ID illness

[Darren Dalton]

Tank 125L. Water stats; Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, Nitrate 5ppm, PH 6.4, TDS 170 max, temp. 27.5c
Filtration. Juwel internal and tetratec 1200 external. Plenty of surface agitation and extra aeration.
Most fish have been together except the L134 (2 months in tank), young L333 (1 month).
Fish list. L134 x2, L66 x5, L333 x4, L174 x3, L411 x2 +4 fry 2 pair of Amblidoras hancocki, 2 pairs Aphy gardneri, 12 rummynose.
I know this seems a lot for a 125L but you will have to trust me. This set up is working fine with no fighting at all.

This may look like a killifish tread but it is pleco related. Anyone know what this is? It started 5 days ago.
I have some Killifish in a tank with mainly plecos. I have been doing cool water changes almost daily for the past 2-3 weeks dropping the temp. by 1-1.5c each time to encourage the plecos to spawn.
Today i noticed a pair of Aphy. Gardneri of colour and out of shape.
Here is the female. You will have to excuse the quality of the pic.
The back half from the dorsal back has gone verry dark. She is feeding, no signs of swelling and is swimming around like nothing is wrong.

Here is the male. It is hard to tell from the photo but it is like a cyst on the caudal penduncal just before the tail. The only thing is it appears to be pushed from the far side, like the fish is contorted.
All the fins are frayed including the lower parts of the gill covers. No sign of fungus/bacteria.

These fish were removed from the tank, given a meth. blue bath before been placed in quarantine and treated with waterlife protozin.

2 days ago.
Things have taken a turn for the worst in the main tank.
Another killi showing signs of a contorted body. In the same place as before.
Rapid deterioration of the fins on some plecos with just the fin rays remaining. Again the back end from the dorsal fin back gone pale on the plecos and rough looking. If they had scales i would say they were raised.
I have gone ahead and stated to treat the main tank with sara baktopur (acriflavine, met. blue, phenylycol, aqua purificata).
Later on; Here is the worst looking pleco.

You can see where the back end of the fish is badly effected. 24 hours before the picture was taken this fish appeared to be in perfect health.

Any idea what this could possibly be and what action to take. But there is a snag. I am away for the next 4 days leaving a semi competent person to keep an eye on them.

[Barbie]

I'd have to disagree here about the fighting and damage. That definitely looks like damage to the fish from being drug from a cave, IMO. No fin erosion on the pectorals and the shredding on the back half are classic signs. The fungus is from the raw areas. Your tank is very overstocked, IMO, and I tend to have more fish in tanks than most people think is wise, honestly. I couldn't begin to tell you what's going on with the killis, short of mentioning that when you stress fish, diseases and issues will crop up more often. I'm very confident that the L134 is just suffering from getting the snot kicked out of him though, honestly. Without some quick treatment with antibiotics you will lose him and I don't know that I'd risk treating a tank stocked that heavily, personally.

Barbie

[Darren Dalton]

Hi Barbi. I can see where you are coming from regarding fighting or cave damage, but this is not the case. This is a photo of only one pleco in this condition. The problem is wide spread in the tank and not just on one pleco. I have watched the infection progress from nothing, no signs of bites, scrapes or tearing of the skin. The back half goes black or pale then the fins start to go without any white edges then the skin gets rough looking then the fungus starts. All this within 24 hours.
The connection with the killis is the problem is only on the back end of all infected fish.
The only alternative to treating the whole tank is braking them up and treating in 5-6 different thanks. It just makes more sense to me to treat all in the one tank and the tank they are used to rather than stressing them by moving them.

Thanks for your input, Darren.

[Barbie]

If my fish were showing those symptoms I would treat aggressively with a broad spectrum antibiotic and large volume water changes. I still say that would worry me in a tank that size, so be sure you keep a close eye on water parameters for a month afterward.

Barbie

[Darren Dalton]

Sorry for the delay getting back to this tread. I had been away for a few days and then i couldn't find the tread on the forum. I am new here so i am still finding my way around.
I didn't want to treat with antibiotics while i was away.

Update; I came home Monday evening after been away and prepared for 50% loses only to find a vast improvement in the fish in the main tank. No more fungus, no half dark bodies and only one fish with a slight twist to the body. No deaths.
I removed the meds from the water and put a UV filter and a diatom earth filter on the tank. Fingers crossed this will be the end of the problem. Also the net and hose used in the tank have been bined.

The female killi in the pic. had gotten verry bad before i went away so i sent her to fish heaven. The pleco was still bad and on Thursday was breading verry heavily. She also was sent to fish heaven. The male killi is still alive with no improvement.
These three fish were the only ones removed from the main tank, treated with the same meds but did not improve like the ones in the main tank. Strange.
I will keep up daily water changes and keep a close eye on the fish.
In a couple of weeks the L411 and L66 will be given there own tanks. These are the ones that have bread/attempted to breed.

I will keep you posted, Darren.

[Darren Dalton]

Just another brief update.
Today i found a male Hypancistrus sp. L66 king tiger pleco fanning some eggs.
These are a couple of days old so the fish would have been still verry sick when the spawning took place.
I cant imaging the female looking at the male and saying "i'll have some of that". Especially the condition they were in.