Ornamental fish disease - treatment & medicines

[YellowTang]

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Fish Disease and Treatment

Many people have the concept that the aquarium is a sterile and safe environment, and that safety seal is temporary opened when you add new fish and plants into it. After that if your fish continues to be fine and healthy, then no baddies like disease or parasites or bacteria has breached the castle, until the next time you introduce new fish into your aquarium.

In fact, that concept is very wrong!

All fish carrys bacteria/parasites on their body, and indeed all aquariums contains harmful bacteria and parasites. This is the same case as us humans. We carry millions of bacteria and parasites (ie dust mites) on our hair and skin. We pass them around when we come into contact with one another and when we come into contact with the things around us. Look at our cash and coins. They change hands from one person to another. Along the way, it has definitely ever come into contact with even strongly contagious diseases. And they never gets washed! When is the last time you wash your dollar notes? And do you know there are people who put coins in their ears until they need to use them? In fact, the only time money gets a rinse is when someone accidently drops them into the toilet bowl, after with the cleaner digs it out with his mop that he use to clean the toilet bowls as well as the taps you wash your hands with. Ok I think we've sidetracked enough, but I guess you get the idea. Humans and fish actually lives with bacteria and parasites as part of our everyday life.

These bacteria and parasites are kept in check from doing the harm they are capable of by our body's and our fish's own defense mechanisms. They are harmless unless the conditions becomes favourable for them, thats when they can cause serious trouble.

Look at humans, our defense is down when we suddenly put ourselves in very cold environment without proper clothings. We can also get infections when we get physically wounded.

For fish, they are also very similar.

Fish's defense is down when:

• Fish is under stress, causing the immune system to be down
  
• Poor water conditions such as sudden changes in water conditions or water parameters
  
• Physical injuries such as bites or scratches.
  

If left untreated, a sick fish acts as a fertile base for these bacteria/parasites to multiply in large numbers. As a result, the infection gains power and this infection then spreads to other tank mates. Over time, your tank becomes a death trap killing everything in it.

Disease prevention

Prevention is better than cure, and these words of wisdom are never more true then when it is applied to fishkeeping. When you get a disease, the first headach is identifying the disease. A wrong identification will not only waste your time and money in giving it the wrong treatment, it may even make matters worse. Other than that, medication can harm your biological filter, and it can can trapped in your porous filter media, permanently wrecking them.


1. Ensure the water condition is kept to the ideal level.

• Maintain your filtration system so that ammonia and nitrites is kept at zero level.
  
• Test your water with test kits at the first signs of trouble (ie fish behaving abnormally, inactivity etc). Check for pH levels and ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to see if they are under control. Early detection of these problems give you a chance to rectify things easily before it gets tricky (ie fish falls sick).
  pH can be easily adjusted if it got too low or high
  ammonia or nitrite spikes can be easily diluted by water change (after which your filtration system should be analysed to see what went wrong.)

2. Don't accidently add already sick fish into your aquarium.

To spot sick fish in the fish shop, sick fish usually have the following symptoms

• abnormal swimming style
  
  (such as tailspin, rapid/jerky movement or misalignment).
  In a fish shop, it is usually easy to spot problem fishes if you look at the whole tank without concentration on one single fish. These fishes usually do not move the same way with other fishes in its tank.
  
• Signs of injuries to fins and body.
  
  ( such as bleeding, ulcers, skin or fin tear)
  Skin/fin tear are usually caused by territorial fish fighting with one another. In most cases, these injuries can heal rapidly. However, in such cases we should think about its injuries and why it is injured. Aggressive fish often fight and cause damage especially in a small enclosed environment. If only one fish in the tank is injured but the rest of the fish are relatively injury-free, then that fish may have been picked upon because it is already weakened by some kind of sickness and the other fishes have sensed it.
  
• Appetite lost
  
  ( ie not eating )
  A healthy fish will devour any food without much thought. A loss of appetite in the short term when a fish is introduced into a new tank is normal. This is due to the stress of new, unknown surroundings for the fish as well as a new feeding pattern by different keepers. However, if a fish is to suddenly stop eating in the same tank it has always been in, it is highly possible that it is sick. If you are aquiring an expensive fish or if you know the fish store well, you could request to see the fish eat before buying.
  (note: Be tactful! Don't say '"I wanna see your fish eat because I think it may be sick." Instead say something like "I love to see fish eating.. can I feed this one?".
  
• Blur eyes, pop-eye or white spots on fins and body, or any abnormal growth or redness on the body or fins.
  
  These are obvious signs of already sick fish that require immediate treatment and you should not get these fish nor any fish in the same tank. Personally I would run far far away and not turn back until it is safe to do so.

Fin Rot

What Is Fin Rot?

When you see a case of fin rot you will always be able to recognise it. It will cause a discolouration at the site where it happens, and this discoloration on the fins will spread if left unchecked. The fin will keep rotting away and in worst cases until where there is only a stump left where the fin was.

Attacking Fin Rot

Fin Rot is caused by bacteria that is always in the aquarium water. Under normal circumstances, fish can ward off the bacteria and will not get fin rot. When this happens, there is usually something wrong in the aquarium that is causing stress to the fish inside. Some examples of such stress can be spikes in ammonia, nitrities or nitrates, introduction of aggressive fish, that caused stress or physical injury to the affected fish. Think of it this way, when you get a cut on your skin it usually heals by itself and not get infected right? This is the same for fishes too. When their immunity is down, it is usually caused by something that happened to their environment that they live in so try to pinpoint the cause and deal with and the fish can recover by itself. Main thing is to ensure the water is in its best condition with no nitrogenous waste and add some salt in the water for anti-bacteria effect. If there is a scar after healing and it is near to the edge of the tail fin of a big fish, you can bag it and use transmore to make the fish sleep before you carefully trim it away with a pair of sharp scissors (ONLY trim it around the affected edges, NOT cut the tail off!!). If it is the side fins you should not trim it because it can give the fish difficulty swimming before it grows back.


Fungus


What is Fungus?
The two main types of fungus in aquarium, we class them into "True Fungus" and "False Fungus".

False Fungus ( Columnaris Disease/Mouth Fungus/Mouth Rot)
While this disease look like a fungus attack, it is actually a bacteria infection. As with most common diseases, false fungus is caused by stress in the living environment of the fish.
In the long term form (chronic form), they appear as light grey markings on the fish., lips of the fish or inside the fish's mouth. These markings then become fluffy and look like cotton wool, therefore making people think they are fungus. This false fungus has a more coarse and grainy look, and they are more gray than true fungus. As this false fungus develops, the skin appears more and more of these ulcers. The places that get affected is usually the mouth and gills because they are more vulnerable but it can infect anywhere.
There is another form in which this occus, and in this form the disease strikes hard and fast. There is no external symptoms and the affected fish can appear listless and die just a few days later. A post motem examination is the only way to discover this infection.
Both of the above forms of fungus are caused by the same bacteria called Flexibacter Columnaris, which is why this disease is also called Columnaris Disease.

Attacking False Fungus
External false fungus/columnaris can be treated with potassium permanganate at a concentration of 2ppm for 8-10 hrs. As with any treatment, fish should be observed closely and if there is any signs of stress, you should do water change immediately. After treatment, you need to do a complete water change because potassium permanganate is harmful to soft tissues like the fish's gills and you need to clear it out so as to give the fish a chance to recover. If you can find phenoxyethanol, you can also use it to make a bath to immerse the fish in. The advantage of using phenoxyethanol is that phenoxyethanol will also treat both the false fungus and true fungus so if you make a wrong indentification it works too.

True Fungus (cotton wool disease)
They are whitish and fluffy like cotton wool, usually occuring at the site where the fish has a physical injury or abrasion/wear and tear. True fungus is caused by stress in the living environment of the fish and usually very bad conditions like poorly circulated and aerated water or rotting uneating food in the gravel bed or filter.

Attacking True Fungus
Since this is a disease caused by bad water conditions, fix the water! For the affected fish, you can remove the affected fish to a hospital tank to treat separately. You can give your fish an extended salt bath as treatment, but it takes time. Don't be expecting the fungus to disappear immediately or in a short time!
You can also use medication containing Phenoxyethanol if you can find it. For best efect, you can apply the medication onto the infection directly using cotton bud.
Unlike most other diseases, fungus attacks is hard for the fish to recover itself once the infection has gained a foothold. Treat the fish and pay close attention to it!

Cloudy Eyes-

There are two main types of fungus. The "True Fungus" and the "False Fungus".
The false fungus is called Mouth Fungus, Mouth Rot, or Columnaris Disease. While this disease shows all the signs of being a fungus it is actually a bacterial infection.
Signs
Chronic form:
Small, off-white to grey, marks on the head, but sometimes on the fins and gills. The lips are most likely to be infected, and the inside of the mouth.
The initial lesions develop into off-white fluffy growths resembling cotton wool, hence the confusion with true fungal infection. Mouth fungus has however a coarser and more granular appearance, and is often greyer in colour than true fungus.
Acute Form:
A systemic infection, usually occurring at tropical temperatures, with an incubation period of a few days. Fish do not always show external symptoms but may die in just a few days. Diagnosis is normally only possible on a post-mortem examination. This disease may be responsible for some unexplained deaths.
Cause - Flexibacter Columnaris
Transmission
The bacterium is commonly present in aquariums water, on dead organic material, or even on healthy fish skin, and may invade damaged or unhealthy skin and the surrounding tissues. The bacterium appears to be more pathogenic under hard water conditions with a pH above 6.
Prevention
Good husbandry. Don't keep fish under the wrong conditions, i.e. Fish from hard or alkaline waters in soft acid water.
Monitor your aquarium for correct pH, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Ammonia levels. Ill health due to incorrect environment is far more likely than than flexibacter infection.
Treatment
Bath immersion using a treatment containing Phenoxyethanol is normally effective. It is also fungicidal and will cater for misdiagnosis in case of true fungal infection.

The true fungus or cotton wool disease.
Signs
Fluffy, usually white or whiteish growths, and usually at the site of an injury or where the skin has been damaged by disease, including wounds left by large parasites or by fighting. Untreated fungal growths may turn grey to reddish-brown with time, as they accumulate dirt and algae. The untreated areas will soon spread to healthy tissue which will eventually lead to death. Fungus is often seen as a secondary infection to diseases like fin rot.
Cause
A number of different types of fungus including Saprolegnia are commonly blamed for all fungus and Achyla. Other fungi may be involved and a single site may be attacked by many species of fungi.
Transmission
Fungi are found in most aquariums feeding on dead and decaying plant and fish matter. In fact anywhere the water quality is poor.
Prevention
Good husbandry cannot be stresses enough. Stress, poor hygiene, chilling, injury, old age and other diseases will allow fungal infections to multiply.
Treatment
Do not dose the tank, if it is not really needed.
If only one or two fish are infected, a hospital tank is the better option. If all or most of the fish have fungus, you will have to treat the whole tank but this will be useless if you do not solve the underlying problem (see prevention).
The following options are available.
A prolonged salt bath has an effect on most fungi and is better for the fish and plants as long as they are salt resistant.
Add an aquarium fungicide, one containing Phenoxyethanol can be used.
If you have no room for a hospital tank and the fish is still fairly healthy you can apply the fungicide directly on the affected spot with a soft swab. This minimizes stress to the fish as it is returned to it's own tank straight away.
Don't Forget good hygiene, minimal stress and proper feeding should help give no problems of this nature.

If you know what medicine that cure your fish, or what disease kill your fish, please post so that others will know
what will do if they encounter these diseases .

[JuLskie Salac]

thanks for the info bro.. up ko ani!

[boang3000]

nice one sir!

[karlboro]

uppp natu n

[chan-chan]

TY sa info bro

[baiparts]

gamit kau para mga nag buhi ug mga fishes! up nato para sa mga beginners!

[heydods]

saka tani... very NICE!!

[Biscuitoy]

up for this informative thread