Sophia Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 This morning I went to feed the killies in my breeding experiment and found the male has 3 blobs of what appears to be fungus. One blob at the beginning of his tail where the body goes thin, one on his lower left jaw area, one that covers his right eye and stretches over his head. I've had this male and his female for 2 weeks. They came from a tank full of healthy fish except for one of a totally different species who died of apparently unrelated disease. The female has been fine, eating, behaving normally. I decided to seperate the pair on Friday so the female could be conditioned for a week or 2 and put the male into the tank next door. This male has barely eaten since I got him, but the alpha males I've had before have all been fussy that way as they seem to think it's their job to guard the female first, eat later. He has looked interested in food a few times but only gone to eat it once or twice. In the end I thought he must be eating when I've left or still getting used to the new tank and not having other males to compete with, as he not gotten any thinner. I thought that seperating them may encourage him to eat since he didn't have to attend to the female. When I first got into killies I followed Barrie's advice of keeping them in slightly salty water, and the first ones I had indeed never got sick. These 2 I've had for 2 weeks and in no salt. So far what I've done is a gravel vac and swap about a third of the water for water with 1 tsp per 8L which was Barrie's original advice. Now I wonder about my next step. Firstly do you agree it's the sort of fungus I could/should be treating with meth blue? If not, what do you think? When I first saw it, all the fungus was cloudy white. Since I changed the water it's got specks in it, maybe it's crap stirred up from the gravel vac. He is having trouble seeing out of the eye covered in it and he is rather lethargic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Sophia - I do not really know but I am thinking Columnaris http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Columnaris.html Perhaps have a read of this as well http://www.aka.org/aka/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1029 Good luck. It doesn't look particularly good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 At about 2pm he looked worse so I put 1 drop per litre of meth blue in the tank and then went out. I thought I noticed scales pine coning around his lower back belly. Back at home an hour later he definitely has pineconing around there and the fungus has spread up over the top of his head toward the other eye. He's at the top of the tank with his mouth open and breathing rather laboured. Reading those links he could have those diseases except there are no lesions present, his scales are all intact everywhere I look. Both of them did agree on using salt, which I've done, and a double dose meth blue bath for 30 mins which I will do now. With the pine coning going on it makes me think he's sick with stomach infection or just plain old (he was a pretty big boy compared to all the killies I've seen) and the fungus has taken hold because he's already weak. While he's in the meth bath I will increase the salt in the tank so there is the right amount for general health (1 tsp per 8 litres). I will be surprised if he lives after all this gunk on his body. All my fish that have been sick have had something mystery and terminal or obvious and terminal :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 oh dear, Mr Killie appears to be history already! I went downstairs after making the last post and found him upside down and vertical and gills not moving. Being a stubborn old bat I put him in the meth bath anyway just in case...... (can anyone ID what sort of gardneri he is?) close up of scales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 I would go columnaris as well. Treat the tank if there are other fish in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 at 5pm he was definitely a gonner - another breeding experiment bites the dust :facepalm: I will go and add meth blue to her tank now. I have started to introduce salt to the female's tank, I will increase it to the 1tsp per 8 litres over the next week or so. How much can I increase it by so as not to shock her? She is eating and mooching about as usual. I have just about got her eating worms straight from the dropper since she's been by herself. She is such a pleasant little fish with googly eyes :love: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Googly eyes might be OK on a goldfish but not good on killies. On second look it looks more like fungus than columnaris. Fish could have been on the way out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Googly eyes might be OK on a goldfish but not good on killies. On second look it looks more like fungus than columnaris. Fish could have been on the way out. Thats what I was thinking after looking at the really clear photos of the fungus on the dead killie. I am wondering if it had a few nicks and scratches on it when you purchased it and this is where the fungus developed. Sorry about your loss Sophia - you are not having a good time of it lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Googly meaning cute like Elmo but not bulging. Have recently seen a fish with bulging eyes and it wasn't like that, she seems OK. She was a bit 'what the...' when I put the meth blue in the tank last night but she still went after a bit of flake I'm OK about the dead fish, just annoyed at another bung breeding experiment. thanks for those links, they were good reading and led on to some more bits to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.