sorry for your losses. sorry I can't help because I know nothing about curing diseases since the only meds I use is salt.
Ropefish dying....why?
- Thread starter ShadowBass
- Start date
Those are some crazy wounds, and because they are in several places at once, it doesn't look like any infection I've seen.
See, usually an infection will start from a single point (usually an injury), so for the fish to have so many small areas at once may suggest that one of the tank makes is bullying the ropes.
I know you said everyone in the tank dances around singing kumbaya, but it is important that you devote as much time as you can to observing them.
I had a climbing perch take out 4 ropes within a week, yet I never saw it actually picking on them because I was always at work.
The remaining rope I gave to a friend and it is still alive today.
I said it sounded like bacterial or fungal infection, I'm sorry I did not point to specific things to look for such as fuzzy white or red irritated areas around the discoloration.
Some anti-biotics such as maracyn 1 and/or two will help, but honestly, these look tank mate induced.
See, usually an infection will start from a single point (usually an injury), so for the fish to have so many small areas at once may suggest that one of the tank makes is bullying the ropes.
I know you said everyone in the tank dances around singing kumbaya, but it is important that you devote as much time as you can to observing them.
I had a climbing perch take out 4 ropes within a week, yet I never saw it actually picking on them because I was always at work.
The remaining rope I gave to a friend and it is still alive today.
I said it sounded like bacterial or fungal infection, I'm sorry I did not point to specific things to look for such as fuzzy white or red irritated areas around the discoloration.
Some anti-biotics such as maracyn 1 and/or two will help, but honestly, these look tank mate induced.
beblondie;2935332; said:
Fungus cure is for both bacterial and fungal infections and from what I know can be used with triple sulfa (erythromycin I wasn't sure of which is why I asked and I couldn't find any anyway).
This is something that obviously kills extremely quick so I figured I don't have time to mess around experimenting with one medication at a time. The meds will either hit whatever they have hard enough to kill it or the infection will kill them anyway, I don't have much to lose *shrug*
The one that was looking really bad is still alive at least.
I'll give updates in the morning, hopefully I don't wake up to more dead fish.
I guess it's possible but I've been watching them close and I haven't seen anyone bothering anyone else.
Also any time I've had fish kill other fish they usually have to beat them up pretty good to kill them unless it's something really sensitive.
The first ropefish didn't have any apparent wounds (no scales missing or anything). The one I took the first picture of is the one that survived the longest after getting sick and is the only one that showed clear ulcers.
Here's a pic of the one I froze, you can see there's no open wounds on it or anything like it's been beat up.
sorry for your loss.. i just mentioned the food because thid effected so many of them so fast... i hope the two remaining ones make it...must have been neat to have so many together...as they should be...
Red Devil;2936370; said:
Thanks. Yeah, it was a valid question, I should have mentioned what they were being fed.
They were my favorite fish and yeah it was really neat to have a bunch together.
beblondie said:
Not sure what you mean. Were there any new fish added or have any shown signs of illness? If the latter yes.
Ok, updates.
Last night I went to check all the other tankmates one last time before I went to bed. One of the zebra obliquidens had a slimecoat issue, not sure if it was the same thing or not (looked more like straight columnaris or fungus), but I put him in a bucket by himself and used same treatment. Either way his immune system is compromised from something if he suddenly got sick like that. He's looking ok right now and acting fine, I'll continue treatment and see how it goes.
All other tankmates still look ok, I'm watching really close and will treat as necessary.
The last 2 ropefish are dead. I woke up this morning and the worst one was barely alive and the other appeared like it MIGHT be recovering, but apparently not. A little while ago when I went to check on them again one was floating at the top and the other was at the bottom, I thought he was still alive but he wasn't.
The one that was floating at the top his insides actually felt like they were kind of disolved....I'm not sure if that's from decomposition (seems kinda quick since he hadn't been in there dead for over an hour) or from the illness.
The other felt normal but I took pictures because the discoloration (which is darker instead of lighter, not sure why, maybe because the secondary infection died?) is very noticable on him.
If you notice they don't really look like wounds or ulcers on him, more like dried out spots where the slimecoat is degraded or something. The spot on the belly is kind of reddish but no open wound or missing scales.
