Re: Sick rainbowfish advice

[steev ward <steevward@mac.com>]

Darcey,

It sounds like a gill problem, doesn't it? (Unless there are other symptoms you
are missing, like clamped fins or especially dark coloring, or bloat or
something.) In that case I would suspect a gill parasite, and since it has come
on rapidly after a flucuation in water chemistry (the nutrients) I would guess
it is a protozoan (such as Chilodonella or Costia - either of these two could
cause the symptoms Clay describes as well.).

In that case you would want to use a medication that treats Ich and other
external protozoans (Not an antibiotic like Maracyn or Neomycin). Since you have
a large tank you would want to remove one or more of the afflicted fish and see
if you can "cure" their problem using Ich medication in a small tank. (You might
actually want to use a DIFFERENT medication on the tank itself if you decide to
treat the whole tank.)

If this instead was a problem with Velvet (Oodinum) you should also see some
external signs on some of the fish eventually, in the form of a dusty appearance
on the skin and fins (clamped fins at least).

If gill flukes are to blame then I would expect to see a few ematiated fish here
and there before now, or some unexplained deaths. Still, gill flukes are one
possibility and they won't likely be erradicated by most Ich medications,
although it may bring minor temporary relief.

Bacterial gill problems don't usually affect fish under the conditions you
describe. Mycobacteria would be an exception, but that would likely be a more
slowly progressing disease with other signs noticeable (in Rainbowfish you would
see some red sores or ulcers on a few of them, maybe some bloated stomachs.

This is all guesswork of course, because there are many possibilities.
I'm guessing Chilodonella.

For Clay's problem I'm guessing Skin Flukes, because of the fuzziness  and
because the problem is recurring. But that could be Chilodonella as well.

Steev

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