What is wrong with my Boesemani Rainbowfish?

[Carefree_Dude]

1. Size of tank?
55 Gallon

2. Water parameters
a. Ammonia? 0
b. Nitrite? 0
c. Nitrate? 5.0
d. pH, KH and GH?
pH: Dont have exact number, but its very high due to local water
Don't know the other two

e. Test kit?
API
3. Temperature?
78F
4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)?
Slightly brackish. Spec. Grav. of 1.005
5. How long the aquarium has been set up?
2 years
6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they?
Shubunkin goldfish; 8 in; 2 years
4 Boesmani rainbowfish 3 to 4 inches; 2 years
3 austrailian rainbowfish 3 to 4 inches; 1 1/2 year
gold gourami 3 in 2 years
moonlight gourami 4 in 2 years
pictus catfish 3 in 6 months
mono sabae 9 inches 2 years
Snowflake eel, 22 inches 1 year
raphael catfish, 3 inches, 4 years
peacock eel, 7 inches, 4 years
blood parrot, 3 inches, 3 months
bristlenose pleco, 2 years, 5 inches

7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?

all fish quarantined******

8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants?
attempted live plants, didn't work, switched to fake
b. Sand, gravel, barebottom?
gravel
c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors?
fake logs

9. a. Filtration?
one of those crappy walmart power filters
b. Heater?
an aquatech heater

10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used?
b. Any sunlight exposure? How long?
Lights used roughly 13 hours a day

11. a. Water change schedule?
weekly
b. Volume of water changed?
50%
c. Well water, tap water, RO water?
tap water, mixed with salt before being put in
d. Water conditioner used?
don't remember the brand, but it comes in a yellow bottle
e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed?
weekly


12. Foods?
flake food, blood worms, various veggies occasionally, shrimp pellets, other various foods
How often are they fed?
3 times a day

13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms?
Big hole in sides
b. Appearance of poop?
haven't seen it
c. Appearance of gills?
look normal

14. a. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis?
b. What meds were used?
tried melafix

15. Insert photos of fish in question and full tank shot if necessary.

I have been feeding my snowflake eel feeder rosey reds. Shortly after i put them in the tank (without quarantine), i noticed the side of one of my boesemanis looke like my pleco had sucked on it. I didn't think much of it, but overnight it got much worse. I added Melafix to try and save him.

after a couple days, he looked like the above photo. I couldn't move him to the quarantine as it is currently housing an Electric Blue Jack Dempsy that I plan on putting in my 210 Gallon when I'm done setting it up.

A day after that photo was taken, he died. the same morning I found him dead, my african butterfly was mysteriously dead as well. Now, I have another boesemani that is starting to develope the same condition. As soon as I noticed, I quickily got a 10 gallon setup to transfer her into. Her hole is progressing more slowly, but there is one on each side.

any idea what is happening? any way to cure this, or make sure nothing else catches it?

I know my tank is overstocked, which is why i bought the 210 gallon. When it is setup and cycled, I plan on making it full freshwater, and keep my brackish in the 55 with a higher specific gravity.

 

[Lupin]

Your answer to quarantine question kinda contradicts your statement regarding the snowflake eel introduced without undergoing quarantine period. I suggest that with all new fish, you must quarantine for four weeks minimum. The longer, the better so you will be able to safeguard your fish from other health issues that could be fatal to them.

Bristlenose plecos cannot be blamed. I've never heard of a single case of bristlenose pleco capable of sucking the slime coat. I've owned a few of them and never have seen them develop a taste for flesh. We can rule them out here. The most probable scenario is that your fish may have injured itself or developed ulcer on its own accord and the other fish targeted its open wound.

You already mentioned the holes seem progressing. Good move separating the fish in question. It should be separated to avoid infecting others. This seems bacterial infection in progress to me. If you can find medigold online, I'd suggest buying that. In the meantime, try to get a small wad of cotton and apply hydrogen peroxide on the wounds only once. Then use betadine to apply it afterward and use either neosporin or biobandage to patch it up.

Any damage on the ABF when you found it dead?

No more Melafix. That crap will work to aid recovery of the wounds but it will not solve a bacterial infection despite its "antibacterial properties" claim.



This is a separate issue but I'm quite surprised your fish are all kept in brackish except for the mono and eel. Why? Your fish are being compromised of their health (albeit osmotic balance) in the long run when you do that. And lowering salinity just to get them back to full freshwater is troublesome. In the first place, they should never have been kept in brackish conditions at all. It's easier to acclimate a fish with tolerance to high salinity from FW to SW but not the reverse order.

 

[Carefree_Dude]

No, you misunderstood. All the fish when added were quarantined, EXCEPT for the feeders I added. All are in the same tank. I started off as an idiot, and was told the Mono would be fine in freshwater. He was at first, but he started developing health problems. at this point I decided to slowly start adding more and more salt to my tank. All the freshwater fish handled it fine. The snowflake came later, and was more of another misinformed purchase.

Now i'm smarter, and I know the salt can lead to future health problems. I am going to be setting up a new 210 gallon soon, which i will keep as a complete freshwater. I intended on very slowly lowering the salinity for the freshwater fish. Will that cause them harm? The current tank everything is in will be turned into a brackish tank after everything but the mono and snowflake are moved.


Anyways, the rainbowfish died. So far, no signs of anything on any other fish.

 

[Lupin]

Then, at this point, all you need to do is watch for any signs. Don't treat yet.

 

[Carefree_Dude]

Alright. Since I have you here, I would like to ask if my plan to swap my other fish will work.

I will get my 210 gallon cycled with water at the same salinity as the tank everything is in. Once water perameters are the same, I will transfer over all freshwater fish. Then, over the next several months, I will slowly lower the salinity of the tank. I will also increase the salinity of the old tank, which will officially be brackish.

This way, all my brackish fish will be in brackish water, where all my freshwater fish will be in freshwater.

 

[Lupin]

Good plan.