Hi there! I was hoping someone out there in the fish world might have an idea what is going on here and might be able to help me. I'm totally stumped about what is going on here and any insight would really be appreciated.
The problem:
I have a 55 long that I set up over 2 years ago as a display tank in the upstairs hallway of our house. Initially it housed a variety of different fish as I moved my fishroom to my new home. Once that was settled I filled it with very few fish. I believe at the time it was 7 dwarf neon rainbows, 10 or so blue tetras and a pair of longfin albino bn plecos. I had other projects on the run so for a long while the only thing I added were some live plants and all was well.
The next fish I added much later were some cardinal tetras. The fish came were ordered from out of province along with some others and we had generally bad experiences with them. Of the 100 or so the group ordered very few survived. Of my group only 2 did and they were added to the tank when it seemed clear they were not ill just weak and improperly shipped. All was well.
The big mistake I made came later when Id finally finished getting a 75 gallon display ready in my bedroom. This was about a year or so after the initial setup maybe more. I went out and bought a couple dozen different fish for my bedroom and hallway tanks not realizing that there was not near enough room to quarantine all of the fish in my fishroom, let alone seperately. All I was thinking at the store was whether or not the bioload would overwhelm the filters. My fiance being with me oohing and ahhing at all the fish didn't help either since Im always trying to make her happy. I got home and decided, the heck with it, what's the worst that can happen? Apparently, my question was answered in the form of every disease I could think of.
I had to treat for camallanus, columnaris, ich and god knows what else. I lost a lot of the fish I purchased. Most of the livebearers died, 2 angelfish died, blue rams died, it was fairly all over the place. The tanks were put under qt shortly after I bought the fish because I noticed something was wrong. My fishroom downstairs remained completely isolated because of different equipment, but the two tanks upstairs had shared a maintenance hose. I treated both with: Levamisole, Acriflavin, Rid Ich, praziquantel, and an anti-fungal by API as well as some I probably forgot. Obviously, I couldn't use all at once so I lost considerable numbers of fish, mostly the new additions, but also over time some of the older ones as well.
The current, persistent problem is in the 55gallon and it affects the dwarf neon rainbows. It started months ago and now I am down to the last adult female and I haven't been able to solve it. Based on the previous 6 she is going to be dead within a few days. The symptoms of the condition are sudden inflammation of the gills which turn more red than normal but it could just be that they are more exposed. The bottom part of the jaw becomes unusually distended almost like a cichlid mouthbrooder holding but less dramatic. As the condition progresses, the fish tend to develop symptoms to varying degrees including: lack of appetite, lethargy, rapid breathing at the surface of the water and the tendency to leave the school and hide out alone. Near the end almost all of the fish have an observable white string that protrudes from their mouths when they breathe. The white string or worm whatever it is goes in and out as the fish respires. This to me is the final indication that the fish is definitely infected if the other symptoms have been milder and death usually comes a few days later. The fish were infected with, and died from the condition over a long period and even after treatment aimed at destroying the disease.
At the moment, the other fish in the tank are: 6 red phantom tetras, 7 cardinal tetras, 1 dwarf neon rainbow, 2 longfin abn plecos, the 1 remaining cherry platy from the aforementioned purchase, 1 julidochromis marileri gombe 2 cherry barbs and 7 female platies. All of the fish with the exception of the cherry platy were purchased at other points or bred by me then added after the original outbreak of disease. All the other fish have been in the tank for months now. None have shown any similar symptoms. The blue tetras originally in there were moved out a few days prior to buying the diseased fish. The dwarf neon rainbow juveniles I have in the basement, bred from the now dead adults are all fine and none have shown any signs of the ailment.
Water parameters are optimal, ammonia and nitrite are at 0, nitrate levels are negligible and often undetectable with my api master test kit. The tank was heavily planted, but a massive die off of plants ensued after the use of one of the meds and then the death of the light fixture followed by a long period under low light means that the plants are just coming back to life now but are still there in lower concentration. The tank is filtered by an AC 70 and a III sponge filter, temperature is 77 degrees, ph is around 8.
If anyone has any idea what I'm up against I'd love to hear it!
Edit: I also used maracyn in the 55g to help with the problem I described
The problem:
I have a 55 long that I set up over 2 years ago as a display tank in the upstairs hallway of our house. Initially it housed a variety of different fish as I moved my fishroom to my new home. Once that was settled I filled it with very few fish. I believe at the time it was 7 dwarf neon rainbows, 10 or so blue tetras and a pair of longfin albino bn plecos. I had other projects on the run so for a long while the only thing I added were some live plants and all was well.
The next fish I added much later were some cardinal tetras. The fish came were ordered from out of province along with some others and we had generally bad experiences with them. Of the 100 or so the group ordered very few survived. Of my group only 2 did and they were added to the tank when it seemed clear they were not ill just weak and improperly shipped. All was well.
The big mistake I made came later when Id finally finished getting a 75 gallon display ready in my bedroom. This was about a year or so after the initial setup maybe more. I went out and bought a couple dozen different fish for my bedroom and hallway tanks not realizing that there was not near enough room to quarantine all of the fish in my fishroom, let alone seperately. All I was thinking at the store was whether or not the bioload would overwhelm the filters. My fiance being with me oohing and ahhing at all the fish didn't help either since Im always trying to make her happy. I got home and decided, the heck with it, what's the worst that can happen? Apparently, my question was answered in the form of every disease I could think of.
I had to treat for camallanus, columnaris, ich and god knows what else. I lost a lot of the fish I purchased. Most of the livebearers died, 2 angelfish died, blue rams died, it was fairly all over the place. The tanks were put under qt shortly after I bought the fish because I noticed something was wrong. My fishroom downstairs remained completely isolated because of different equipment, but the two tanks upstairs had shared a maintenance hose. I treated both with: Levamisole, Acriflavin, Rid Ich, praziquantel, and an anti-fungal by API as well as some I probably forgot. Obviously, I couldn't use all at once so I lost considerable numbers of fish, mostly the new additions, but also over time some of the older ones as well.
The current, persistent problem is in the 55gallon and it affects the dwarf neon rainbows. It started months ago and now I am down to the last adult female and I haven't been able to solve it. Based on the previous 6 she is going to be dead within a few days. The symptoms of the condition are sudden inflammation of the gills which turn more red than normal but it could just be that they are more exposed. The bottom part of the jaw becomes unusually distended almost like a cichlid mouthbrooder holding but less dramatic. As the condition progresses, the fish tend to develop symptoms to varying degrees including: lack of appetite, lethargy, rapid breathing at the surface of the water and the tendency to leave the school and hide out alone. Near the end almost all of the fish have an observable white string that protrudes from their mouths when they breathe. The white string or worm whatever it is goes in and out as the fish respires. This to me is the final indication that the fish is definitely infected if the other symptoms have been milder and death usually comes a few days later. The fish were infected with, and died from the condition over a long period and even after treatment aimed at destroying the disease.
At the moment, the other fish in the tank are: 6 red phantom tetras, 7 cardinal tetras, 1 dwarf neon rainbow, 2 longfin abn plecos, the 1 remaining cherry platy from the aforementioned purchase, 1 julidochromis marileri gombe 2 cherry barbs and 7 female platies. All of the fish with the exception of the cherry platy were purchased at other points or bred by me then added after the original outbreak of disease. All the other fish have been in the tank for months now. None have shown any similar symptoms. The blue tetras originally in there were moved out a few days prior to buying the diseased fish. The dwarf neon rainbow juveniles I have in the basement, bred from the now dead adults are all fine and none have shown any signs of the ailment.
Water parameters are optimal, ammonia and nitrite are at 0, nitrate levels are negligible and often undetectable with my api master test kit. The tank was heavily planted, but a massive die off of plants ensued after the use of one of the meds and then the death of the light fixture followed by a long period under low light means that the plants are just coming back to life now but are still there in lower concentration. The tank is filtered by an AC 70 and a III sponge filter, temperature is 77 degrees, ph is around 8.
If anyone has any idea what I'm up against I'd love to hear it!
Edit: I also used maracyn in the 55g to help with the problem I described
. I have some Irian red rainbows I want to put in the tank that have been in their qt tank for over a month now but I can't put them in until I know they won't die like their cousins 
.