Battling A Disease

[josh pelican]

I have been battling a disease in my tank since January. I've posted it on other forums, but it keeps coming back. I'll copy and paste everything from the other forums.

Recently I purchased a 10" pleco from Pets Unlimited. He died within 3 weeks. Around the second week of having him, he started growing patches of fungus (big fuzzy cotton balls). The day I bought medication was the day he died. I decided to go ahead and treat the tank anyways because my Amphilophus was growing patches.

Friday evening I added my first dose. Sunday was the second. Tomorrow I am supposed to do a 25% water change.

My Amphilophus wasn't eating much before the I started to treat my tank. He used be a glutton (eating shrimp and pellets at the same time). Just before I medicated the tank he would only eat little pieces of freeze dried krill. I tried to feed him once or twice over the weekend, but he won't touch a thing. He spits out the pellets, won't really touch shrimp, won't touch the krill, and he won't eat prawn!

His fins are just loaded with these little patches, and his eyes are starting to get a cloudy. I was hoping this treatment would help him out since there was fungus in the tank around the time he started growing these patches.

He certainly isn't getting better, and he won't eat a thing.

I can't really describe the patches, but I know for sure it isn't ich. It looks similar to dried/peeling skin on a human. It's little pieces of white all over his fins, and is starting to get some on his face.

It also looks like grains of sand and small pieces of wood are sticking to his belly and pelvic fins.

I don't want to mention names/stores because I respect certain people from store A, and everyone from store B. Store A said, "Oh, yeah, it's definitely fungus. You'll want this medication." The pleco DEFINITELY had fungus, so I decided to go ahead and treat the tank (the day he died). Store B claims that it might not be fungus, but the medication won't hurt. He's not really sure what it is (especially without seeing it).

He doesn't have tail/fin rot, and aside from his fins, he looks great. I will be devastated if I lose him, especially since he is the reason I rushed out, bought a 90 gallon tank, set it up as fast as possible, let it sit for a few days with media from other filters, and plopped him in. I love this guy so much. He grew significantly the week I had him, and has grown so much since then. He went from extremely aggressive, to the most passive fish I've ever seen.

He's roughly 9 inches in length, and 4-5 inches high. I cannot lose this guy. He's the biggest fish I've ever owned, and so beautiful!

Please help me out! I don't have any pictures, but I can certainly try to get some. My tank is kool-aid green from the medication so it might be hard!

After the treatment, it cleared up. He finally started eating again, and we were happy. Unfortunately, a week later it came back. I did a water change and it disappeared over night.

This happened a few more times, so I decided to seek advice from people I could trust.

It came back for a day or two, I did a water change, and he returned to normal. Two nights ago, he was bad, then yesterday he was fine. Now tonight he's worse then ever. It doesn't really look like a fungus as it's not really fuzzy. It really looks like dry skin to a human. No other fish is affected, or so they don't appear to be. It seems as if every time I add a new pleco, something happens to him.

All of his fins, around his eyes, and on his stomach is just covered in this white stuff. His eyes are starting to look cloudy, too.

Should I try triple sulfa?

He recommended using erythromycin and using some AquaPlus along with my Prime. I tried the AquaPlus before purchasing erythromycin, and it worked. Everything has been fine for weeks.

RECENTLY, it came back; however, it is not affecting my Amphilophus. This time, it's my Crenicichla. This guy was an avid eater and would attack anything for food. He usually hides under a rock until I come near the tank, then he shoots around looking for the food. His fins are frayed, he has a bit of the white growth on his fins, and he's breathing unusual. He's not moving around too much and he sometimes tilts to the side.

The inside of his mouth looks like it's been cut. I assumed at first he was just stressed out because he was fighting with the dovii. I was keeping a close eye on them and the dovii was swimming around him without fighting. It seems unusual because they usually keep their distance. The Crenicichla won't even open his mouth to ward him off.

I've been dealing with a lot of problems with this tank. I don't know what to do. Should I try the erythromycin? I've lost enough fish in the last few months from other tanks. I don't want to lose anymore.

Thanks in advance,

Josh

 

[josh pelican]

Nevermind. The Crenicichla just died.

At 9.5", he was truly a beast of a fish. He was wild caught, and I got him for free. This one hurt when I saw him upside down on the opposite side of the tank than his house.

He was infected for two, maybe three days. The inside portion of his lower jaw looked bloody, but his fins frayed and he had what looked like fungus, similar to the other fish.

I lost a 10" royal panaque and an 11" common pleco to the same thing. No one knows what it is so far. My 6" dovii is the only fish that hasn't been infected yet. My Amphilophus isn't bothered by it anymore.

 

[EmilyMarie85]

Well - I am sorry for your loss. I have heard of diseases that take over tanks so badly that the only way to get rid of them was to empty the tank and clean it - meaning take all the fish out, quarantine them and treat them seperatly... meanwhile, take all the gravel out and rinse it and let it dry - clean the tank with vinegar - clean your filters, get new micro-pads, toss the carbon, rinse and dry the bio-media, etc. - basically just starting over from square 1. Its a real PITA but the way this disease has hung on (your going on 4 months now) and keeps coming back on you, sometimes even weeks later... I'd say its better to be safe than sorry...

Em

 

[cichlid2006]

disease usually only takes hold when fish are weakened. this can be from a number of causes such as bullying, bad water conditions, poor diet etc.
we need water perameters, tank size, temperature, filtrations and cleaning schedule with exactly what you do to your tank/filters in that maintenance.

 

[Lupin]

Store B is correct. Your case is not fungus. Fungal infections are very rare and most of these supposed fungal cases are actually columnaris, bacterial infection. Bacterial infections are by far one of the top causes of fish deaths and far more difficult to treat than ich. What was this treatment you used that turned the water green? If I were you, combine the erythromycin with Maracyn 2 to battle possibly both the gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as erythromycin is for gram-positive bacteria only and your case involves likely the gram-negative bacteria. By this time, the antibiotics may have dented your colony of beneficial bacteria in the substrate and filter so please watch your water parameters and post them here.