New Sick/damaged Fish Care

Hello everyone, it's my the very first post here.
First of all I'm a beginner. I came to this hobby because I wanted a cichlid tank for a very long time, but I knew nothing about fish keeping. I was trying to Google things, but everything was so complicated, considering the fact that you know nothing. At this point I was able to cycle 2 nanotanks, the first one was an endless battle, the second one was a strait forward process and took only 12 days: 3 days ammonia spike, and 9 days nitrite spike. Now I cycle 10 g as a future carantine tank and 29 g as a future dwarf cichlid tank and I stuck again as with the first tank.
It happens that I stopped at Petco tonight and of cource looked at their fish tanks.... It was not the best Petco store around with not the best staff, I knew it, I was not going to buy any fish now.... But it just happened.
I was very surprised to see a German blue ram in a guppy/tetras/rasboras tank. I have never seen gbrams in Petco, especially in this one store I could not expect them. But there were 3 Rams there.
2 of them looked good, but the third one.... He/she had a big ugly hole on his tail. He was not swimming in a normal ram's way. He looked really bad.
I'm not an impulse buyer at all, but... I have read a lot about rams, the poor guy was obviously stragling, so I decided to buy them. The employee was terrible, I thought he will kill all fishes it the tank, this poor guy lost a half of his damaged tail while he was trying to catch him.
So now I need your advices haw to treat those tree. 2 look fine. The sick/damaged one: he had an ugly whole in his tail about 5 millimeters, now he has only half of his tail. He sits on the top of the tank very close to surface. He is not horysontal like other fishes, he keeps incline position about 45 degrees his head down. What it could be? How should I treat him and other two? They all three are in a small cycled tank, I think I will be able to keep water parametres. What medicine should I give them? Is this ugly hole a fin root? Is it contageous? I've changed 90% of water and added Stress coat. The tank was empty, but I dosed it with ammonia every day to keep it cycled in case of emergency.
Thank you for reading, hope I will get some advices.
(Now it is not a hole, he lost half of his tail while an employee in the store was trying to net him.)

 

I would keep the water very clean and treat the water with seachem prime at every water change. Usually, clean water is enough to let the fish heal fins on its own. I'd just carefully monitor the fins and watch for infection.

 

Keep the temp up at 82f minimum for GBR.
Feed good food and hope the fish is not truly ill .
Lots of clean water as mentioned before.

Pairs of GBR are best and usually odd number groups leave the odd fish in poor standing amongst the group or pair. Try separating the worst looking fish from the others.
If the issue is not stress related then likely a bacterial infection IMO .

 

Thank you. I do check water parameters every day. It is 0/0 today. This is the one fish in question. As you can see he obviously has rotten tissues on his tail. And this is his permanent position - angle of about 45 degrees head down. He never gets horysontal as other 2. And he stays on the top. What it could be?
I can not separate him from other 2, I do not have more cycled tanks now, cycling is in progress...
I added Jungle aquarium salt.
There are 2 bacterial disease meds in pet stores: EM Erythromycin and Fin & body care (Doxycycline). Wich one is better for rotten tail?
He eats. He communicates with other two. And my guess is he is a male and 2 others are both females. About 90% sure.
Temperature is 79, I need to buy a heater


Added Erythromycin

 

Have installed a heater. Honestly, a rotten tail looks bad.(((( The tail is much thicker as it should be and has a lot of rotten tissues. What is the best medicine for this problem?
Also What I do not have any clue about is why he is always hanging out head down? If any one have any clues or experience please let me know. As I told at the begining I have almost no experience.
Otherwise he is active and nice looking guy, he is not going to die, this is good.

He has a small white growth on his pelvic fin, this is new. Please give me suggestions how to treat all this staff. One of the girls probably has a very small white dot on the tail too, I'm not 100% sure what it is at this moment.
83.7F now - is it a good temperature?

One female died today. She was the smallest one and had no coloration yesterday. I found her on the bottom this morning breathing way to hard. I added an airstone and Prime, don't know why for - water parameters are 0/0/<10, 83.3-83.9 F. Tried to make her to move. But with no luck. She probably was injured by the Petco employee - I have never seen anybody acting with a net the way that man did((( She was the one with no color at all yesterday, she had a minor damage on her tail. She died.
The male - probably a little bit better. A white growth on his fin appears to be a small fin rot area. Badly rotten tail looks IMO more promising then yesterday.
The other bigger female is fine.

I did not expect this death ((((

 

GBR are among the 'tougher' fish for many to keep.
Your water hardness may be next consideration.
They do really prefer soft low TDS/ph water.
Salt is not the best thing to add with this type of fish IMO[or any other freshwater fish but that is just me] .

 

Thank you for your answers. I'm a beginner and there are a lot of topics in fish keeping science I have to learn about. I didn't know aquarium salt is not good for rams. I had to Google TDS meaning )))

So, water hardness/pH topic.
Today's readings:
TAP WATER: pH about 7.3 ( it is always in 7.2 - 7.4 range)
KH 2 drops, GH 4 drops
Tank 1 (quarantine with ram): pH 6.9
KH 1 drop, GH 9 drops
Water in this tank is 2.5 days old, as I performed about 90% WC before introducing new gbrs there. I added aquarium salt once at day one. Also added Erythromycin twice.
Tank 2 (with all my other fish): pH 7.4
KH 2 drops, GH 15 drops.
I do have pH swings. My tank pH can go anywhere from 6.0 to 7.6++ (I do not have hight range pH test). One time I've registered .5 pH change in 3 days. I guess I need to find out how to stabilize these things. Would like to get some suggestions what to read about.

The male is dead. It is not a surprise, he was looking bad from the very beginning. So, I need to admit this purchase was too ambitious to me. I've learned how to maintain 0 ammonia & 0 nitrite, but in some cases it is not enough.((

The only GBR female looks normal except she has lost all her colors, so I assume she is stressed. I did 50% WC today. (All the readings above are before WC.) What else is most important to reduce he's stress? The tank is too small for her, I know. Will it be better to set up a new 10 gallon NOT cycled for her and do everyday WCs??
Is female GBR fine living alone?

Food. Quality food. Live food. It is another topic to study for me. I use flakes, pellets and freeze dried bloodworms from Omega One, Hikari; bug bites from Fluval. I plan to add some live food. Where to start? What is not too complicated for a beginner and beneficial for fish? Dafnia? Worms? What kind of worms to start with? Baby brain shrimp - is it for fry only?

Quarantine things - one bgr female is still still there. Do I need to finish Erythromycin cycle? It supposed to be 4 days treatment and I only did it twice. Something preventive against parasites? Every day WC? Something else?

Thank you all in advance, I'm learning something new every day.

 

Your water seems good .
I would continue meds till treatment is finished. Not doing so is how disease become antibiotic resistant.
I would do water changes as often as possible ,your rams should like your source water. Stay away from the salt.

 

One more thing I forgot to mention about. I use Tetra AquaSafe dechlorinater/conditioner. I've noticed strange and unpredictable pH swings from the very beginning, so I did a lot of tests trying to figure out where they come from. Tetra Aqusafe conditioner lowers water pH, so I decided to use it. (I've tested 5 different conditioners how they alter water pH, it appears they all do more or less)

 

I use safe which is the dry version of Prime.
I change a lot of water [and breed and raise rams].
To really test your water you need to let it outgas before you add it to tank.
Take a bucket and add your source water and let it sit for 24 hours .Then test the ph. Often water supplies have extra co2 or O2 when first out of tap. It is not uncommon for water ph to change after 24 hours .
For my rams I only check TDS now as I have found people with matching parameters to me who have hundreds less Total Dissolved Solids and have realized that ph/gh is really not that accurate a way of understanding your water.

 

Your water seems good .
I would continue meds till treatment is finished. Not doing so is how disease become antibiotic resistant.
I would do water changes as often as possible ,your rams should like your source water. Stay away from the salt.

Thank you! ))

 

Hello again!
Can someone look at my fish's pictures and tell me if she's ok or do we have a problem? I'm concerned about her anus /vent area looking as a swollen bump - is it normal? I think she/he had a smooth rounded feminine belly at the beginning and now has his huge bump.



Short summary.
I've bought 3 gbrs from Petco on August 31. One of them had a severe tail rot from the store.
I began to treat them with Erythromycin.
On Sept 2 two of three fish died, one with a badly tail rot and one with a small spot on the tail.

So the only one of three fish left.

I did 50% WC.
I continued Erythromycin (2 more days, 4 days total).
Also I treated them with Kordon Rapid-Cure 1+2 days, 3 days total.
I left this fish in the water with 2 dose of Erythromycin and 2 dose of Kordon Rapid-Cure for the next 5 days.
Then I did 50% WC.

After a WC I noticed long partially transparent poop and this strange bump on the anus area.
I had PraziPro at this moment so I dosed it once. As I understand from the instruction I supposed to give PraziPro only once - is it correct?

It is a week now since I noticed this strange anus bump, it is still there, no changes. I believe there were no this bump at the beginning. What is this? Should I be concerned about this or not?

The fish is active, curious, very friendly. Has a very sweet personality. Only this anus bump bothers me. So I'd like to hear your opinions.
Thanks.

 

hard to tell from pics .
Do you see any worms coming out of her ?
If so look into camallanus ?
Hopefully some one else will chime in.

 

No, I don't see worms coming from there. Only poop, a lot of poop, some transparent, some black. But the entire area for me looks pinkish and much bigger than it should be. These pictures are from Sept 12. I tried to make a new ones today, and can't: she keeps her abdomen fins clamped to the belly now.
Should I treat her from callamanus?
Thank you for your answer.

 

Update. It seems now it is a hole inside the fish in anus area. Yes, a hole. I was not sure yesterday.
The fish lost her weight, lost her rounded belly, she is skinny now. I do not see her pooping for a while now. So I'm trying to figure out if she eats or not. She reacts to a food everytime, but I can tell she eats. (((
This bump on her anus. Almost every time I was looking at it there was something hanging from this area. Something very small whitish or transparent like. Yesterday it was like a tiny piece of cotton. Today this piece is gone and I see a hole.

I'm scared. Is there anything I can do for this fish?
She has received:
Erythromycin 4 days,
Kordon Rapid-Cure 3 days ( in the beginning of September).
Then PraziPro 1 dose.
I'm giving her Microbe-Lift Herbana and Artemiss both 12 hour apart for the last 3 days. It seems her anus/vent inflammation/wound cleared from small particles and now I can see a clear hole.
She is still active. Not so active and curious as she was, but no noticeable difficulties swimming.
I will appreciate any advice.

 

She doesn't eat(((( She swims in a cloud of food, but doesn't take any piece in her mouth. (((
She is skinny now. And what was a big swelled bump before, now looks like a triangle cut inside her belly.

 

Update. Has checked my girl. It seems she has callamanus. Very short 2-3 pieces.
She is very skinny, she doesn't eat. Should I try to treat her?

 

WOW!!! Guys, galls, please help!!!
All bottom of the tank is covered by tiny white worms!!! They are about 2/8 - 3/8 inch long, thiner than a hair whitish. They are like a net on the bottom inch off the glass of the aquarium, I didn't realized they are alive and was going to clean the glass at the beginning!!! I can not see them on the black substrate (Floramax) but see them on the 1" bottom portion of the glass, plants, and swimming in the water in the bottom layer. They are alive, there are thousands of them!

I added Jungle Fungus Clear fizz tab yesterday night in the tank (Nitrofurazone and Potassium Dichromate); it was before I've noticed callamanus in the middle of the night (don't see them today). So it Jungle Fungus Clear fizz tab caused all this worms bloom, I think.

The fish is swimming on the top of the tank today, doesn't go lower where is literally the layer of live worms.

It's a Jungle Fungus Clear fizz tab, I did a WC and cleaning yesterday. But what it is?? And what to do??? Take the fish away and throw all the tank with worms???

 

Figured out the filter was off. I turned it off yesterday night when was giving some treats - I want this girl to eat at least something. Then I added Fungus clear fizz tab, then I forgot about turned off filter.(((( The majority of worms are now sucked to the filter intake, but there are still some on plants and free flying in the water. What the nasty **** I have in this tank? How to clear it?

I do not see callumnaris worms protruding from the vent now, but I'm pretty sure I saw them in the middle of the night.
She has one scale hanging near the vent area. And a small fin rot on one of her belly fins. She is pretty active and curious today.

What to do with the tank full of unknown microworms????

 

(((( Zero answers. And I have zero experience ((((
Alice has callamanus, now I'm 100% sure - can see them in her anus. I'm trying to heal her with fenbendazole. I do not see her eating medicated food, but she changed her color! She has black vertical stripes now (she was absolutely colorless). Is it a good sign or a bad one??? Her fins now are not clamped - I know it is a good sign. But I don't know about black vertical stripes.
Thanks.

PS: I named her Alice, so now she has a name.

 

You need levamisole 100% to treat for camallanus .
Here is where I get mine and my info on camallanus
Camallanus Treatment - Use of Levamisole HCl
It is one treatment for 3 days then a second treatment 3 weeks later .

 

You need levamisole 100% to treat for camallanus .
Here is where I get mine and my info on camallanus
Camallanus Treatment - Use of Levamisole HCl
It is one treatment for 3 days then a second treatment 3 weeks later .

Thank you.

Additional issue is - Alice doesn't eat. She needs to eat in order to have digestive system movement to get rid of worms. Hope she will start eating.

The hole. What started as an inflammated swollen bump on her anus, later felt apart and now looks like a hole-like wound. I understand that worms are the first concern, but think she still needs some help to heal this wound. Can you suggest something?

Other tanks. It was very stupid, I see it now. I have moved some plants and/or filter media from this infected tank to my other tanks. (((( Even to a new one - it has some sponge and a dirty floss as a seeded media from this infected tank. I guess I need to treat all my tanks now? Am I right?

Thank you again.

 

The levamisole I believe is soaked in also …
Eating would help in over all help.
Change water...
Yes you need to treat all tanks .
1 gram treats 20 g once .

 

Alice died. So dark vertical bars were not a good sign, but a deterioration sign. Feel really bad: I had to learn things faster.

 

Sorry to hear .
I will say I see the horizontal bar in fish not sick. They may be uncomfortable in the pecking order though.
They are usually a sign of stress for sure .