Mysterious illness in glass catfish

Hello! I recently ended with a rather strange situation with my fish. In the process of searching for similar symptoms online I came across this forum-sorry if this post is wordy!
I have a 20 gallon, freshwater tank that has been running for four years. I regularly do water changes every week and test my parameters every month. As of two months ago my tank was stocked with a four inch clown loach, a guppy, and 5, 3 inch glass catfish. The catfish I've had for 6, nearly 7 years, without any issues. I feed them Fuval's 'Bug Bites' (the tropical fish one), Hikari frozen brine shrimp or blood worms, Hikari's pellets for bottom feeders, and also Omega One's veggie flakes.
Two months ago my guppy began developing white patches on her body along with what looked like fin rot and cotton mouth. Guppy was quarantined in a 10 gallon tank and treated with Seachem's MetroPlex for 14 days. I kept her in the tank for a month before reintroducing her to my 20 gallon. Everything was fine. At some point I noticed one of my glass catfish's barbells was missing. On December 27th, I woke up to my guppy suddenly dead and my glass cat covered in a sort of white fuzz. I quarantined again and ran a course of Seachem's ParaGuard. The glass catfish unfortunately died a week later-it went down very quickly.
Two weeks ago I once again noticed another of my glass catfish's barbells falling off, followed by the white fuzz. Two days later it died.

Last week yet another of my glass catfish lost a barbell. I tested the water-nothing's off, except for the ph (7.6), which has always been hard the entire time I've kept fish where I live. Everything else-ammonia, nitrate/nitrate, all 0.

Today the 3 affected glass catfish has lost its other barbell. It's only affecting one glass cat at a time and the clown loach in the tank is, as far as I can tell, unaffected. I've included a picture of the original infected glasscat-unfortunately it's not that good. Does anybody know what this might be? I love these fish dearly and I don't know what to do.

 

Could be fungus. It blew through my entire glowlight tetra school, but I only lost the first one who got it. I cleared it up in 2-3 weeks every time with Pimafix and aquarium salt in a small QT tank. I fed every other day and left the tank dark all day for maximum sleeping time. I turned their tank to blackwater because I was annoyed that two of my fish kept relapsing, and it hasn't happened since. I don't know a lot about glass catfish, but if you have tropical fish, you could try introducing tannin leeching products like Indian almond leaves (catappa leaves), driftwood, or alder cones.

 

Could be fungus. It blew through my entire glowlight tetra school, but I only lost the first one who got it. I cleared it up in 2-3 weeks every time with Pimafix and aquarium salt in a small QT tank. I fed every other day and left the tank dark all day for maximum sleeping time. I turned their tank to blackwater because I was annoyed that two of my fish kept relapsing, and it hasn't happened since. I don't know a lot about glass catfish, but if you have tropical fish, you could try introducing tannin leeching products like Indian almond leaves (catappa leaves), driftwood, or alder cones.

I do have driftwood in the tank but it's pretty old. My water is very hard and tends to have calcium buildup on everything it touches and the ph equalizer I use hasn't been able to lower it past 7.6-so I'll definitely try the almond leaves! Am running to the fish store today to pick up some Pimafix and salts-I'll give updates on how it goes. Thank you for the recomendations!

 

Just learned in another thread that salts aren't good for cory catfish, so check to see if they're okay for glass catfish.

 

Just learned in another thread that salts aren't good for cory catfish, so check to see if they're okay for glass catfish.

Oh dear! Will do!

 

Very bad news. My glass cat has passed away tonight, he/she is covered in fungus. I feel so bad. I have two left and one's starting to show signs of the same thing.

I picked up kanaplex from the pet store today, planning on going again tomorrow. I have a quarantine tank set up but the ammonia is very high.

 

You need that and furan2. It sounds like columnaris.

 

You need that and furan2. It sounds like columnaris.

Yeah, that's what I've been seeing. The fish store owner told me the same thing-but he recommended I start with Marycin. I only have Kannaplex on hand so that's what I've started this morning. I do have Furan-2 so I hope I can save the rest of my fish

I spotted last night a white patch on one of my remaining glass cats. Hoping the medicines can help them.

 

Update.

I ran the course of medicines. Yet again, last week one of my remaining glass catfish's barbel began to shorten. Started kanaplex course-today's the last dose, both barbells are shorting with white fuzz at the tips. In the cavity of the fish I can see more white stuff, as with the previous pattern, the last remaining glass cat is utterly unaffected.

I contacted my local university and made an appointment with the aquatics department there-unfortunately the appointment is a month from now. I don't know what to do anymore-honestly feeling dejected.

 

I'm so sorry. Can you remind me of your stocking? If you have fish that like brackish water, you can add a few alder cones or Indian almond leaves. Thats what helped to ward off the chronic fungus my glowlight tetras had. My tank isn't even blackwater. Just a little bit can really help.

 

I'm so sorry. Can you remind me of your stocking? If you have fish that like brackish water, you can add a few alder cones or Indian almond leaves. Thats what helped to ward off the chronic fungus my glowlight tetras had. My tank isn't even blackwater. Just a little bit can really help.

A clown loach, and two glass catfish (the rest of the glass catfishs' shoal died). I did buy the almond leaves-my mom doesn't want me to put them in yet as the tank was being medicated. Should I? I'd do anything at this point.

A clown loach, and two glass catfish (the rest of the glass catfishs' shoal died). I did buy the almond leaves-my mom doesn't want me to put them in yet as the tank was being medicated. Should I? I'd do anything at this point.

Oh, there's also a piece of driftwood and three amazon sword plants. Forgot to mention.

 

Those should all be good for the leaves. You can add them while medicating. I had them in my hospital tank for my tetras. Might turn the water yellowish, but I think the plants look prettier in the yellow water. Just rinse them in old tank water first. They may take a few days to sink, but it shouldn't matter if they sink or float. They'll do the job.

 

Those should all be good for the leaves. You can add them while medicating. I had them in my hospital tank for my tetras. Might turn the water yellowish, but I think the plants look prettier in the yellow water. Just rinse them in old tank water first. They may take a few days to sink, but it shouldn't matter if they sink or float. They'll do the job.

Will do! I'll put them in today.