Casper Posted September 30, 2007 Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 Hey guys, hoping you can help me out here, weve had 11 fish die over the last 3 weeks and not sure why, 5 Clown Loaches, 3 rams, a ghost knife, and a congo tetra and a Angel. it seems to take only a matter of days after they get "sick" to die, it seems most obvious in the clowns, they get really skinny and have a sunken belly then die in about 24hrs, an nothing we seem to do helps. Water levels are fine, sitting at about 25-27 deg, 20-30% water changes every week, have had a talk to john at organisim and we both seem to think it could be a parasite, perhaps worms, has anyone got any ideas? have been in to the vet to see what they thought but of course they want a consult, but by the time we realise one was sick and took the time to get the vet out the poor wee thing would be a goner any help would be apreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted September 30, 2007 Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 What colour are their faeces? are they hiding or scratching? are they still eating normally? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljtan55 Posted September 30, 2007 Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 Hows the spine? Not bent by any chance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted September 30, 2007 Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 Have you been doing all your good stuff.. Cycling and all that sort of thing? Have you got a test kit and been keeping an eye on things, blue rams and clown's are sensitive.. Maybe ammonia spike? I have had no end of trouble with blue rams I think they come full of disease and internal parasites, not too many problems with clown loaches but wouldn't doubt it.. Some of the fish that arrive from the wholesalers are pretty thread bare and crapy.. As above are the fish eating before they die? What colours are their poo's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted September 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 What colour are their faeces? are they hiding or scratching? are they still eating normally? no idea about the faeces, they dont seem to be hiding (more than normal anyway), no ammonia spikes or anything like that, weve tried to seperate the 'sick' ones when we notice, take them out and put them in an ice cream container and feed them (just thought they may not have been getting enought food) but once 'sick' they dont want to eat at all and soon after they yeah we have been doing all the good stuff, tank has been set up for about 4 months now, i know clowns tend to be a bit sensitive but the angel and ghost we have had since the start, nope no bent spines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted September 30, 2007 Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 Hmmm well thats not soo easy then.. If the fish go off their food, get skinny and sunken in stomach's then I would assume some sort of internal problem.. Do you have any other fish left? And what are they behaving like? Eating normally still filled out no white stringy poo's or anything like that? If it is internal problems then you need to get some metro and or prazi to knock it out.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted September 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 thats just it, the others seem fine, and so did the 'sick' ones before we notcied, where would we get metro and or prazi from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted September 30, 2007 Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/are-my ... 24739.html metro in chch http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/anyone ... 24501.html prazi in chch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 Casper, I have very little experience but have done a bundle of reading (not that that's worth a heck of alot but seeing as I don't see alot of experts coming out of the woodwork I'll sum up what I've read!!) There are some parasites that are virtually invisible or very hard to spot. I think velvet (oodinium), chilodonella and costia would fall into that category as opposed to white spot which is visible to the naked eye (please someone correct me if I'm wrong). I have NO idea if these parasites are common or not. (This link isn't a fantastic website but will give you an idea) http://www.angelfire.com/blues/fish_problems/main.html I'm not sure about the blackout they talk as a 'cure' but again.. maybe someone with some real-life experiene can tell us !! Flukes realy annoy fish and they would be flashing. It can cause gill damage and laboured breathing but it would have to be pretty extreme before they died from it I think. The fish get red looking gills and they look inflamed (like they don't sit flat against the fish anymore). Prazi is good for treating flukes and tapeworm but useless on any other type of parasite - not to mention expensive so exhaust your other options first I'd say! Metronidazole is mainly used for treating hexamita. If your fish aren't flashing at ALL then maybe this is your problem? If they are.. personally I'd start with something like Wunder Cure that you can buy pretty cheaply from a pet store. I'm pretty sure that most external parasites cause the fish to swim erratically and they will most likely rub on stuff in the tank (plants, substrate etc). They may only do this sometimes. I found with mine they most often flashed after they had eaten (ie: after I turned the pump back on). They might not do this constantly so sit and watch them for a while. I don't think they stop eating until it gets very severe (ie: I'm not sure they'd show the 'wasting away' like you're seeing? How big is your tank and what's your fitration? Also has anything else changed since just before you started noticing problems? (Like increased your temps, added new fish or new plants or anything?) Also: Some fish are adversly affected by certain meds. I coulndn't tell you which fish or which meds unfortunately so try to get some more advice from some experts before your start any treatment! Although I think metro and prazi are usually pretty safe but unsure about the other stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 Is your pH good too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 i'm definitely no expert but sunken stomachs would also make me think an internal parasite. Also the fact that they are dropping one by one makes me think internal parasites being passed from one fish to another over time. Like jn said i have found prazi to be useless for internal parasites but good for externals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishtv Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 Have you put any potted plants into your tank recently? I know this seems irrelevant but we had exactly the same problem as you are having. We had two potted hairgrass plants and we believe that they were housing the parasites in the foam around the bottom.On inspection of the foam we found a whole lot of worms and gunk. We tried metro and prazi to no avail but when we removed these plants the fish recovered and we lost no more (i must also mention that we completely stripped tank, boiled substrate and just hoped fish would make it). Just an idea anyway.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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