Aqua

I have two issues in two tanks, one I think is harmless but I want to check and make sure, the other I'm concerned about.

The first issue is that I took a tank out of my closet that has been sitting empty for two years, but when I added water within days I had tiny white threads looking like they were jerking floating around. There were a huge number at first, then decline after time, then appear in great numbers every time I do a water change. I guess they normally live in the gravel. They don't seem to be harming the fish (I'm using it as a hospital tank) and the Melafix I'm treating the fish with doesn't seem to affect these threads which I guess are worms. But I'd like someone who knows what this is to give me some advice please. I've attached a photo of the tank.

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Aqua

The second is a growth on both sides of the body right before the tail fin that is slowly extending into the fin area. From the photo you can see the whitish color. Last week, I tried putting it in the 10gal hospital tank and daily dosing it with 5ml of Melafix (the only medicine in the local store) and I haven't been able to tell any difference. He used to be my best breeder and produced a line of red wags with cleanly defined white bellies, but since he got the growth he has slowly stopped breeding and went from standard Red Wag shape to the bent version you see now and the areas around his backbone and tail have become rather thin.

Attached Images

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Jim

I'm not sure, but those don't look like the same thing Tan.B had. Her's were more like slugs.
What you have look like something I've seen in my tank. I used some ALGEAFIX in my tank, and it stirred them up good. About an hour after I treated my tank they were everywhere. Like you said, they looked like a thread, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch long.
But I didn't worry much, because my angelfish were eating them as fast as they could... I figured problem solved.

Aqua

While I do use AlgaeFix, I didn't put it in until AFTER the photo was taken. (those fish came from a tank heavily invested with hair algae). However, I had used it before putting the tank up for storage two years ago, do you think that might be left over from then? Unlike your angelfish, my angelfish and the three tiger barbs are completely ignoring it and actually are hovering in place about an inch above the gravel.

COBettaCouple

http://www.klsnet.com/files/fishchart.htm - check this link, particularly fish TB to see if that's what the red wag has. it looks like a tumor, but then there are those other symptoms..

Aqua

Copy & Paste

Inactivity, loss of color or appetite, weight loss, skin defects.
*Fish Tuberculosis
**Human strength TB medication may help in early stages. Contagious – disinfect tank, rocks, net, etc. to prevent transmission. Wash hands and surfaces well.

This has several of the symptoms except for loss of color, but I had 7 other Red Wags in it for a year before I transferred them last week and all the rest were perfectly healthy. Over a year if it were contagious at least one other would have caught it, so I think it is possibly something else that wasn't listed on that page that isn't contagious like TB.

What I've tried in the past are Melafix and aquarium salt, the salt seems to bring about improvement in activity for a week or so, but that's it. Here's the water stats for that tank in ppm unless otherwise mentioned, based on the API 5 in 1 test strips.... Nitrate: 0, Nitrate: 40, General Hardness: 50, Alkalinity: 20, pH 7.2. I know I need to get the Alkalinity up, but not sure how to do that without boosting pH. Aside from that, water conditions seem pretty much ideal, and this is a fairly stable level even though I only do water changes on it once every month or two (if it ain't broke, why fix it?) though I've been doing weekly water changes since May to try and clear this up (which is when the Alkalinity plummeted from 100 to 20).

COBettaCouple

the readings from the test strips are less than reliable unfortunately.. liquid testing gives more accurate results. If your nitrates are that high, you need to do partial water changes until it comes down under 20.

what about this site on finding a cause: http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_dis...l_changes.html