My cousin just called me with a late night fish issue. He just has a small 24g hex tank and keeps a bunch of cory cats, tetras, platies, etc. His tank is fairly crowded but the store tested his water and said it was fine so we have to take their word for it. His pH is mid 7s and stable and the water is 78 degrees. He uses quite a bit of aquarium salt too.
He recently added a pair of clown loaches and a pair of blue rams. I believe this was 2 days ago. One blue ram died the next day and he returned it and had it replaced. The replacement then died the next day, followed soon after by 2 cories, two congo tetras (he has had these guys forever), and 2 bloodfin tetras. He reports that now his last remaining congo and a few other neons and bloodfins are moving very slowly, and in his words barely breathing. They also appear to have some redness at the fin and gill areas and he says the congo has a reddish tint everywhere.
He did the smart thing and did a large water change and re-salted and then called me. My first thought was septicemia, but it seems odd that it's so sudden. Usually the fish kind of slowly waste away with that in my experience. Anyway, his only med available (since it's midnight) is Jungle's Fungus Clear. Since the active ingredient is nitrofurazone I had him drop two tabs of that in. I know Maracyn II is a better choice for gram-negative stuff but it's all he's got and it can't hurt.
But I'm not convinced it's HS, especially given the circumstances with the ram and cories that died too. (Also, the other blue ram, the loaches, his other catfish, and all his platies are acting perfectly normal.)
Anyone have any other ideas based on the limited info we have here?
He recently added a pair of clown loaches and a pair of blue rams. I believe this was 2 days ago. One blue ram died the next day and he returned it and had it replaced. The replacement then died the next day, followed soon after by 2 cories, two congo tetras (he has had these guys forever), and 2 bloodfin tetras. He reports that now his last remaining congo and a few other neons and bloodfins are moving very slowly, and in his words barely breathing. They also appear to have some redness at the fin and gill areas and he says the congo has a reddish tint everywhere.
He did the smart thing and did a large water change and re-salted and then called me. My first thought was septicemia, but it seems odd that it's so sudden. Usually the fish kind of slowly waste away with that in my experience. Anyway, his only med available (since it's midnight) is Jungle's Fungus Clear. Since the active ingredient is nitrofurazone I had him drop two tabs of that in. I know Maracyn II is a better choice for gram-negative stuff but it's all he's got and it can't hurt.
But I'm not convinced it's HS, especially given the circumstances with the ram and cories that died too. (Also, the other blue ram, the loaches, his other catfish, and all his platies are acting perfectly normal.)
Anyone have any other ideas based on the limited info we have here?
