Possible disease?

Hi I think I may have an issue in my tank. Two months ago one of my female guppies started wasting away over about a week. I removed her before she died. She ate everything up until the end.

Then two weeks later the same thing happened to another guppy, she wasted away to practically nothing. This was three weeks ago and now I notice that my female blue ram is looking quite thin, she is eating as normal.

I can only think of one possible cause and that is about two months before the first fish became I'll I introduced some rummy nose tetras. Some of these became quite emaciated one died but the other 4 that were affected recovered and survived.

Could this be the reason? Could it take that long to affect other fish? Or is each fish suffering something different?

There seems to be three to four weeks between each illness and it seems to be one fish at a time.

There are number of possible reasons for this, and it may be that the deaths are linked or not linked.

I won't go through a complete list of possibilities, but will target 2 first areas of investigation first:

a) look at the anal region of the guppies carefully and for long time.....do you see a little 'red worm' sticking its head out (and quickly retracting it)? If so, then that is 99% likely to be camalanus 'worm' (it is common in guppies, and can be a major problem).

b) Look with a lens to see if you see any worm like creatures around the gills or any other part of the body....especially on the Rams. Or do the gills of the Rams look inflammed?

c) there could be a general bacterial infection in your tank (maybe a fish equivalent of TB). That is not so easy to diagnose.

There are other reasons, but look out for these first.

ian

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the advice.

I have been watching the two guppies i have but i cant see any worms, but they may still have them.

The blue rams gills are not swolen right now but the guppy who died two weeks ago did have swollen gills.

I have purchased some ESHA 2000 that i will add tomorrow after the water change. i hope that will help.

lindseys06 wrote:

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the advice.

I have been watching the two guppies i have but i cant see any worms, but they may still have them.

The blue rams gills are not swolen right now but the guppy who died two weeks ago did have swollen gills.

I have purchased some ESHA 2000 that i will add tomorrow after the water change. i hope that will help.

Even if eSHa 2000 doesn't do the trick, it is still not a bad medication to use in 'unknown' cases as it may work against some other microbes that might simply add to an problem.

You know someone with a microscope and the appropriate knowledge (maybe an aquatic shop), then it could be worth taking a faecal smear.....but only use fresh faeces.

Swollen gills may indicate a number of problems....ranging from genetic mutations, parasite infections, wasting diseases, through to high nitrates.

Guppies may show the advanced signs of a disease that could kill Rams a lot quicker. Hence, the 2 could have the same problem but the Rams may die well before the advanced stages are seen.

ian

Ok so my ram came out of hiding today she has been very I'll and hiding. I have been treating the tank for a while now.

I noticed today that she has quite a few whitish coloured nodules on her head, its not ich. What could this be and could it be related to the wasting or caused by it?

Ok just doing some research now online. Could this be hexamita? How could I treat this?

lindseys06 wrote:

Ok just doing some research now online. Could this be hexamita? How could I treat this?

Hexamita and the closely related Spironucleus (they are different even though some people say they are the same but with different names) are gut parasites that will eventually break through the wall of the gut and infest other organs in the fish if there are too many in the gut or the fish is weakened somewhat.

I would not have put hexamita as being the top of the list for these species though. But, a faecal smear will show if there is a hexamita problem.

If this is the problem, then treatment is easy enough but the treatment does not reverse damage to the heart or brain of the fish.

Waterlife Octozin or eSHaHexamita will do. eSHa Hexamita is almost the same as eSHa 2000 with some additional compounds; Octozin is a good antibiotic, quite potent and a veterinary grade medication.

I would, however, start considering that you may have a bacterial problem in your tank: one that eSHa2000 is not going to do much about either.
Diagnosis of bacterial infections is not always easy, but there are some general symptoms that may give a guide. Your Rams are showing some of those symptoms.

If your fish have Aeromonas infection or fish tuberculosis then they are not easy to treat. The drugs for treating them are more potent, and Rams are not fond of medication.
Some of the medications will also kill off your biological filtration system.

I don't like to recommend anti-bacterial medication on such things as Aeromonas or TB unless there is better evidence for them than a description.

But here is the minimum you could try:
do several partial water changes over several days to get the water cleaner;
vaccum the gravel;
increase aeration or water flow around every part of the tank (carefully lift up bogwood or rocks and clean under them before doing the water changes).
Treat the tank with Waterlife Octozin (here, you are using for its multiple action of having an effect on some gut parasites and also on certain bacteria).

Do not use any other medication with Octozin !!
You could, instead, try Waterlife's Myxazin.......but be very careful as you must not overdose and must not have residual medication in the tank.
These will not damage your biological filtration.

An alternative and very potent antibacterial agent is JBL Furanol...........but it needs care as it will destroy your biological filtration.

Before using JBL Furanol I'd recommend getting a defo on the ID of the problem.

As a note, if the fish have some form of gut infection then that will weaken the fish to make it prone to other diseases.

Without sounding too negative, my feeling is that as these are Rams then the prognosis is not good.

ian

Hi Ian,

Thanks a million for the advice. It does seem to be just the rams that are affected I am going to do water changes every 2-3 days for a while.