Paper thin Platy?

[xn1337]

Hi all,
I have been dealing with my local fish shop with help for an issue i have with one of my platy's, weve come up stumps on what it could be?

http://mytestpage.cu.cc/fish/

I uploaded some pictures to my web server at the link above, the female is paper thin now on its stomach, and appears to have a red rash, thinking maybe parasite? other fish seem fine, water ok, 750 canister filter, temp is 26 at the moment, homemade led lighting and plenty of food, female seems to back up to the male and he runs off, seems to be seeking attention, so doesn’t seem stressed. any help would be great.
i did find this morning one of the males had passed away, the orange and black one has been pretty defensive recently against that one particular fish though.

 

[xn1337]

Little bit more info:
Tank - 55L(14 Gallon) - Aqua One 150w Heater, Aqua One Aquaris 700 Canister Filter
All stats good, tested at fish shop.
Fish: 2 x adult male - 2 x adult female, 2 x teenage female, 1 x Baby female, 1 x bristlenose about 3 inch long.

30% water change performed 3 days ago, Biochem zorb to keep the water clear (driftwood).

fed mostly tropical fish flakes and blood worm.

 

[xn1337]

Soo, looks like the other non alfa male is getting the same thing? he’s not thin yet but is getting the same look to his stomach and has started swimming around with partially clamped fins :|

 

[Delapool]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Have you/fish shop tried any treatments?

 

[xn1337]

Hi Delapool,
No, at this stage we initially thought it was stress, I was thinking parasite, they all seem to have rope like faeces that hangs on for a couple of laps of the tank brown and pale pink, but without knowing the cause of the sickness I have been unable to ascertain what treatment path to take.

 

[Delapool]

It sounds worth treating for parasites/worms.

I'd treat with prazi and metro. The prazi should be readily available, see what the shop has for metronidazole - anything treating hexamita may do same as metro.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumMedication2.html

 

[Matt68005]

Sorry to say but that fish has Fish Tuberlosis bad and the rest of the tank likely too. There is no cure.

 

[xn1337]

Lol, thanks, straight to the botom of the list of possibilities .
ill go with Delapool first and get a 2nd opinion from a local aquarium expert as well,

From what ive read about fish TB, i would be better trying to find out if i can burn the tank plants and water, and the symptoms matchup more with curved spine from over breeding of the stock. at this stage, ill require a dead one to do an autopsy, but at this stage im trying to keep them alive :S.

hope your wrong though Matt68005, thanks for the advice.

 

[Delapool]

I'll have to look up TB myself. Check out the disease book. . (Been tied up on training).

I like to think Australia has good quarantine but worth a check on.

Ordered furan 2 last night (which has previously made it into WA). Might try ordering API general cure (contains prazi and metro) tonight out of interest and see if it makes it.

 

[Delapool]

OK, so first up I've learned not to read a disease book and eat a snack at the same time!

The red rash is a worry as that suggests to me bacterial (of some form) septicemia (either secondary or primary) if internal. If external more like a lesion still probably bacterial if an irregular shape. For the OP I think TB is worth checking, even if you cross it off the list - always worth checking all ideas out but you will know your tank best.

I've been asked on TB a few times from this book. So it notes the following:

Outbreak Cause - fish in poor health already, poor living conditions, overpopulation & vitamin deficiencies.

Infection speed - often lingering with some fish dying now and then over several months. Other times the entire tank can be gone in a week or two.

Signs - bloating of body from fluid accumulation, emaciation along dorsal ridge, sunken-in belly, scale loss and lifted scales, open skin lesions (not a good photo but description notes it looks like tiny chunks have been torn out and wound edges are bloody).

Also pop-eye, pale colour, spinal curvature, organ displacement, loss of appetite, loss of reflexes, remaining apart. These signs can appear alone or in various combinations. A hand lens will reveal whitish-gray nodules on the liver and spleen (source:- Handbook of Fish Diseases, Untergasser, 1989).

Can be confused with "ichthyophonus hoferi" (which has no cure either!)

Ichthyophonus hoferi - Fish

But I think metro (or dimetridazole) worth a try.

 

[xn1337]

Soo, sorry for the long wait,
I have run a full course of treatment recommended to me by the local "expert".

I have updated this with more photos,
http://mytestpage.cu.cc/fish/

so the black male has been making fast flicking movements in the water, similar to what a parasite symptom maybe,

the silver red male has degraded over the length of the treatment, an as you can see a rash has started to form, he has also started liking the gravel on the bottom.

the white female is what i can say in the advanced stages of this disease.

and the grey female is looking slimmer and as you can see the gills are flared and fluro pink.

Treatment was Waterlife Sterazin, as I wasn’t able to get my hands on metro based treatments locally.

now apparently sterazin contains:
malachite green 0.08%w/w,
formaldehyde 0.2%w/w,
piperazine citrate 0.34%w/w
acriflavine hydrochloride 0.055%w/w

 

[Matt68005]

Its fish TB man, i am probably more of an expert on disease than your LFS person Would be best to read up on Fish TB and make your determination of course of action, probably best to stearilize the tank and everything in it, and start over with fish from a diffrent stock im sorry to say but that picture is a textbook example of fish tb Its very common more than people will ever think, probably 9/10 pet stores have this in their sytem, if not all
This does not look at all like "internal parasites to me"
Trust me, i had fish TB in my tanks for a year treated with everything thinking it was a internal parastie but in the end it was Fish TB, had my fish disected by a vet, no parasites were in there, just white mucus in their gut

 

[xn1337]

I’ve spent the morning looking this up, seems about right.
I kind of didn’t want you to be right due to what needs to be done,
these fish are only a couple of months old for me so I’ll go see the fish store I got them from.

So I guess those pregnant platys are on the list of things not to keep?
Wife’s going to kill me when I tell her all the money gone into getting the tank to this stage is going to require a bleaching

guess it saves me money on furthur treatments...