# Urgh, a series of fishy problems!



## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Hello all, I wonder if anyone can help.

Firstly I will admit this is all my fault - for a few months I got lax on the water changes for both my aquariums, and now I (or rather, my fish) are paying the price. I am back to weekly cleans now, but there's been a few problems and I actually don't really know what is going on.

Here are the details of my two tanks first:

Trop tank: 120L, 24C, coarse gravel substrate (1-2inches), Interpet PF3 internal filter, half planted, bogwood decor. Maxed out now with 1 half-sized angel, 1 himalayan(?) glassfish, 2 black neons, 3 blue neons, 6 rosy tetras, 4 x-ray tetras, 4 golden barbs, 2 cherry barbs, 4 tetras (green neon or bloodfin, not sure actually). In use for 2 years now.

Cold tank: 65L, room temp, fine gravel (1-2cm), Interpet PF2 internal filter, plastic plants and ornaments (and the remains of one old java fern). Contains 1 fancy goldfish (about 2 inches long) and 7 white cloud mountain minnows. In use for 3 years.

Haven't checked the water chem of the trop tank recently - though I should do - but the cold tank was all normal (maybe the ammonia was slightly elevated, but barely registered with the test kit), with a pH of 7.6. 

Now for the problems. First I noticed a blue neon swimming around in circles, with its body all bent, and eyes protruding, and.. well it just looked horrendous. It didn't look like it had long left (it went downhill so fast, it was literally fine one day, and all weird 2 days later) so I put the poor thing out of its misery, and to prevent infection spreading.

In a slight panic I dosed both aquariums with a teaspoon of aquarium salt and some interpet general tonic (which is meant to, apparently, deal with low level problems, fish looking 'off colour', parasites) as a precaution. The trop tank seemed fine after that, and because it desperately needed aquascaping I got new plants and bought the x-rays and the other tetras I forgot the names of.

Now, in the cold tank my goldfish has been looking a bit odd for a while. He has two symmetrical swellings under the skin behind the gills. A week or so after the 'panic' moment I noticed that there were two small white pimples on the swellings and both were oozing something white. I couldn't find anything to match what I was seeing, but I suspected parasites, or dropsy. His belly is slightly swollen, but though the scales are slightly raised, particularly on the swellings, there isn't really any pineconing - and he is eating and swimming fine. I dosed him with Myxazin (a malachite green and formaldehyde mix meant for bacterial infections) for a couple of days, but I didn't think this was going to work so stopped.

Meanwhile, I noticed one of my golden barbs with a large red ulcerous patch on his side, which I have had before. I think last time I treated with methylene blue and salt in a hospital tank, but I wasn't sure and he is in the hospital tank with the Myxazin and 0.1% aquarium salt. It's been 4 days, and now there is a white thread coming (oozing?) from the ulcer (and I swear I saw a white worm-like thread floating around the tank - which I scooped out and destroyed in bleach).

I am wondering if I have some serious parasite issues going on here, which have taken hold most likely due to my lapse in housekeeping duties. Can anyone recommend a parasite treatment (I saw somewhere something beginning with O... otozin... or something????) or have any idea what I might be dealing with? 

Thanks in advance.


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## nickmcmechan (Aug 1, 2009)

Are you using the same kit n both tanks (gravel cleaner, net, etc)?


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Yes - same gravel cleaner - but before you ask I have been paranoid about cross infection since these troubles started, and have been cleaning them on different days and bleaching (and thoroughly rinsing!) the cleaner in between.


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## nickmcmechan (Aug 1, 2009)

Phoenix24 said:


> Yes - same gravel cleaner - but before you ask I have been paranoid about cross infection since these troubles started, and have been cleaning them on different days and bleaching (and thoroughly rinsing!) the cleaner in between.


TBH I would still have separate kit for each tank. When I kept discus, fellow keepers would talk about cross contanimation often, it's so easy to do despite precautions. E.g if you use a test kit do you use one for each tank as bleaching your kit can throw the readings off?

Anyway, do you have quarantine tanks? Pick up the cheapest tank you possibly can (eBay?), cheap sponge filter and cheap second hand heater for the trops.

For the QT tank you seed the filter by using existing media from your existing tank.

Can you post pics of the infected fish?

This may help (first link good for identification of disease as it has pictures, the second link is good for choosing a med post diagnosis, third link is a nice simple guide)

Tropical Fish Disease Identification with pictures and cures.

Aquarium Fish Medication Selection Guide

Basic guide on Treatment of Common Fish Disease - Forums


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## nickmcmechan (Aug 1, 2009)

BTW what is the source of the plants you introduced?


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Any new introductions in either of the tanks - either fish or plants, or even live food?


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## Peapet (Feb 8, 2013)

Protozin. You'd have to finish the myxazin and do water change before changing treatment. 
Protozin and myxazin are made by the same company. There should be a phone number on the bottle, you could ring for advice.

Do you think the neon could've just died due to old age?

I would do a few water changes on your cold water tank to see if there's any improvement.


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## nickmcmechan (Aug 1, 2009)

Peapet said:


> Protozin. You'd have to finish the myxazin and do water change before changing treatment.
> Protozin and myxazin are made by the same company. There should be a phone number on the bottle, you could ring for advice.
> 
> Do you think the neon could've just died due to old age?
> ...


If there has not been water changes for a while, I'd go easy on the water changes, say 5% daily for a few days, gradually building up to 50%, a sudden change in conditions could shock the fish


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Hi all, thanks for your message i will try to answer all of them.

Lets see... I have a spare 20L I use as a hospital (and I keep spare filter pads within the large filters so I can just use them immediately with no delay), but I don't tend to do quarantine (risky, I know). My LFS is pretty good for fish health - and I always check the fish in stock for anything obviously wrong before selecting. I get my live plants from him now too.

In the cold tank there have been no introductions of any kind since I got the last of the minnows 2 years ago. In the trop tank I got the x-rays and mystery tetras, and the new plants, a couple of weeks after the neon died (All my other fish appeared healthy). 

How long do neons live anyway? It might have been the oldest one which I have had for quite a number of years (3-4 years) but it might have been one of the younger ones which I got after I upgraded to the 120L.

The gold barb in the hospital tank has been in myxazin 5 days now - the ulcer is looking a lot better, but not completely gone. I will give him a few more days for the myxazin to break down, do a clean on the hosp. tank and then get the protozin in. Can i use this in the cold tank without removing the goldfish to the hosp tank - I wonder if there's a problem that maybe it will have affected the minnows and maybe they aren't showing symptoms yet?

Hmm what else. The water changes - at their most lax I think it was nearly 5 weeks (slaps self hard), then it was a month, then two weeks, then one week (now weekly again, for the last month). I usually do a 10% change each time and syphon the gravel, so nothing drastic. 

The problem with the goldfish has been lurking for quite a while - before I got lax - and I assumed it might have been a growth issue as I have always intended to get him into the pond before he outgrows the tank. Alas last year was so cold and the pond wasn't in great shape, so I am pinning my hopes on this year. 

Have I missed anything? I will try for photos of the goldy, I need to get him into a clear glass bowl so you can see the swellings.


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

I got goldfish (called Atlas) into a small clear tank to take some pictures. From above it looks much worse than I thought it was, actually, the raised scales are more pronounced than I could see from the side. I have also noticed at least two more lesions on his left side - though I am not sure if one at least is a missing scale - the one behind his left pectoral fin was oozing a little, and the one further back on his left side looks like an almost pea-sized bulge under the scales. 

Very worrying - dropsy on top of parasites? I have read conflicting information on treatments involving salt to reduce the swelling, I have aquarium salt to hand but other people have said Epsom salts?? 

Photos attached.


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## Peapet (Feb 8, 2013)

Myxazin is for bacterial infections and protozin is for parasites. 

Small tetras usually live around 2yrs, although I had a glowlight for 4yrs. Males generally live longer than females. Females bodies can become deformed or kinked as they get older.


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Hmmm well maybe the tetra was old then. 

I will try protozin because parasitic infection is the only other thing I can treat that looks plausible.


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