He had a "no-no, my pH is pretty low and all the tanks were just changed......"
He is going to check at close.
All his new fish in QT have the wobbles yesterday and today. Except his new dwarf colored cichlids (dif &local supplier). They are just cute and acting hungry( son"look at these cute little fish! They follow my hand! aww maybe i get some these too?""no") Just none so bad as these loaches.....

 

[Christmasfish]

Well...seven hours hours later..the lil sick guy doesn't look like his head is smashed when viewed from above. It is in profile with his body again. His belly still looks bloated and spanked. He swims rightside up only half the time. His movements are calmer though, just swimming with the others.
The other two are just wee stretched clowns now. And are colored beautifully.
They are at 50% of our water now and 50% theirs removed. We'll have em in the Qt tank by bedtime.

 

[Menagerie]

YEAH!! My fingers are crossed.

 

[Christmasfish]

Still rough going..depends on how badly their gills were damaged in the long run. They all lost color and started acting weak. The color comes in and back.

They almost act like they have spring sickness..the kind pond koi get except they have no lesions.
They are exhausted too. They lay on their sides and just breathe a lot.
I am afraid that is what will get them tonight. They may just be too spent to struggle anymore.


At a dollar each they cost about the same as the scallops I get for my knife *shrug*..we made an effort. the lfs only had 15 left when I rang in.
Can't expect to do but nominally better.......

 

[Christmasfish]

Lost One!
The biggest actually. He has his skin sloughed off and some ulceration.
The second largest is weak and has a few peely spots...not much hope.
Upsidedown is the most active still. Despit being the most distressed longest...go figger.

Will keep trying, but I figure they are goners when I have to go with my son on a field trip today.

We tried.... My daughter was sad to lose one this morning. She has really taken to the look of the khuhli. She thinks she may try for more in an orederly fashion later, if these don't make it.

 

[Menagerie]

Oh no. I was hoping for the best.

 

[Christmasfish]

*sigh*..it wasn't unexpected.. though we had a better odds for this than a lotto ticket..
But it seems that my son's chocolates spawned!!! One has a whole mouthful of eggs it looks like. I doubt they will survive the bubble nest stage in a few weeks;
it's not fully planted yet. But..wow!
He is a very scheduled and concientious keeper (of course mom told him all the scarey stuff- see this color...they DIE..see this color? THEY DIE... see this temp..they die!) 8O He does 10 and 20 % changes whenever he has spare time (near daily) And tests every other day religiously.

I am sure it is gill damage and hemmorages but not if it is enviromental or bacterial. I tried some antibiotics now. but i have started too late for sure :| .

 

[Christmasfish]

Lost another..this time with the skin nearly splitting at the belly and blood at the gills as it expired.

#3..the upside down swimmer is still swimming... poor thing....I had figured it as least likely to survive....

 

[Menagerie]

I am so sorry to hear that. How is your daughter handling the losses?

 

[Allivymar]

How strange. The fish who looks the most damaged has turned out to be the strongest. I've my fingers crossed for the lil bugger.

 

[Christmasfish]

He is still circling the drain but refusing to go......
My daughter is sad but knew it was a pig in a poke to take obviously distressed fish. She was hoping for one out of three. And she STILL wants a small group of khulis (they can't be any more useless than your clowns, mom) for her big tank this summer.

Costia has been thrown around as the original infectant..
Maybe..maybe not. Simple bad water for a 24 hour period could damage them too..
they are only little babies that just made a 3 day late shipping trip.

it is now a bacterial infection of SOME sort that is getting them now though.
This guy has something messing up his swimbaldder and his gills are still pretty raw, but no skin peeling or stiffening. And he does sleep on his side for a few moment now and then. The otheres didn't rest as long as this one. I kept thinking he was dead, til I bump him. Then I feel bad for disturbing him,

I do notice a really huge amount of sick fish everywhere. Petsmart has "changed displays" 4 times this past 2 weeks. I don't think it was seling the tank ocupants. Specially with floaters in them (eww).

 

[Menagerie]

This is awful.
If your daughter can find healthy ones for her tank, I highly recommend them. I have two (looking for more--so hard to find) and they are so cute. They hide out at the bottom of my fake plants and sometimes, I just see a little head poking out.

 

[Christmasfish]

there goes upsidedown! Maybe...he is losing color and swimming confused (like upside down wasn't confused?)
I give it 24 hours and he is either over it or gone.
It was worth the try. I don't feel bad about the extra time....
Hope is not dimmed yet

 

[Christmasfish]

Aww..there went the last khuli!
Poor tyke....he didn't explode in blood tho..or peel.
I think he just burnt out by having to stay moving so much.
Hey I made it 3 days more than everything at the shop...guess that counts for somethin. I am just glad we QT so religiously here!

She still wants a khuli. Prolly this summer when her big setups are finished andn paid for.
The lfs guy is a wee bit grumpy...he used a new person to get a lot (as in lot#) of loaches andn all the made it were zebras and clowns.
His khulis, sids, and the others all croaked.

 

[Allivymar]

Ugh. Poor bugger. See if you can find out where they got the lot from; might be helpful info for some other folks looking to get fish.