Harlequin Rasboara Dying One By One...

[Gypsy13]

I missed this thread earlier, but does this look like the white stuff you had on your tank:

(there's 2 things going on in my vid, the fuzzy white things, and some white worms).
And here's a still, with a bit more detail:
View attachment 450710
They look like little palm trees or umbrellas, right? And when there's a current, they sway or bend over like palms in a hurricane.
I had these things in a quarantine tank (everything died, don't ask :|). I searched and searched and came up with nothing definitive. It's definitely not hydra, which I had thought at the time. My best guess is it's some sort of fungus organism. Many posts around the interweb that describe it also describe small white worms. I can't imagine they're directly related or associated, but they may be symptomatic of the same thing, ie a new or dirty tank. I think I was critically overfeeding that quarantine tank, and these things blew up as a result. They did die back over time.
Bottom line, I think they're symptomatic of the same thing that's affecting your fish, but they're not directly involved or implicated.

Just me two cents here. And my Vets’s. He says that is hydra and planaria in the video. I don’t know cause well, I’m blind.

 

[finnipper59]

Just me two cents here. And my Vets’s. He says that is hydra and planaria in the video. I don’t know cause well, I’m blind.

They both need to go, unless that's what your intending to grow. Hydra aren't so bad. They eat small protozoa and diatoms. The planaria are paracites...very similar to flukes. Just out of curiosity, is the tank you've been showing us fillid with water that you collected from a pond or lake?

 

[Meeko2690]

They both need to go, unless that's what your intending to grow. Hydra aren't so bad. They eat small protozoa and diatoms. The planaria are paracites...very similar to flukes. Just out of curiosity, is the tank you've been showing us fillid with water that you collected from a pond or lake?

If you are asking me the answer is no tap water only

 

[bitseriously]

I know they look like hydra, but I’m satisfied they’re not. And I’m a critical thinker/learner. (when I first posted that vid here in this forum back in March I was sure that’s what they were, but another user set me straight).
And I don’t think the worms are planaria. I think they’re Rhabdocoela.
And, to bring this back to OP question, I posted the vid and pic to ask OP Meeko2690 if these are the white things seen in his tank.

 

[finnipper59]

I know they look like hydra, but I’m satisfied they’re not. And I’m a critical thinker/learner. (when I first posted that vid here in this forum back in March I was sure that’s what they were, but another user set me straight).
And I don’t think the worms are planaria. I think they’re Rhabdocoela.
And, to bring this back to OP question, I posted the vid and pic to ask OP Meeko2690 if these are the white things seen in his tank.

Ok. But some of them were convincingly looking like hydra. The only curiosity I had was about your camera because they did look rather large for hydra.

 

[bitseriously]

Ah. I used a mag loupe in front of my phone camera lens. each of those umbrella things is maybe 2mm across. Maybe.

 

[Meeko2690]

I know they look like hydra, but I’m satisfied they’re not. And I’m a critical thinker/learner. (when I first posted that vid here in this forum back in March I was sure that’s what they were, but another user set me straight).
And I don’t think the worms are planaria. I think they’re Rhabdocoela.
And, to bring this back to OP question, I posted the vid and pic to ask OP Meeko2690 if these are the white things seen in his tank.

It's hard to say either way to be honest with you.

In other news...another day and no casualties.

 

[Meeko2690]

I spoke to soon, about 20 minutes after I posted that another one died.
This one showed zero symptoms, he was literally fine one minute, I turned round to watch a program on tv for 20 minutes went back and looked and he was gone. Makes zero sense. There was no redness or anything like the others so no other symptoms he was swimming fine and looked good.

I'm honestly thinking it was a bad batch of Harlequins the store got. I don't think there is anything wrong with my water or anything like that. I am tempted to get different fish from elsewhere, see how they go, that way I will know for certain whether its the store/bad batch or its something to do with my tank and then I can move forward from there.

 

[finnipper59]

I spoke to soon, about 20 minutes after I posted that another one died.
This one showed zero symptoms, he was literally fine one minute, I turned round to watch a program on tv for 20 minutes went back and looked and he was gone. Makes zero sense. There was no redness or anything like the others so no other symptoms he was swimming fine and looked good.

I'm honestly thinking it was a bad batch of Harlequins the store got. I don't think there is anything wrong with my water or anything like that. I am tempted to get different fish from elsewhere, see how they go, that way I will know for certain whether its the store/bad batch or its something to do with my tank and then I can move forward from there.

You had a LEACH in your tank and you could see it. What about the microscopic things you can't see? Regardless of how crystal clear your water is and no matter how perfect your water perameters are...you've got bugs. How is it that fish hatch from a tiny egg, make it to adulthood so they can be sold in a store, but die in your tank because they're a bad batch of fish. You need to treat all of your tanks with an antiparacitic and then with an antibiotic, then correct your water perameters before you buy another fish.

 

[Meeko2690]

You had a LEACH in your tank and you could see it. What about the microscopic things you can't see? Regardless of how crystal clear your water is and no matter how perfect your water perameters are...you've got bugs. How is it that fish hatch from a tiny egg, make it to adulthood so they can be sold in a store, but die in your tank because they're a bad batch of fish. You need to treat all of your tanks with an antiparacitic and then with an antibiotic, then correct your water perameters before you buy another fish.

The microscopic things are cyanobacteria. What is to say there isn't something wrong with the store's tank? Or the fish arrived ill? They only spend 3 days in quarantine in the store and even then it is using the same water and sump as the fish that are for sale. I won't be updating this thread any further since I am clearly doing things so wrong and people are getting argumentative. Thanks to those who helped.

 

[Meeko2690]

OMG I've sussed it. One of them has white string hanging from him. One of the others has pop eye (only in one eye). Convinced its internal parasites. Bizarre as I've never seen these symptoms in any of the others. Unlesss this is something new..at which point I'll medicate the fish then re-home them because I am very quickly losing my patience.

 

[Meeko2690]

Just a small update.
I added Fluke Solve on Thursday more in hope than anything else () and it seems to have improved the fish. No more deaths. One of the Rasbora looks like its about to drop eggs. To me that seems to be a success. I am not saying it solved the issue, but at the least on the off chance it was flukes of any kind it will have worked on that front. So some positive news I guess. Just playing the waiting game now.

 

[Meeko2690]

No more deaths!


Just a thought, could it just be stress/shock?

 

[mattgirl]

No more deaths!


Just a thought, could it just be stress/shock?

Yay for the good news.

That is a possibility. Some fish handle the shipping and then the moves from store tank to home tank better than others. I always expect to lose some when restocking and am pleasantly surprised when all survive.

 

[Meeko2690]

Yay for the good news.

That is a possibility. Some fish handle the shipping and then the moves from store tank to home tank better than others. I always expect to lose some when restocking and am pleasantly surprised when all survive.

The reason it makes me think it is just stress/shock or something like that is because the 2 Dwarf Gourami are completely fine and happy and they have been in there for nearly 2 weeks and the fact there are no visible symptoms with the Harlequins or behavioural changes. Early days but the RTS also seems to be in great condition and his red tail gets more and more red every day, its quite possibly the reddest colour I have ever seen.

I have read the DG are a hardy species so it is possible they have made the transition a lot easier than the Harelquins. If I am right, then I feel like a bit of an idiot and causing myself all this stress and worry for something that quite frankly I can't control. Newbies gonna newbie. It'll be interesting to see how this goes as I don't see me adding any more fish until I feel comfortable with what to stock next and that there are no diseases or more death in the tank. I'll give it a week or two, and if there are no more deaths I will add more Harlequins. I bought 6 and lost 4 the first time and I got 12 the last time so 18 in total and I am down to 7, which suggests to me they are not very hardy if that is indeed the case. I'll need to buy another 10 to get them up to around a school of 10 at this rate.

 

[mattgirl]

I know we have discussed the best way to acclimate so I am sure whatever is going on is something that is totally out of your control. Hopefully in the end you will have a full school of healthy fish. I just hate that you are going through losing so many of them.

we can't know what conditions they were bred in or cared for so just have to do the best we can once they are in our care.

 

[Meeko2690]

Seen the leach this morning when I got in from nightshift so he got swiftly removed and thrown out the window

 

[mattgirl]

Seen the leach this morning when I got in from nightshift so he got swiftly removed and thrown out the window

I know you are relieved to finally be able to get it out of there.

 

[Gypsy13]

I know you are relieved to finally be able to get it out of there.

You think he was alone?

 

[mattgirl]

You think he was alone?

I am sure he is hoping that is the case

BTW, It is wonderful to see you back doing one of the things you do best. And that is helping so many folks.

 

[Meeko2690]

Creepy little thing, hopefully that is the only one.

 

[Gypsy13]

Creepy little thing, hopefully that is the only one.

With any luck it was all by itself. Better luck would be it was a plant leach. I feel bad but I let them get fat on my parrots feather in the frog pond then feed them to the goldies.

 

[Meeko2690]

Woke up this morning to one of the Harlequins not looking so good, he just looks sick.

Looks like he has white stuff around his mouth/face. Tried to get a pic but can't get a good one. It is water change day so hopefully that will help. I do have some medications/treatments on hand though.

 

[Gypsy13]

Woke up this morning to one of the Harlequins not looking so good, he just looks sick.

Looks like he has white stuff around his mouth/face. Tried to get a pic but can't get a good one. It is water change day so hopefully that will help. I do have some medications/treatments on hand though.

Do you have something that says it’s for mouth rot?