About to lose a second fish

[Angler]

I got an 11" Lap about a month ago. It died two days ago. A few weeks ago, he got cloudy eyes, and I could see some sort of fungus growing on them. I treated with salt, melafix, and raised the temp., and it cleared up. In the last week, he was gulping for air a lot more than normal. Two days ago, he suddenly had much trouble swimming and died pretty quickly.

I did a 50% water change yesterday. This morning, I woke up to see my 4.5" IT struggling to swim. He has minor cloudy eyes. His scales and color don't look too good. His scales didn't look good for the past week, but I thought that was attributed to a small Red Devil that was picking on him (the RD is removed from the tank). He is really struggling to swim, and I don't think he is going to make it, especially if he dies as quickly as the Lap.

Tank is 125; stocklist is 11" Argentea, 4.5" IT, 7" NGT, 3" GT, 7" Lima, and eight Polys ranging in size from 5" to 11". Filtration is an XP3 and 2 Emperor 400s. Ammonia is 0 and Nitrite is less than .05. I am not certain on Nitrate levels. I keep great care of the tank and am certain it is not a water parameter issue. The Lap was the first fish I have lost in probably over 2 years.

My suspicion is that the Lap had parasites and introduced them to the tank. I treated with Jungle parasite meds about 2 hours ago. Is there a parasite that makes eyes cloudy? Any other input? Thanks.

 

[Lupin]

Cloudy eyes are a result from injuries and/or deteriorating water quality. Check your nitrites and nitrates again. The next time cloudy eyes happen, simply do water changes and step away from Melafix and salt.

I might add that true fungal infections rarely occur. If anything, it is bacterial infection. Provided it has not spread to other specimens yet, you can consider isolating the fish and treat with Maracyn. Even if you claim you take good care of your tank, it is certainly not a surefire way to assure yourself your water parameters are fine.

 

[Angler]

Hmmm.... Maybe the cloudy eye is a result from the RD picking on him. The cloudy eye and the fact that he is dieing could be two seperate issues. I forgot to mention that I found white stringy poop on the substrate the same day that I took the dead Lap out. I haven't seen any white poop in the tank since.

Thanks for the input. I hope I can figure this out.

 

[Angler]

I might add that true fungal infections rarely occur. If anything, it is bacterial infection. Provided it has not spread to other specimens yet, you can consider isolating the fish and treat with Maracyn. Even if you claim you take good care of your tank, it is certainly not a surefire way to assure yourself your water parameters are fine.

Let me lay this on you. You have a schedule for caring for your tanks correct? This schedule, should it be correctly and consistently carried out, should keep your water parameters in check. Do you test your parameters after every water change? Some do, but many do not because their consistent care makes it unneccessary to continually check their water. If you have been doing the same maintenance for years, and no factors in the tank have changed, and every time in the past that you've tested the parameters you've gotten healthy results, is it reasonable to assure yourself your parameters are fine?

As I said, I tested my ammonia and nitrite. I need to get a nitrate test kit.

 

[Angler]

Ok, now all parameters are tested. Ammonia 0, Nitrite .05 or less, and Nitrate 10 ppm.

 

[FSM]

Shouldn't nitrite be zero?

 

[Angler]

Shouldn't nitrite be zero?

My old test kit says .2 and higher is harmful

Anyways, when I tested my water earlier, I used the rest of the Nitrite tester (I also said less than .05 because I couldn't tell if it was 0 or .05). When I just bought the Nitrate test kit I bought a new API Nitrite kit too. This one says my Nitrite is at 0.

So there's gotta be some other cause to these cloudy eyes if these are my parameters. I don't think it was due to injury from the RD because I think they are slowly getting worse.

 

[Angler]

Well, after two days of the Jungle Parasite treatement, he is swimming almost normally. I am very suprised; I would have bet for sure that I was going to lose him because he was swimming upside down and couldn't control himself.

He still looks pretty bad though - cloudy eyes and some scales coming off. I started treating with Melafix and am keeping my fingers crossed for full recovery.