Help requested for sick Eruption

[DEBaker]

I have an eruption that is in the early stages of an illness and I want to get ahead of it before she becomes too weak if possible. Any advice toward a diagnosis and treatment would be appreciated. In real life, she looks darker than the picture indicates.

Thanks,
Don


DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE


Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish/when and how they started

I have an Eruption that is dark and breathing heavily. I first noticed this yesterday (2/2) when I first approached the tank. She seemed to lighten perhaps thinking she would be fed so I didn't get too concerned. Today the fish is in a bit more distress than yesterday. Consistently dark, breathing heavily and twitching a bit.

The fish is still eating and strong at this point.

2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/ white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds)

The fish is dark and breathing heavily with occasional twitching. The feces was normal yesterday. The skin is a little patchy but not bad. Fins aren't clamped. The fish is a bit more retiring than it normally is.

3. What medications/ treatments that you have already tried and results. Include dosages and duration of treatment.

None yet.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and age, number and size of fish

29 gal bare bottom tank with the sick fish which is 5" and 3 other discus, 6", 5" and 3" along with 6 small bushynose plecos (<2"). No other fish seems sick at this time.

5. Water change regime/ how long has tank been running/ bare bottom or gravel/ do you age your water?

The tank is on a drip system and has been running for years. It is bare bottom and I run hot water into a 55 gal aging barrel which is gravity fed into the fish tank. I would estimate the drip rate at 20 gal/day.

6 Parameters and water source;

- temp __85___

- ph ___8.0__

- ammonia reading _0___

- nitrite reading _0___

- nitrate reading _0___

- well water __yes__

- municipal water __no__

7. Any new fish/plants added recently

The sick discus was purchased and added 15 days ago. The other fish have been in this tank for quite a while, 5 months or so. The 3" was added about 6 weeks ago and is from one of my spawns that went through a similar fate. The parents both died as well as the entire group of fry with the exception of this one. It started out with the female adult getting dark and eventually dying.

Sick Eruption - 2.jpg

[sammy]

I'm not trying to be a jerk but you knowingly put a sick fish in a healthy tank??? That aside I have read but not experienced some illnesses that a fish will live through and no longer be affected by, but will become carriers and infect other fish. How did you treat for the last illness if the symptoms are the same ?

[DEBaker]

The small fish (3") never did seem to get dark and sick when the others in its did,it was just a fry at the time, although it was obviously exposed to whatever killed the others. It lived quite a while alone (a month) before I moved it in with the two other tankmates and the three of them seem very healthy to this day.

The non successful treatment was potassium permanganate (whole tank), then later I tried a couple of cycles of salt (2 tbs per gal) and finally a course of Metronidazole.

[sammy]

So the metro worked?

[sammy]

Sorry I misread that - so tiny was the only one to make it out of the sick tank, you put him in with the healthy tank, and now the fish in the healthy tank are showing signs of the same illness. Treatments done to the old tank didn't work. Correct?

[sammy]

Maybe you can explain the illness that they went through. How long did it take to kill them, what exactly did they look like/ what did they go through when you were losing them.

[DEBaker]

Just to clarify, the only fish that seems to be sick at the moment is the eruption that I bought 2 weeks ago. It has seemed very healthy and active until yesterday and today. My other discus that it is in with look perfect, including the small one that went through a sick tank later last year.

I had a breading pair that was raising a spawn. The fry seemed to become dark and started dying off one at a time perhaps at 3 weeks of age. I can't remember if the adult female got sick first or not. I eventually lost the parents and all of the fry except the one. I should have taken notes at the time but they seemed to get dark, clamp up and eventually die. The salt treatment and PP treatment seemed to help a little at first but the fish seemed to regress afterward.

[PP_GBR]

D:

Are you sure your pH is 8?

[DEBaker]

Kind of hard to read on the chart. I would say it is 8.0 +/- 0.2

[PP_GBR]

Do you have a high range pH test? How did you PP the fish?

[BlackComet94]

Did you quarantine the eruption?

[DEBaker]

Yes, I am using the API high range test.

I PP'd the whole tank, not a dip. I tried to hit 2ppm.

[PP_GBR]

D:

What about your tap water? Same pH? Do you have hard water there? How long did the PP stay pink/purple for? Is/are the fish very skittish?

[DEBaker]

Did you quarantine the eruption?

I haven't quarantined the eruption yet. I am getting a 15 gal tank ready.


What about your tap water? Same pH? Do you have hard water there? How long did the PP stay pink/purple for? Is/are the fish very skittish?

The tap water is a little lower in pH, about 7.8. The drum I use for the drip system is the same as the tank which is 8.0.

I have well water but it doesn't seem too hard. The fish generally do well in it. Can't recall exactly how long the tank stayed purple but it was at least over night. The current fish are very calm including the sick one.

[PP_GBR]

The PP must stays pink/purple for full 4 hrs. Time it to see how long it takes to turn rusty/tan/ orangy. Have you ever had your well water tested by a lab?