White Splotches and Two Dead Fish

[bjbass]

I caught two native fish of two different species in the same lake over the past few months and put them in my tank. My tank is cycled and my parameters are 0 amm, 0 nitrite, 20 ppm nitrate.

Both fish died within a few days of putting them in. I have plenty of other fish that I caught from other lakes such as pumpkinseed, black crappie, bluegill, etc.

The first fish from this lake was a black crappie. The night that I put him in the tank he developed white splotches on his skin. They definitely weren't there when I caught him. They looked like the color was washed out of him. Then I noticed his fins lost their webbings and the strands in between looked just like hairs and moved in the water that way. It was almost like he was liquifying.

Well anyway, I thought maybe it was just something with that fish, so I got a yellow perch. The same thing happened only this time the fish lasted 3 days instead of one.

Does anybody know if this is a disease maybe? I do treat my tank with aquarium salt too. Is it maybe a difference in Ph? Columnaris?

 

[bjbass]

Does this happen to the fins with columnaris? If so, why didn't the fish show this when I first put them in my tank?

 

[Aquanero]

Columnaris thrives in warm water and acute cases can kill very quickly, the symptoms you discribe fit the bill. It is also possibile as you mentioned the differance in ph could have been too much and the stress could have made them vunerable to the bacteria which was already present. Though to tell for sure, but sounds logical. I would avoid fish from that lake to be on the safe side.