Please help my Bristlenose with white/pink sores

[MOO]

Please forgive my first post being here rather than the introduction forum, but I am very concerned about the health of our much loved BN 'Dave.'

1.*A good general description of the symptoms.

Over the past month or so I have lost about 6 fish. Mollies, Tetras and a Ram (unknown type)

The Ram apart from my two BN was the largest fish in the tank. He began to lose colouration and became very quiet, not his usual entertaining self. His fins began to shred and became grey and he eventually stopped using one of his fins which prevented him from swimming at all. His body had some large white spots.

My local fish shop suggested Ich and so began a week of treatment using Protozin along with some weekly water changes to reduce the Nitrate levels.

He eventually died during treatment and I also noticed that Dave the BN had started to develop small white fluffy areas behind his eyes on top of his head.

2.*Size of tank and other tankmates.

I have a 200 ltr tank. It also contains Mollies, Penguin Tetras, Rams and Glass Catfish along with some highly amusing Rock Shrimp and of course Dave's partner another BN called Eileen. About 18 fish in total.

3.*Water parameters.

As of this morning

a. Ammonia -0
b. Nitrite -0
c. Nitrate -40
d PH 7.2 -7.6.


4.*Filtration and water change regime.

a.What filtration do you have running on your tank?

I run a Aqua One Aquaris 1050 with sponge and ceramic media

b. How often do you do water changes? how much do you change?*

I change 45 ltrs every 3-4 weeks but, now once a week to lower Nitrate levels.

c. what do you use to remove chlorine/chloramines(if present) and heavy metals?

Aquasafe previously now Biotopol

5.*Diet.

JBL Novo Fect veggie tablets supplimented by courgette and cucumber.

6.*Temperature of tank water
Currently 26.6 degree Celsius = 79.88 degree Fahrenheit

7.*Treatments Used already
Protozin

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks

 

[Mooo]

Hi MOO, Welcome...nice to meet me... err um you...lol
Sorry to hear of your loss, R.I.P Dave....
It wasn't white spot, cos that looks like loads of small grains of salt all over the fish, starts in the gills...so I believe...
Your NitrAte levels are high imo, I don't like mine going over 20...
It's more likely a fungus, Some other tank mate might be picking on it and it could have gotten injured & contracted an infection or it is a fungus problem...
I had one recently that my breeding angels bashed up.
I put him into my Q/Hospital tank, & used Melafix i& Pimafix..in a week the fungus had gone and it has just got the fleshy injury, It is shrinking in size, I have kept a wc regime of 20% every second day..
20/30% Once a week is advisable for water changes..
I use Seachem Prime for my water changes..
I use HOB filters and sponge filters on my smaller tanks and 2 canisters on my 5 foot tank..

 

[MOO]

Hey Mooo its Moo! lol.
Cheers for the advice. Dave is not dead (yet) but, I am looking into the tank every morning expecting to find something attached to the filter input pipe or floating at the top.
Good news if it is fungus, I was worried it might be neon tetra disease. I will get some treatment tomorrow and see how things progress.

 

[foti]

its a Bacterial infection

only cause it looks like this
http://www.jbl.de/onlinehospitaluk/perpicture/index.php?Step=3&GalleryId=2&klickedPic=005_v

i recomend you treat it straight away dont think that it could wait

good luck with it all

 

[Irene0100]

certainly lots of water changes are good, even every other day while he is ill ad good water is essential.
very difficult to be sure what it is. I agree it could be bacterial, but could also be viral, given your other fish have been unwell/dying.
can you tell us more about the symtoms of the other fish? did any of them have sores on them?
if a fish gets an injury -eg from fighting, heater burn or damage from fin rot, then a bacterial infection can easily set in. but as you have lots a lot of fish it could be something contageous such as a virus. did the fish start to fall ill after adding any new fish or plant that could have brough an infection in?
(also do you have any sores on your hands?)

 

[MOO]

Hi Irene0100. Nope the other fish showed no signs of illness, sudden and unexplained deaths. Except for the Ram who did show signs of fin damage and a change in behaviour and then some dulling of scale colour and some white blotches along its side, about the size of a match head.

I have no sores on my hands.Never witnessed any fighting between any of them. While some fish have died along the way, the tanks has been running about 6 months, the bulk were after I introduced marbled mollies. One of them has died but again notshowing any outward signs of illness like the Ram.
The last to go was a penguin Tetra who started swimming nose down all off a sudden. I always have my nosed pressed against the tank, so I would hope to notice something as I did with the Ram.

 

[Irene0100]

Ok sounds good, I was worried he may have virus like in this thread...scroll down thru the pages... http://plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7592

do you have a cover on heater -ie could he have heater burns -quite common on plecs?

need s close-up pic of his sores to see if fungal or infected Iguess.
otherwise can use a general anti-fungal and anti bacterial meds such as the duo of melafix and pimafix which I use although some people dont like them because they are mild -made from natural plant extracts like teatree etc- so dont always work
but I find thats its safer than strong man-made chemicals if you dont know what illness you are treating. remember to make sure plenty of oxygen when using meds so add venturi or air stone if you can, as most meds reduce the tank oxgen levels. (but dont tell you on the box!)

 

[MOO]

Ok, so after much effort I think I have a better picture of Dave. Irene, the heater is covered with a plastic grill so deffo not burns.

 

[Irene0100]

ouch, looks very sore and skin has gone.
if there was any other plecs in the tank I would say fighting going on, but as not something, poss fungal, has eaten the skinand the redness is infection.
so big w/c then add some medicine.
keep fingers crossed

 

[JoePlec]

Its nothing to do with heater burns or anything its bacterial do a heavy water change and treat it straight away or you will lose him.

 

[Mooo]

Ouch looks sore, poor bugger...Keep water changes up...I agree with Irene..
I would be using the Mela+Pima...I always use them as a first line of defense..
Best of luck with it...

 

[MOO]

Just a quick update. I have say that Dave is looking much better. I completed a 40% water change two days ago and the redness in his sores had greatly reduced. On the advice of my fish shop, I added 50ml of Tetra Medica General Tonic as part of a 7 day plan.

I will post some pics at the weekend to show you progress.

Thanks for all your support

 

[Irene0100]

good, lets hope it does the job. good luck Dave

 

[Big-B]

Good Luck with him. :thumbup:

 

[VickiandKev]

Glad to hear dave is looking better.

I found one of my Blue Phantoms with a similar thing a while ago except it was much more extensive over the dorsal aspect of the body.

Can you get hold of any TAP Aquagel? I have treated ulcers that look like this several times with Aquagel (you have to get the fish out, dab it dry, then apply the Aquagel and blow until it's dried - just 30 seconds usually does it) and clean water/daily water changes and in every case it's cleared up within 5 days.

I even had a bristlenose that got burnt on a heater and he was missing skin down half of his body, and he recovered in record time with Aquagel (they're not paying me to advertise their product, honest!).

It's a really good product to have in your fish cupboard though, as it works on almost any kind of lesion in fish - I've even seen it work on lesions that are severely fungally infected.