Sick Rummynose

Well, it looks like I'm going to lose my first fish, a day after I got it.

I came home and saw one Rummynose that was closer to the top of the tank, and wasn't swimming great, more floating that swimming sometimes. Definitely not joining the rest of them.

I tested the water and it's fine, and I feed the fish and they all ate bar this one, it was like he was having problems swimming and couldn't get to the food, or didn't even notice it.

Anyhow, I took some pics to put up here to get some suggestions, and while uploading them to the PC he suddenly got a lot worse. Starting floating upside down a lot, but would sometimes start trying to swim again. I now have him in a plastic jug with tank water in it, attached to the side of the tank. He's upside most of the time now, but still occasionally breathing.

I do think he's a goner, but I've no idea how to kill him humanely. I've seen posts about Clove Oil and Vodka, but have neither in the house.

Here's a pic when he was still swimming, a lot more red along his side than the others:

I also have another one that's a loner, though he did eat. He's swimming better, but maybe not as well as the others, and seems to be 'gasping' a lot compared to the others. He's got something far more obvious on his side, here's a pic. Any ideas?

J.

Well, both fish have now died.

The second one (with the white mark on his side) just got worse and worse, basically the same as the first. He stopped being able to swim properly and started 'floating' around the tank, being pushed around by the flow of the water more than swimming where he wanted. That just got worse and he was only floating, so I put him into the jug and then he died there.

The remaining 9 Rummynose all seem to be fine, but I'm watching them closely.

Any suggestions as to what might have caused this, and is there anything I can do differently?

Thanks...

J.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts / advice on this.

Is it just one of those things, it happens sometimes? Due to the stress of fish being moved to a new tank / different water parameters than the shop?

Or could it be something more serious, some infection / disease that I need to deal with? My biggest worry is I'll wake up tomorrow and half the fish will be dead. Or worse, all of them.

I think it would have been better to come home this evening and see the two of them dead, rather than see them get worse and struggle and not know what, if anything, I should be doing...

J.

Sorry that you lost the fish, it’s always hard and extremely annoying when you don’t know the reason.

What’s you water parameters like?

I don’t know what happened to your fish but I can recommend clove oil for the future as I use it myself and it looks to me that it’s humane.

Andreas

Thanks Andreas...

Water parameters are as follows:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5-10
pH: 7.4-7.6
Temp: 24 Degrees

I'll definitely be looking for Clove Oil, just in case it's needed again...

J.

Classic Neon tetra disease , not only affecting Tetras but a multitude of Fish, spread by Fish eating dead buddies, do NOT allow any dead fish to be in the Tank long enough to eat dead Tank-mates, it is totally incurable and sorry to labour the point but....... QUARANTINE.
QUARANTINE. QUARANTINE.

H.

If you see this on any of the other fish remove and put to sleep humanely. This can stop it spreading.
Medication seldom work on this.

I was reluctant to post this as I'm a newb myself & didn't want to hijack your thread.

I got a couple of rummynose 12 days ago to go with my 5 danios. After a few days the rummys were looking a bit slow, then 1 danio start doing quick downward somersaults into the gravel I watched this for 2 days trying to figure out what to do & noticed white spots on the rummys. I immediately got rid of the rummys & suicidal danio & took all my plants/gravel/wood out to boil them, plants got binned.
That was nearly a week ago & the remaining 4 danios are fine, is it possible I took action quick enough or is this tetra disease dormant for a while in filters?

The lad in the LFS slipped a dead fish from the tank I bought the rummy from, in hindsight I should have just walked out of the shop when I seen that. I didn't though, never again.

Hope you get sorted jasonb, sorry I can't offer any advice.

Thanks for your replies...

To be fair Homer, you told me from Day 1, before I even had a tank, to get a Quarantine tank. Now, as then, I just don't think I have the space for one, the house is very full as it is, but I will look into it. I'm sure, like most people before me, that I was naive to think that any fish you get from a reputable Fish Store will be ok. That's not blaming the FS either, it's my own fault for introducing the fish direct into the tank.

As amp2000 says, what's the status of this tank now? Do I keep an eye on the fish, separate and euthanase any I see with these white marks, and hope the others do ok? Or is it a foregone conclusion that I'm going to lose them all? Does the tank need to be striped down and started again? If, by some luck, I don't lose any more in, say, the next week, does that mean I'm 'in the clear' so to speak?

Thanks...

J.

Jasonb wrote:

Thanks for your replies...

To be fair Homer, you told me from Day 1, before I even had a tank, to get a Quarantine tank. Now, as then, I just don't think I have the space for one, the house is very full as it is, but I will look into it. I'm sure, like most people before me, that I was naive to think that any fish you get from a reputable Fish Store will be ok. That's not blaming the FS either, it's my own fault for introducing the fish direct into the tank.

As amp2000 says, what's the status of this tank now? Do I keep an eye on the fish, separate and euthanase any I see with these white marks, and hope the others do ok? Or is it a foregone conclusion that I'm going to lose them all? Does the tank need to be striped down and started again? If, by some luck, I don't lose any more in, say, the next week, does that mean I'm 'in the clear' so to speak?

Thanks...

J.

A quarantine tank doesn't need to be big; even 15L would do.

Small tank
Small heater
Sponge filter, even a DIY one

Sorted...

Any updates jasonb ?

Some progress, but no 'result' yet!

As I said in another thread, one of my Corys got some white patches on them, similar-ish to the one on the Rummynose. One of the guys here advised I bring the Cory in to get it looked at in the LFS I use.

So, half expecting him to die at any moment, I brought him in yesterday, and they reckoned it was a treatable problem. I got some eSHa 2000 and got him home again, still alive. Put him in a 15L bucket with a heater that I almost trust and started the treatment.

He was still alive this morning and again this evening. Still has the patches, but looks ok apart from that. I did a 50% WC in the bucket today (there's no filter, I'm sorting that this weekend), gave him the next dose and even gave him a little bit of food, which he ate. So, the jury's out on him, but neither of us have given up yet. Due to a damaged fin, he's now called 'Finny' (you know you're in trouble when you name them, especially the sick ones...)

Thankfully, the remaining 5 Corys and 9 Rummynoses in the Tank are so far fine, with nothing obvious wrong with them. The Rummynose are flying around the place, it's lovely to see them schooling, and they love feeding time. The Corys are still happily digging around the substrate. Each day they're ok gets me closer to thinking that they might get away with not catching anything.

As for Finny, if he survives long enough he'll be moved to my new temp tank once I have it up and running on Saturday. It'll be a 30L clear plastic box, with a filter and heater and some little places for him to hide. Still not great, but a lot better than a bucket (and a lot better than him being dead!).

At least this experience has a) made me realise that I'm going to lose fish, b) got me to go get Clove Oil so the next time a fish is dying I can ease its pain and c) helped me figure out how to set up a temp quarantine / hospital tank!

Thanks for your interest, how are your remaining Danios doing?

J.

Thanks for the update, glad to hear they are doing well.

Jasonb wrote:

Some progress, but no 'result' yet!

As I said in another thread, one of my Corys got some white patches on them, similar-ish to the one on the Rummynose. One of the guys here advised I bring the Cory in to get it looked at in the LFS I use.

So, half expecting him to die at any moment, I brought him in yesterday, and they reckoned it was a treatable problem. I got some eSHa 2000 and got him home again, still alive. Put him in a 15L bucket with a heater that I almost trust and started the treatment.

Did they say what the problem was? I've been reading all your threads as our setup/timeline is kinda similar.

Everything was fine but 1 of my danios took a turn for the worse last night, I just made a post about it a few mins ago, not good irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum/8-w...completed-4-weeks-in

Hopefully you don't have whatever is in my tank, I'm going to keep my eye out for a quarantine tank & filter myself, it's really not worth all this hassle, I was supposed to be stocking it when it cycled, not dealing with parasites...

Good luck with your fishies

I meant to add that Organic Aqua is a super way to set up a Quarantine Tank, you can use it straight away without having to wait, as long as ph and temperature are the same.


H.

amp2000 wrote:

It's really not worth all this hassle, I was supposed to be stocking it when it cycled, not dealing with parasites...

I so identify with this! But it's all about the learning curve, at least that's what I'm telling myself! The guy in the LFS reckoned it was some sort of bacteria or fungus issue, I can't remember exactly what he focused on. The good news is I've read a lot of good things about eSHa 2000, so fingers crossed. Hope it all goes well for you...

That's a good tip about the Organic Aqua, thanks Homer...

J.

Well, my temp tank is now up and running and Finny is still alive. He actually looks a little better, the grey/white patches aren't as noticeable. I plan to give him meds for one more day and see how he is. He's moving around a little bit, especially as there's some flow in the tank, but obviously he has no substrate to dig around in. Should I add some, or is that just awkward in terms of keeping the tank clean.

The next question is how long do I wait before adding him back to the main tank? So far, the remaining 9 Rummynoses and 5 Corys all seem to be fine, and it's nearly a week since the two Rummynoses died, so I'm kinda hopeful that the main tank is ok. I just don't know how long to keep Finny in the temp tank.

Any suggestions?

Thanks...

J.

I would leave him alone at least another week. But I am a beginner. I lost half my fish a couple of weeks ago. Started with a white cottony fungus on a fish mouth and then others, and some ulcers on other fish. Based on all reading it seems i went through a combination of factors:

1. New fish (plenty) from 2 different LFS, in new tank (not fully cycled). Learned the nitrogen cycle very quickly as my ammonia went very high (30-50% water changes everyday until i got to zero.
2. I must have brought back as least one sick fish: a visit to one of the LFS where i picked up most of them had a few individuals showing the little cotton spots. In the exact same tank where I got mine.

So in my opinion the quanrantine tank is absolutely necessary if you need to buy more fish. An idea is a small nano fully planted and running where you can keep a pleco and a couple of shrimp. If bringing new fish you stick them in there for a few days and observe. My nano has a few fish but they will move soon and I will be left with my good looking quanrantine/hospital tank.