Pandemic...in my tank.

[A201]

The only tank killer I've had to deal with in three decades of fish
keeping was Oodinium.
The situation was very similar to yours. A new fish introduction. Fish becoming lethargic & slime coat erosion, then sudden death.
I didn't recognize the cause for a few days until I viewed the fish under subdued lighting & saw the yellow powder like parasites all over the fish. Under normal lighting the parasites were nearly invisible.
Coppersafe quickly eradicated the Oodinium but not before losing 75% of my fish community.
I kept the tank medicated for a month, then restocked.
That was eight years ago. Never a problem since.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Ah man I really feel for you here and Ive definitey fell into the same trap. I don’t know if you are looking for advice, but I’ve found adding just a tiny bit of salt (1 tbsp per 3-5 gallons) will delay the spread - and actually cure if caught early enough - the infection for you to have time to do other stuff if you are in a rush or really tired. That level of salt won’t hurt any fish whether it be catfish, scaleless fish, plants, etc but is very hard on ich. I’ve used that on electric eels, puffers, redtail catfish, payara, etc other very sensitive fish with no harm. I deeply apologize if you are only looking for sympathy but I’ve been through the same and it’s heartbreaking and thought i’d share what has been working.

Good luck in the future and I know you will set up an amazing tank even better than the one shown as the one you setup really demonstrated your aquascaping abilities and ability to make a tank look awesome.

I appreciate the kind words. I mentioned above (I know it was long) that my first reaction was to heat and salt the tank. I learned this treatment when I first started posting on this site and is definitely the way to go. I just messed up the heat part! I honestly don't know how much it may have helped with this particularly virulent pathogen though.

 

[Backfromthedead]

The only tank killer I've had to deal with in three decades of fish
keeping was Oodinium.
The situation was very similar to yours. A new fish introduction. Fish becoming lethargic & slime coat erosion, then sudden death.
I didn't recognize the cause for a few days until I viewed the fish under subdued lighting & saw the yellow powder like parasites all over the fish. Under normal lighting the parasites were nearly invisible.
Coppersafe quickly eradicated the Oodinium but not before losing 75% of my fish community.
I kept the tank medicated for a month, then restocked.
That was eight years ago. Never a problem since.

Interesting. I'm reading up on oodinium and it seems spot on. I've never seen something that destroyed the slime coats so quickly. Thank you for the tip. This means my pandemic was most likely parasitic, not bacterial as I first believed.

 

[Backfromthedead]

If you've kept fish long enough, we've all done it, its bound to happen.
After my first wipe out, many decades ago, I now do a minimum 3 month quarantine on any new arrival, and if anything is even slight off, longer.
A friend who runs an exhibit at a zoo, does no less than a 6 month quarantine for his new arrivals.
I have also found separating fish out with Ick for treatment is useless, you must always treat the entire tank.
And anything with any disease put in a sumps, spreads it to all tanks the sump services.
And heat alone doesn't kill Ick. It only helps make it spread faster, and the raise in temp also makes the secondary bacterial infections that often accompany Ick more virulent. Bacterial pathogens love water temps in the high 80s.
There are Ick strains that live and flourish in 90' F temp ponds, there are strains from Lake Tanganyika that are almost immune to normal over the counter meds that only slightly raise the osmotic pressure of the water.
For me, at least 3.5 lbs of rock salt must be added en masse to bring osmotic pressure up to over 3 ppt to kill some strains.

I've long read your anecdotes here on lengthy quarantines, usually skeptical about their necessity, and if I'm being honest it's all I was thinking about when dealing with this. "That old coot duanes was right damnit!"

 

[Backfromthedead]

wow!!! sorry to see you going through this hard and expansive experience. One thing I always do is I put boiled water on any rocks or driftwood I buy before I put it in my tank. This kill's any bacteria might be on them.

I don't think it was the driftwood....I soak the pieces i find in my garage tank for at least a month before throwing them in. My midevil stays in there and she's fine.

 

[duanes]

Most common diseases like Ick or Oodinum, are almost invisible when carriers arrive, even in a couple weeks, but they nevertheless continue they proliferate.
Because these type diseases often start under the gill plate or on the gill membrane unnoticed, this is why a long anal quarantine is important.
In the quarantine tank they might not become obvious until they appear after a month, just the time the most fish are put in the tank.
I scoffed at first at my zoo keeper friend about his 6 month QT, but no longer.
Always having a Q tank up and running was my solution, on line with my sump, and with a few sacrificial fish.
When new fish arrive, a valve is turned off, isolating the tank, but already cycled, and the water is the same as the new fish will encounter, so any latent disease the current fish are immune to, but the new fish aren't, awaits them, but prevents spread.
I know my ideas sometimes seem overkill, but over the years I had lost many fish, until I learned the hard way.
All it takes is one "less than" heathy fish.

The fish above survived with only a 3.5 ppt salt treatment, no extra heat.
The one below didn't make it, but it was in QT, so didn't infect others, except the ones it was Qted with.

By the way, any nets used to transfer infected fish need to be either discarded, or soaked in bleach.
Even after a month dry, they can carry inert cysts.
The disease that killed the beanii above, can sit inert for months in a dry smear of mud, and even a few drops of water can reinvigorate it.

 

[FINWIN]

Fair warning, this thread will be a fairly long read and very disheartening.

Over the last week I've lost around 75% of my fish, mostly due to my negligence, overconfidence, and failure to adhere to many of the basic principles of fishkeeping preached on this forum. I couldn't be more ashamed, but feel I must be honest.

Some variety of incredibly deadly bacterial infection manifested and spread throughout the entire stock of my newest tank after I introduced my greater community to two new additions. I've dealt with infections in my tanks before, but never something that killed my fish as quickly as this.

3 weeks ago I purchased two large lents from a local keeper, here they are acclimating to their new tank:
View attachment 1442952
I quarantined and observed them for 2 weeks before adding more fish to the tank. They appeared to be doing well but were not eating my pellet variety.

Last Friday morning I added some fish. I had originally intended to only add my two large balas but got greedy because I was in a hurry to get on with my next project, a reconfiguring of the 170 gallon tank which held my community. In other words, I threw every fish from my community tank in with the lents:
View attachment 1442953
I count the rushed quarantine and hasty introduction of so many fish as my first big mistake in this ordeal.

They seemed to all be doing well, coexisting peacefully. On Saturday I threw some pellets in and as the the greater community frenzied, the big lents even started to taste some pellets and spit them out. "Success" i thought.

Sunday morning I went down to feed the tanks. First fish to greet me were my two severums, covered in ick, looking altogether pitiful. I netted them, but instead of setting up a quarantine I just threw them in the sump. I just had way too much going on to dig out one of my spare tanks and set it up. This was my 2nd mistake.

I went into my standard procedure for clearing ick. Ive successfully dealt with an array of health problems in the past, and was confident this would not be a major problem.. Performed a large water change, cranked up the heaters to 86, even added a 400w heater to expedite the process, reduced the flow/turnover, and salted the tank. Problem solved I thought, but the only problem was that after the water change, I completely forgot to plug the heaters back in. Third big mistake.

I woke up Monday to roughly half of my fish showing infection, and realized my mistake with the heaters. My large balas were visibly losing their slime coats. The big male lent was laboring at the surface, struggling to breathe by the looks of it, while his mate appeared to be trying to keep him upright. A heartbreaking scene.
View attachment 1442954
I was dumbfounded by the tenacity of whatever I was dealing with. I've never dealt with an infection that spread so quickly, or as I would soon learn, was so lethal.

I went into panic mode, treated the tank with 300 gallons worth of API general cure, but before doing so performed another large water change. I don't know if this was a mistake or not. Its possible that I just stressed out the fish more vs helping them.

By that night the balas were belly up, the big male lent followed the next morning.
View attachment 1442955

From there the bodies just piled up. The api general cure had no effect ime, or maybe I was just too little, too late. Wednesday afternoon at my compost pile:
View attachment 1442965

It was at this point, when my pim ornatus kicked it (my apologies Jexnell ), I noticed my prized group of Tetragonopterus argenteus, some of the hardiest fish I've ever kept, were showing symptoms of infection, and I accepted the fact that the tank was altogether doomed:
View attachment 1442966
Thursday afternoon:
View attachment 1442967

Total losses thus far:
3x crenicichla lenticulata
6x Tetragonopterus argenteus
1x chalceus macrolepidota
1x pimelodus ornatus
2x severums
1x flowerhorn
2x bala sharks
1x raphael cat (almost 10 years old)
1x blackskirt tetra

At this point the only fish remaining are two of the argenteus tetras. I don't know if they will survive, they appear frail and skittish, obviously stressed. I've removed all of the contaminated media and decor from the tank, changed copious amounts of water, and adhered strictly to the salt and heat treatment for 4+ days now. If these two survive ill call it luck at best though. Like I said this was the most lethal fish pathogen I've ever dealt with.

Anyways, its been crazy to deal with, definite learning experience of what not to do in terms of quarantine and controlling pathogens. But there's always a nascent silver lining for me; Once I get this tank straightened out I'll have room for my other fish, room to expand. Hopefully not commit the same mistakes again.

That's insane, so horrible. I feel for you.

 

[TheWolfman]

Total bummer, keep your head up you’ll make it out to the other side a stronger fish keeper.

 

[Jjiang00]

If you've kept fish long enough, we've all done it, its bound to happen.
After my first wipe out, many decades ago, I now do a minimum 3 month quarantine on any new arrival, and if anything is even slight off, longer.
A friend who runs an exhibit at a zoo, does no less than a 6 month quarantine for his new arrivals.
I have also found separating fish out with Ick for treatment is useless, you must always treat the entire tank.
And anything with any disease put in a sumps, spreads it to all tanks the sump services.
And heat alone doesn't kill Ick. It only helps make it spread faster, and the raise in temp also makes the secondary bacterial infections that often accompany Ick more virulent. Bacterial pathogens love water temps in the high 80s.
There are Ick strains that live and flourish in 90' F temp ponds, there are strains from Lake Tanganyika that are almost immune to normal over the counter meds that only slightly raise the osmotic pressure of the water.
For me, at least 3.5 lbs of rock salt must be added en masse to bring osmotic pressure up to over 3 ppt to kill some strains.

Yeah I agree with that, and you can actually cure ick with a tiny amount of salt if you don’t heat it snd speed the cycle, cause how salt works is it dehydrates the tiny bodies of the ick protozoa faster than it does the fish so if you leave a small salt concentration for long enough in a low enough temperature, you can dehydrate ick faster than it can reproduce.

However, heat can also be very effective depending on the strain.

 

[Supergeorge123]

In the wild the cysts fall off and the fish keeps swimming. In an aquarium there is no escape.