Teugelsi mystery death

kody929

Candiru
MFK Member
May 16, 2013
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After a few weeks of struggle my 9 inch teugelsi died. I post this now in hopes of better understanding what caused this tragedy, so that I or somebody else may save future bichirs. Now I posted about this problem a while back and all I got was pointless bickering about how my tank wasn't this or that so It'd be nice to get some helpful feedback this time around. Specs 100 gallon, built in sump and fx5 filtration, tank is borderline overstocked and will be moved into a 210 gallon soon, problems with ammonia have been present before swapping the 405 with the fx5. I will include pics and try to describe the timeline. First I noticed almost bleach like stains on the bichirs sensory spots on his face( nostrils, lips, almost to eyes), then the eyes started to cloud up at which point I decided to treat with tetracycline for 12 days in a 13 gallon tank. At this point I don't know if he had eaten or not but without a doubt he did not eat anything within the treatment days. After the treatment and moving to his old tank the bleach stains and most of the eye clouding had faded away. I then noticed along the side of his body his slime coat and skin was disintegrating. He looked confused and was allowing the prochilodus I own to suck at his side which may explain the slime coat problem. I then Moved him to treat with triple sulfa and he died shortly after. It looked like his swim bladder or neurological system was ruined at time of death. Thanks you for reading and if you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated. P.S. should I be worried about the other 7 bichirs that were in the tank with him.

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mike_sema

Hail Hogs
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Jul 13, 2008
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Based on the pics you posted, looks like he had hit something and damaged his upper jaw resulting in an infection, looking at the other pics either he was being attacked and slime coats eaten, or he had polypterus worms.
Fish that can do that kind of damage include starving Plecos, flag tails among a few.
But then again I did not see your other thread or pics so I am just basing this off this post.


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golcondorus

Feeder Fish
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Mar 22, 2006
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Probably an injury from the stress of being attacked/sucked on. I would at least remove the prochilodus since you know it was sucking bichir slime. Some fish can get a taste for it and you don't want your other bichirs dying from that. If you have any Plecos get them out of there too.


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Aw3s0m3

Piranha
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May 6, 2012
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Cloudy eyes are usually caused by poor water quality but it sounds like you fixed that. I agree with the previous comments that since that other fish was sucking on the slime coat, you should remove it along with any others bc those put your other bichirs in danger. The white spots could be from damaging itself but it also looks like they could be ammonia burns. I didn't see your other post but what problems were you having with ammonia?


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kody929

Candiru
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May 16, 2013
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Well the ammonia was having a few spikes because of my over feeding. I fixed all the problems with that and he was doing fine when he was in treatment except for not eating then I threw him back and that's when he started having death symptoms and I think the flagtail is fine just because he has never sucked anything else even a ray but I do understand he could be a problem and will keep a close eye on. My thinking is that he got bacterial infection I didn't treat soon enough and it either went neurological or swim bladder. That with the not eating spelled death. But I don't know if tetracycline really killed whatever it was. To me it if strange because bichirs are so hardy.
 

Aw3s0m3

Piranha
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May 6, 2012
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They are hardy but they're still susceptible to a lot of diseases. Was it having trouble swimming or staying upright? If not I don't think it can be a swim bladder issue. How long did you have it qt? Transferring tanks is stressful and sometimes it'll take them an entire month or more to start eating again. Next time you have issues, it'd be best to keep it in qt until it starts eating again readily and you are 100% sure that it is back to health. To prevent ammonia spikes, make sure to remove all uneaten foods. This way you won't have to worry about the ammonia spiking again since there's no food to be broken down


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kody929

Candiru
MFK Member
May 16, 2013
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Ok thanks everybody for your help but I do need one last opinion. My delhezi looks like his gill covers are looking a little washed, almost rubbed out. He does not have any other symptoms nor does he look bleached out like the now late and great teugelsi. I am wondering if I should treat the whole tank, which would include a variety of species of fish. If I were to treat which would be the best all around least harmful bacterial medication ? I will be adding a few pics of the delhezi and teugelsi( during treatment) for examination the rest are for your viewing pleasure ;D

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kody929

Candiru
MFK Member
May 16, 2013
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31
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Anywhere, Allthetime
Synodontis angelicus, gold nugget pleco, polypterus weeksi( in background), polypterus mokelembembe, polypterus bichir lapradei, polypterus ansorgii, leichartdi arowana,

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