dancerhas

Our High-finned platy (Spike) developed a mysterious malady and wasted away to nothing, we ended up euthanizing her. I made a couple posts attempting to decipher what was wrong with her, all to no avail. We treated her with a barrage of different medicines and nothing helped in the slightest. The symptoms of this disease are as follows:

-Weight Loss (with SEVERE thinning in advanced cases, see pictures below)

-Darkening in color (sometimes)

-Laying on the bottom preferring holes or corners

-Not eating (sometimes)

-Swimming in a bizarre bouncing motion (sometimes)

-When not laying on the bottom the affected fish may spend time at the surface for no apparent reason, and then return to the bottom.

-Whitish Stools (at onset) No visible excrement after about 2 weeks.

Occasional other physical maladies such as swollen gills or tattered fins.

Medicines that do NOT treat this disease:

Metronidazole
Praziquantel
Acraflavine
Diflubenzuron
Minocycline
Levamisole (assumed, treated food was refused by affected fish)

Our Sunburst wag Platy has started exhibiting these symptoms, and our one swordtail is also beginning to hide in the corner.

ALL SUBJECTS ARE FEMALE.

This disease is contagious, but not highly.

This disease is not a quick killer, and theoretically does not directly kill the fish. One subject had it for about 4 months before being euthanized.

Attached is a picture of our one fish laying on the bottom.

UPDATE:

I am more convinced every day that this disease ONLY affects LIVEBEARERS, and is only transferred through direct contact either with contaminated fecal matter or infected fish.

Our new 55 gallon was set up using gravel and many decorations from our 30 gallon that was inhabited previously by livebearers. Two were examples of this "livebearer stomach flu" Yet none of the new fish in this tank have acquired this disease. None are livebearers however...so the true reason they have remained unaffected is unknown.

Our second case of this disease has progressed and is probably the most severe we've seen to date. The time it takes the disease to get to this point is about 3 months. Here are some pictures:





Note the caved in stomach. It's horrifying to see a fish in this condition.

Attached Images

DSC_0001-1.jpg (108.0 KB, 37 views)

Lucy

It really sounds like internal parasites but the meds should have taken care of it.

Sorry you had to make a tough choice.

Red1313

Medicinal resistance could be an issue here. Have you tried anything rare and exotic that is rarely used? It might work better then traditional meds.

Speedy

dancerhas

I'm considering separating the healthy and sick fish in two quarantine tanks, and then killing the entire 29G with a chlorine bath and starting from scratch. It's such a drastic measure but the options are slim. What kind of antiparasitic meds are there besides the regular common ones? I've heard Levamisole is very effective but is very hard to obtain and hard to get fish to ingest.

Red1313

SOF offered some good advice on how to sterilize with ammonia want me to see if I can find it for you?

dancerhas

Ooh yeah, that'd be great, thanks!

Speedy

If I lose the two angelfish that are left in the tank I'm going to do the same.
I have to go now but you might want to check out the fish farmacy on the net for some good medicines. I'm looking into some for myself and there is a number to call and they will help on trying to find out what is wrong with your fish. Very good place. I haven't been able to find Levamisole myself but I don't think that is my problem thank goodness. I will list some other antiparasitic meds later.

dancerhas

The fish pharmacy is a great resource...there should be a link to it on here. After viewing their diagnosis charts it sounds like my fish have some kind of internal flagellates or parasites. This is what we originally thought but none of the common meds work. The fish pharmacy recommended Paracide-D or Paracide-X to treat it. Anyone used either of these Meds before?

reefplayground

could be internal parasites or internal fungal infection.

try methylene blue dips, 5-10ml/1gal of water. every other day.

Speedy

Yes it is. I decided to give the PraziPro another try on my fish and it seems to be working this is the 3rd time I have put it in there and they seem a lot better now. They even have wigglers now. They are proud parents.
I think I just didn't treat them long enough the first time. I sure hope you find a cure for your fish. Good luck.

dancerhas

According to this site, Methylene blue is indicated for EXternal infections. I am fairly certain the infection is internal.

http://www.novalek.com/kordon/methylene_blue/index.htm

Speedy

I'm still concerned with my male even though they seem better but he still isn't eating it has been 3 weeks and nothing. I'm getting worried. Other than that they seem o.k. except sometimes her feces still is clear in some places. I haven't seen his feces since the snail trail.
Are you going to try the Methylene blue on your fish? I'm thinking about treating mine with the Levamisole that is the only thing I can think of that I haven't treated them for. I have just about giving up on mine. I sure hope if you try that on your fish that it works. Good luck. Let me know what happens.

Dark_Rider2k3

Hey just wanted to post that this is affecting me now. A week ago one of my females was laying on the floor (a female guppy) and i thought she was about to give birth (she was pregnant). But a little bit after putting her in the breeder I noticed her bounce off the walls going insane, and she died shortly after).

2 days ago I noticed the same behavior from my other female. I got sick yesterday and this morning when I looked I did not see her. So.. I don't know.. but she was "bouncing off the walls"... it was sad to see...

I am pretty sure she ate the day before I got sick, but it was later on that day when I got home from school when I saw her acting that way.

when i saw her, by the way, it was underneath the driftwood near the corner of the tank.

prairielilly

SOF74's advice for sterilizing with ammonia was in my first thread:

Major tank disaster - advice please??

I can say from experience that it worked very, very well.

dancerhas

Cool, thanks. Essentially the process is 10PPM Ammonia for 3 days?

prairielilly

I did a week (I like to be certain-sure...) Btw, nothing 'melted', I even stuffed the gravel vac, net etc in there for that time period to nuke them too.

Dark_Rider2k3

It seems I might have to do that. None of my other fish have been affected. Only the female livebearers. I now have no females left =(.

dancerhas

That seems to be supporting the fact that this only affects females.

cerianthus

Possible but doubtful!

MaddieLynn

I wonder if it could be something in the food... or maybe not, since the other fish didn't show symptoms.

My weird theory is that, since it is only the femsle livebearers, ithere is a high likelyhood it has something to do with the unborn fry. Possibly something is causing them to overhold the fry, and since they can't get out, mopre and more fru keep piling up, which is eventually lethal for the fish. That would explain the slow progression of the problem. But what I don't know is what could be causing the problem. Do you have the tank heated? What's the temperature at?

dancerhas

It's highly unlikely to be an overholding issue due to the fact that weight loss is a leading symptom. (we are still talking about the sickness that's in the OP right?) Possibly injury DURING birth...but the one platy we have that's affected is only 4 months old and as far as I know has never been pregnant.

Dark_Rider2k3

I would also like to confirm this, as my females did not look bloated or over-stuffed. My one was pregnant, but the other 2 were not.

My tank temperatures are at a steady 74-75F