Another mysterious disease

criffa · Post by **criffa** » 01 Oct 2003, 02:08

During the years of fishkeeping, I have never had a problem with Ancistrus, until today. I noticed a while ago that a male ancistrus that i've got seemed to show a small amount of injury to the cheek spines, but left them as they looked clean. However, in the matter of a night, the catfish developed what seems to be dropsy along with pop-eye, but must oddly, he has also developed 3 fluid filled "sacs" (one slightly red in colour) on its rear end: one above each pelvic fin and one near the anal fin. I've isolated him from the tank just in case it is infectious. He has now been in this condition for a couple of days now, is still alive and seems to otherwise be ok. Does anyone have any idea what this is and what has cause this? Any suggestion of a decent remedy for this would be great (although, i think it may have gone to far)

Cheers

Post by **Barbie** » 01 Oct 2003, 02:11

It sounds to me like an initial injury caused some form of secondary bacterial infection. I'd definitely treat him with a broad spectrum antibiotic and daily water changes, until he's cured, and then let him stay in quarantine for a few weeks to be sure he's completely over the problem. Hopefully that will help

Barbie

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 01 Oct 2003, 19:22

what other types of fish are in the tank and whats your water quality like?

criffa · Post by **criffa** » 01 Oct 2003, 20:19

the tank is a 4' X 1' X 15" and holds 2 hoplos, a small/medium Syno. decorus, 5 congo tetras, 4 peppered corys, a few botias and other ancistrus - one other "normal" (not too sure on the exact sp) and 2 others which are completely black (an id on these would be helpful). The water quality is good. no ammonia or nirtite, but the nitrate is relatively high (london water), but is hopfully being lowered by the action of the plants and the home-made denitrator. Again, due to the london tap water, it is quite hard (not been tested) but hte pH is about 7.8. Despite these factors, all the other fish look healthy, especially the congos at the moment which are glowing. The most important thing to note are these sac things hanging off the male ancistrus? they seem to sometimes be possibly blood filled. Anyone else observed these?

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 02 Oct 2003, 14:00

The problem i am having is that lots of different situations can cause the symptoms you describe however most are very unlikely. so i need to ask a few more questions how did you make the home made denitrator, or do you mean soffening resin? have you actually tested your pH or was that a guess i didn't understand? how long have you owned the ancistrus?

criffa · Post by **criffa** » 02 Oct 2003, 18:14

I have owned this ancistrus for approx six months - bought it as an inch sized baby (i believe they were home bred) and is now probably 3". Just retested the water, and the pH is coming out between 7.8 and 8. It is a denitryfier, but i've just realised i haven't actually opened the taps yet. Tank is powered by an eheim 2213 and the outlet tube has been Tee'd. One "branch" returns to the tank through a spray bar, and the other has been fed into an eheim extension canister, which has been tapped so i can control the flow trhough it. It has been filled with filter floss for the high SA, but i doubt any denitrifying bacteria have colonised yet as i can see no nitrogen gas bubbles (and i also have my suspicions whether with will work at all!

) (aditionally, this canister's outlet is will be fed back into the tank near the spray via a "hockey stick" for re-oxygenation). Regarding hardness, i have not been able to test for hardness, but to possibly make things more complicated, i do have a large amount of Vallis in my tank (which i've been told can reduce hardness as it can use carbonates as a source of CO2).

His present status is that he is still alive and ticking, but i do fear the worst. He is still bloated and the sac things are still there. I've been treating his with esha 2000, but no improvement as yet.

Cheers again - sorry about any typos

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 02 Oct 2003, 23:28

more questions. have you introduced any new fish within the last six weeks if so how are they? Have you renovated the tank recently or done any major water changes for any reason. Do you feed live foods if so which ones? With out seeing the fish it's very differcult to get an idea of the condition even with good description is there any chance of a picture. I personly wouldn't use filter floss for a denitrator as if any waste does get through it will become highly anerobic and potentialy very toxic. a safer and easier method to lower nitrate is to either invest in an RO or look after the plants with liquid feed and C02 injection.

criffa · Post by **criffa** » 03 Oct 2003, 00:03

Good point. casting my memory back, the last fish I did get was the Syno. it was a straight forward exchange: angelicus (was being way too boisterous) for a decorus. The first decorus was ill. It did have spot (which was thought to be sand, as it was in a sand tank). From my experience from working in the trade, it can be confusing, but obviously the sales person didn't check thoroughly enough. Unfortunately, this one succumbed quite quickly. And unusually, the large clown loach I had (was about 4â?

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 03 Oct 2003, 00:23

worst case it's a microsporidian infection introduced with the live tubifix often known under the term nodular. the bursting is the release of spores, but dont go looking for any there tiny. not a great deal known about these and there is no known cure, it either dies out with no intermediate host for spors or the host dies. sometimes leads to fungus infection so keep using esha 2000 (does that treat fungus?). your best bet at the moment is to buy some more test kits KH GH and nitrate and do whatever needs to be done there and to keep the ancistrus isolated lots of good quality food and lots of water changes.