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It sounds then that whatever problems ray(s) were having were related to the catfish illness. I mean the cause is likely the same or similar. I must retract my initial thought of a ray-induced injury.

Assuming that the water is pristine and stable, this sequence rather points to a pathogen that these very different fish shared. But with the symptoms as described above, it's a shot in the dark as to what that pathogen might be. One thing you could attempt to figure out is where the pathogen could come from. That may or may not help figure out what it might be.

Which then in turn may help pick a medication or a few to experiment with.
 
THIS is exactly what will push me to the point of not keeping fish anymore.

I'm a pretty hands on guy. I fix cars for a living. Love the process of finding the point of failure and repairing it. Especially if I can fix it better then it was made byt he manufacturer. I love building my own stuff. I've spent the last 10 years learning from mistakes. BUT I'm not a damn doctor. I can medicate, I can change the water BUT IF I don't know and have no way of knowing OR finding out what's killing my investments then what the hell is the point of repeating this insanity (same actions expecting different results)?????

I recently moved and lost like half my collection in the process and now I sit here and watch whats left struggle I can't even begin to describe the level of friggin rage this puts in a passionate fishkeeper.

This ray is VERY important to me. She gave me one of the most beautiful pups I've ever seen at a time when I was ready to leave the hobby. That's why she's in a 300 by herself. Been hoping and praying she turns around every single day for around 2 months since she aborted a single pup. The ray has never given any indications of being "sick" - just the usualy stressed out symptoms - dent in forehead, hip bones, visible girdle, but does eat here and there.

The catfish showed white cottony patches and when removed after passing seemed to have a few open ulcer type wounds.

Now I have a Cuda with an entirely white eye, and a Pink Tailed Chalceus on the way out. Same whitish cottony crap all over both eyes and nostrils? up by eyes. Few spots on body and fins.

Did a huge waterchange (50%) and dosed with Maracyn last night.

This morning the PTC looks better. But so did the catfish 12 hours before it died.

I'm not hoping for a miracle here and everyone just gets better. I'm hoping the fish are showing me signs of something in the tank that the ray has but doesn't show symptoms of.

Ray keepers know that rays can be tough, but we also know that they don't get to the condition this rays in without something pushing them. The stressors (male) were removed. The water is RO cut with a little tap. The massive eheim canisters have both been cleaned recently ( 3 weeks apart to allow bio recovery). I've been looking at a massive forehead dent for like 2 months now..... Something more is going on and IF I was a betting person my money would be on this white crap.

WHAT is this white crap? Whatever it is it almost seems like it dropped off the PTC overnight.

Hoping and praying things continue to improve.
 
I'm curious as to what it is as well, it has been a long while since I've experienced it, and I've only experienced it when introducing new cats, you're describing what happened to them, first their whiskers and fins deteriorate then their skin. I thought it was something with them not being able to acclimate to my tank, thought it was a difference in ph since I have quite a bit of driftwood in my tank.
 
Well, DB, what can I tell yah? Living organisms are much more complex than cars or homes etc. whatever we build. Sometimes we know what disease our fish succumb to, sometimes we have a vague or general guess, and other times we don't know.

Even we you took a swab and looked under a microscope and ID'ed the pathogen, it may not necessarily be the primary cause but a secondary or tertiary consequence.

It does look like fungus superficially but fungus also lives off of any tissue that's necrotizing, that is dying off, which actually may help fish to heal by curbing the bacterial activity and multiplication.

Open lesions are a symptom of great many things.

If I was that desperate, as you make yourself sound, I'd try a broad spectrum gram-positive antibacterial remedy like bifuran cocktail, and then if this doesn't do it, a gram-negative one, like oxytetracyclene, etc.

Overall, your problems obviously stem from the move. So you are not in complete darkness as to why this is happening.

I would continue analyzing any and all possible causes (what is different between your setups at your old place and those in the new place) and if worst comes to worst, I'd not get angry as that leads nowhere, nor would I freak out because that's what happens sooner or later with all living and breathing beings, ourselves very much included.
 
Anger is a gift. A very powerful one if harnessed and channeled properly. ;) Just like most things in life (alcohol a great example) a balance of use and moderation can yield phenominal results! :)

I've already built stands for all the PCV totes, overhauled a pair of Darts, cleaned 2 rooms in the basement and began planning on how to free my garage that my 750 has held hostage all winter.....

I don't get much done when things are a smooth running bubbly brook of smiles and sunshine here. But when fired up I do a better job of getting things done....

I chose to go with a "broad spectrum antibiotic effective against a wide range of bacterial diseases." Had it on hand...... :)
 
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DB junkie said:
Anger is a gift. A very powerful one if harnessed and channeled properly. ;) Just like most things in life (alcohol a great example) a balance of use and moderation can yield phenominal results! :)

I've already built stands for all the PCV totes, overhauled a pair of Darts, cleaned 2 rooms in the basement and began planning on how to free my garage that my 750 has held hostage all winter.....

I don't get much done when things are a smooth running bubbly brook of smiles and sunshine here. But when fired up I do a better job of getting things done....

I chose to go with a "broad spectrum antibiotic effective against a wide range of bacterial diseases." Had it on hand...... :)
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Few cover both gram positive and negative adequately widely. Hence my mention. Unless the medicine is already a cocktail.

BTW, by stating how complex things can be, I didn't mean to discount that the problem may be very simple, as in well known with effective meds developed. Like oodonium velvet. Need a better expert to tell.

TBH though, I used to be "go for the meds" keeper until I learned that pristine and right water are enough in 99% of cases for a fish to have the same or better chances of recovery than even with the right medication. So, now I just aim to keep my water as good as possible and medicate as a very last resort, as mentioned.
 
I have to ask. Did you have the supercharger UV running when that exotic flat fish machine blew a catfish? Where I live we are not allowed to have such exotics so I can only throw guesses. UV does help with redox which helps them fight disease. Bacteria is in every tank waiting for an opportunity. My body is battling a bacteria problem in my blood right now. I'm still off work for 7 weeks on antibiotics.
 
This system is pretty simple..... A pair of 5 gallon bucket eheims to a pair of 300 watt inline heaters to a pair of TMC 25 watt UVs then back to tank. 65 LPM air through a pair of 8" discs.

Conductivity IS under 500..... I'm using RO water cut with water softened tap. Bout 4-1 RO to softened tap. Was worried about PH shift so have bags of crushed coral added to all the systems here.

I KNOW pristine water is best. As mentioned earlier in this thread some of the rays I did save in the move I did so by turning on the RO and walking away. I gave up trying to decide what meds to use. Didn't use any.... THEN the water company called - welcomed thier new "best" customers to the neighborhood - They thought for sure we had a faucet on round the clock. Then we explained we do...... RO. Have no choice with the junk that comes out of the tap here.
 
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DB junkie said:
This system is pretty simple..... A pair of 5 gallon bucket eheims to a pair of 300 watt inline heaters to a pair of TMC 25 watt UVs then back to tank. 65 LPM air through a pair of 8" discs.

Conductivity IS under 500..... I'm using RO water cut with water softened tap. Bout 4-1 RO to softened tap. Was worried about PH shift so have bags of crushed coral added to all the systems here.

I KNOW pristine water is best. As mentioned earlier in this thread some of the rays I did save in the move I did so by turning on the RO and walking away. I gave up trying to decide what meds to use. Didn't use any.... THEN the water company called - welcomed thier new "best" customers to the neighborhood - They thought for sure we had a faucet on round the clock. Then we explained we do...... RO. Have no choice with the junk that comes out of the tap here.
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If you can find out anything surely update this thread as I am very cautious with buying fish because I've experienced it. Something to note not sure if it's worth mentioning, it only happened with blochii and asian USD cats for me. I noticed with SD only as well when they first get in my water their eyes get cloudy for about two days. It's something in my 120 for sure, because when I had the smaller tank, grew out an Asian USD to 6-7" with no issues, threw it in the 120 and same thing started happening, it was barely responsive, put it in the 30 breeder again and it healed up fine
 
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