# unknown disease



## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

I am having big problems lately. My fish have been dopping like flies. All the fish that have died have had some sort of white spot on them. Before they die they swim around liflessly. For example, they swim upside down and act like they are don't know what's going on. When I wake up in the morning, the described fish are dead. I have a 55 gal and I have the fish that are in my sig.

I have been doing a lot of research. I think I have either ick, colmunaries, or the neon tetra disease. I'm hoping it's either columnaries or ick because they are curable. But, I am very afraid it is the neon tetra disease because this didn't start happening until I added the neons.

At first I thought I had ick so I started the treatment using quIK cure. But, now that the treatment is over, 2 neons have developed ick again. In the morning I will be doing a 25% water change and trying again. The directions say to take the carbon out and I did but, what I failed to realize is that there is carbon is in the filter cartridge too. I will run the filter with out the cartridge and carbon and start again. I am using a Emperor 400 filter. I'm pretty sure thats why it did not work because on the directions it says it will turn the water blue for a few days. The blue in my tank usually dissapears in less than a hour.

I'm hoping that this works. Sorry for the long write-up, but I felt it was neccassary. Any help appreciated. Thank you.


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## baby~doll (Jun 17, 2005)

its probably ich... the neons might have had it at the pet store and then brought it into the aquarium you have set up (guessing you didnt quaranteen(sp?) the fish first?) but treat for ich until it is gone, raising the temperature helps (someone else will know to what degrees) and i think there is a different treatment where you can use just salt to treat it (once again, someone else can probably tell you what to do)


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

sounds like ich to me too. did you vac the gravel? i would vac the gravel every 3-4 days of treatment to suck up all the eggs and stuff that fell off your fish. also your best bet is to treat another 2-4 after all signs of ich are gone.


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## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

baby~doll said:


> its probably ich... the neons might have had it at the pet store and then brought it into the aquarium you have set up (guessing you didnt quaranteen(sp?) the fish first?) but treat for ich until it is gone, raising the temperature helps (someone else will know to what degrees) and i think there is a different treatment where you can use just salt to treat it (once again, someone else can probably tell you what to do)


No, I didn't quarantine them. I only have one tank.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

if youve got ich you dont want to put them into a quarentine tank anyways, unless your putting them into a tank without it. youll just contaminate that tank too and have to treat. where oh where did that wonderful ich thread go to?


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## baby~doll (Jun 17, 2005)

i didnt mean to quaranteen them now... i meant before he added them to the aquarium


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## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

Would it be ok to turn my filter off while treating? Like I said the cartride has carbon in it itself. So, I'm thinking my first treatment didn't work because of that. I dont really just want to take the the cartridge and carbon container out while the filter is running. Wouldn't that make all the stuff the cartridges pick up go on the bio wheel?


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

do you have the little cartridge type things that you can open up and put stuff in there? if so i would opt to put cotton in there so you can take the other cartridge out.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

baby~doll said:


> i didnt mean to quaranteen them now... i meant before he added them to the aquarium


oh i wasnt saying that, i was just making sure he new


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## baby~doll (Jun 17, 2005)

fishfreaks said:


> oh i wasnt saying that, i was just making sure he new


oh... good idea... lol i coulda confused him


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## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

Thanks guys. No you didn't confuse me baby~doll.  

Yea I have one of those. That's a good idea fishfreaks. Thanks I'll do that.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Neon disease takes a long time to grow and spread, so you can rule that one out, I think. Ick is your most likely culprit.


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## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

First thing this morning, I got started with the treatment. I did a 25% water change. I took the filter cartridge out and I put cotton in the plastic carbon container. I will keep you guys informed...


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## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

Alright I don't think the medication is working. I've been using the medication exactly like the instructions say and I've been doing 25% water changes every 3 days. I've lost all my neons except 3 which still have ich on them. Now one of my gouramis is infected too. It really sucks that I lost so many fish to this and I don't want to loose anymore. Should I try another mediaction. Right now, I'm using quick cure.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

alright. what is your temp of the tank? youve only been treating about 5 or 6 days, right? it make take a bit more time. personally i like rid ich, something with the melactite (sp?) green works really well, but can turn the silicone in your tank blue. so if your not worried about it then cool. ichs life cycle speeds up with warmer temperatures, and slows down with cooler temps.


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## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

I usually have my tank at 78 degrees, but for treatment I have it set on 81. The medication I'm using has melchite green(howerver u spell it). I guess I just need to keep treating. Is it normal for fish to catch ich during treatment that didn't have it when I started treating?


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

yes its normal. i will try to find the nice thread we had awhile back going about ich and the life cycle. the short version, the cells fall off your fish, down into the substrate and as they lye there the keep dividing, and when they "hatch" they look for a host, aka your fish. i would continue treating, until all signs are gone, scratching themselves, and the visible spots. when all signs are gone, treat for another 3-4 days after that, to prevent the ich life cycle to catch up with your fish. keep doing the water changes as you are and follow eveything else and you should see improvements over the next few days


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Many times you have to treat for at least 2 lifecycles of the ich. There is a medicine out there that is strictly malachite green from korden. It worked for me in a weeks time. The other mixed meds out there are good but watered down with other types of meds.


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## h_sheltie (Jun 16, 2005)

My ich is all gone. I stopped treating yesterday. The bad news, none of my neons made it. It sucks but at least all my other fish made it through. Thanks for all the help everyone.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Sorry to hear about the neons. Neons are a little fragle when it comes to ick meds. but glad to hear you had sucess with the rest of your tank.


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