White Substance on Harlequin Rasbora

[Ziggs180]

Today i noticed that 2 of my Harlequin Rasboras have some sort of whiteish substance around their top fin. The Top fin is bent down and pressed against its body, and the fin itself dosn't seem to be moving much. The Harlequins are acting normal, and seem to be moving around just fine. What could this be and how would i treat it?

My Tank is Cycled, with Nitrates at less than 5 ppm. I've been treating the tank with Salt and Melafix for the past week to treat my Guppies with their fin rot, weather this could be related I'm not sure. Input would be well appreciated!

 

[adadkins1]

Could you get up some pictures of the white substance? The only things I would think of:

Fin Rot (possibly from the guppies)
Velvet
Ich

However, I don't know if it could be ich since you are using a salt treatment.

 

[Ziggs180]

These are the best pictures i can take of the Harlequins. They dont really show the white area much, but the effects on its top fin is pretty noticeable. I doubt it would be itch, as the white area is concentrated on the top, rather than white dots spread all over the body. Dont know much about Velvet, so i cant rule that one out yet.

Hope the pictures help in anybody diagnosing the issue.

 

[Ziggs180]

One of the Harlequins that has the substance is now acting not normal. It seems to be breathing very rapidly compared to the others, and is having trouble staying afloat/not grouping with the others. Hopefully he wont be a gooner soon, and will pull through.

The Temperature of the tank is a stable 80 Degrees

 

[Ziggs180]

Still nobody? Well for one of the Rasboras it seems to be spreading all over its body, its back fin is covered in a white transluscent film, and theres a small white patch on its black marking. Its gasping for air at the top, and is having more difficulty swimming. the other sick one dosnt seem to have changed at all, and probably has the best chances of pulling through.

Next water change i can do is tuesday, because i need the PH in the replacement water to lower. If the Rasbora gets worst by tommorow, i might cull him to spare him more misery

 

[adadkins1]

I would definitely euthanize the poor guy if he continues going down hill and has no hope of recovery. I am at a loss for what my be wrong with him. I can't believe nobody else has found this thread and known what the problem might be.

 

[Ziggs180]

I'm completely at loss to, I bought Primafix earlier and just put some in the tank. I'm pretty sure its some sort of Fungus, but its not the common ones because the mouth area is unaffected. Hes still acting erratically and didin't eat today when i fed the fish. Hopefully the Primafix will do something, but I might just end up putting him out of its misery. Hopefully the other sick one dosn't degenerate this fast.

 

[Ziggs180]

Oh boy, massive issues now. This morning the very sick Harlequin died. And it seems one of the warnings for Primafix, about it feeding Bacteria, came true. a Huge bacterial bloom just occured in my tank and its choking all the oxygen out of the tank, with all the fish gasping for air at the surface. I lowered the water level just a bit and increased the powerhead to cause surface tension to oxygenate the water. Going to change the water tommorow morning when the PH drops further.

I might buy PH down so i can do daily water changes until the white cloudiness dissipates, but one of the guppies that was recovering before seems to be getting worst again.