help id apparent gill parasites

[Otavio Exel]

hello All,

I've recently introduced 4 small SAEs to my tank after a 2 week
quarantine period; unfortunately it looks like they were symptomless
carriers of some bad stuff :-(((

the fish affected up to now are a local platy-sized livebearer; their
grandparents were caught in a local park lake some 3 years ago;

- 4 days ago I noticed one that was very thin, was not eating, looked
like he had difficulties to float and had a curved spine; next day he
died (and was partially eaten).

- yesterday I saw another one looking sick; it was not (yet) thin but
was not eating; the gill plates looked very dark; he was almost dying,
I euthanized him;

- today another stopped eating, was mostly motionless and had very dark
gill plates; I netted him out and took a close look: the gill plates
were indeed very dark and had a strong dark-blue reflection; he was
almost dying, I euthanized him;

I've tried to identify the problem thru Disease Diagnosis Sites without
succes; to me it looks like some sort of parasite; I don't know what to
do :-((

I did a good syphoning and a 25% WC; my plan is just to keep 25%WCs
daily and see what happens;

please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for me!
I wonder if nonspecific stuff like raising temp or adding salt(1) could
help..

TIA!

(1) although I have 4 very dear otos in the tank..

--
Otavio Exel /<\oo/>\

[NetMax]

"Otavio Exel" > wrote in message
r...
> hello All,
>
> I've recently introduced 4 small SAEs to my tank after a 2 week
> quarantine period; unfortunately it looks like they were symptomless
> carriers of some bad stuff :-(((
>
> the fish affected up to now are a local platy-sized livebearer; their
> grandparents were caught in a local park lake some 3 years ago;
>
> - 4 days ago I noticed one that was very thin, was not eating, looked
> like he had difficulties to float and had a curved spine; next day he
> died (and was partially eaten).
>
> - yesterday I saw another one looking sick; it was not (yet) thin but
> was not eating; the gill plates looked very dark; he was almost
dying,
> I euthanized him;
>
> - today another stopped eating, was mostly motionless and had very dark
> gill plates; I netted him out and took a close look: the gill plates
> were indeed very dark and had a strong dark-blue reflection; he was
> almost dying, I euthanized him;
>
> I've tried to identify the problem thru Disease Diagnosis Sites without
> succes; to me it looks like some sort of parasite; I don't know what to
> do :-((
>
> I did a good syphoning and a 25% WC; my plan is just to keep 25%WCs
> daily and see what happens;
>
> please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for me!
> I wonder if nonspecific stuff like raising temp or adding salt(1) could
> help..
>
> TIA!
>
> (1) although I have 4 very dear otos in the tank..
>
> --
> Otavio Exel /<\oo/>\

I've had mixed success with Lifebearer for gill parasites. On a positive
note, the medication itself doesn't seem to have any noxious effects on
even the smallest fish (thinking of your Otos). As always, ymmv, but
good luck Otavio.

NetMax

[Otavio Exel]

NetMax > wrote:

> I've had mixed success with Lifebearer for gill parasites.

it is really difficult to find imported fish medicines down here in the
".br" domain..

I've read that Dylox, Clout and Masoten are equivalents, all of them
based on Trichlorofon. Do you agree? It would make my search much
easier..

> On a positive note, the medication itself doesn't seem to have any
> noxious effects on even the smallest fish (thinking of your Otos).

nice guys the otos!

OT: the 4 SAEs did'nt touch the hair algae but finished every single bit
of slime algae in the tank; the four otos got totally lost seeing their
precious green algae disapear..

> As always, ymmv, but good luck Otavio.

many thanks, NetMax, really!

--
Otavio Exel /<\oo/>\

[NetMax]

"Otavio Exel" > wrote in message
r...
> NetMax > wrote:
>
> > I've had mixed success with Lifebearer for gill parasites.
>
> it is really difficult to find imported fish medicines down here in the
> ".br" domain..
>
> I've read that Dylox, Clout and Masoten are equivalents, all of them
> based on Trichlorofon. Do you agree? It would make my search much
> easier..

Sorry, I can't comment much. Clout produces very green water (so I'd
expect malachite green to be in their recipe) and Lifebearer is a pink
liquid. I haven't checked the ingredients, and they are not always
forthcoming on details either. I've never heard of Dylox and Masoten.
FWIW, research quickly as gill parasites tend to cause death in small
fish quite rapidly.

NetMax

> > On a positive note, the medication itself doesn't seem to have any
> > noxious effects on even the smallest fish (thinking of your Otos).
>
> nice guys the otos!
>
> OT: the 4 SAEs did'nt touch the hair algae but finished every single
bit
> of slime algae in the tank; the four otos got totally lost seeing their
> precious green algae disapear..
>
> > As always, ymmv, but good luck Otavio.
>
> many thanks, NetMax, really!
>
> --
> Otavio Exel /<\oo/>\

[Otavio Exel]

NetMax > wrote:

thanks for your help, NetMax!

> Sorry, I can't comment much. Clout produces very green water (so I'd
> expect malachite green to be in their recipe) and Lifebearer is a
> pink liquid. I haven't checked the ingredients, and they are not
> always forthcoming on details either. I've never heard of Dylox and
> Masoten.

no luck: I can't find any of the above meds, let alone Lifebearer :-(((

I've already spent the bucks in what looked like the best bet: Sera
Costapur and Sera Ecotpur (both seem to be otocinlcl'icides) but I just
don't have the courage to use them!!!

> FWIW, research quickly as gill parasites tend to cause death in small
> fish quite rapidly.

I'm going to try to fight this with my syphon, hose and lots of water!
Heavy syphonning plus 25% W/C daily!

So the central question for me now is: are there parasites that do *NOT*
have a free-swimming stage?

Because if the bugs go free-swimming I'm sure I can pull them out with
the syphon, but if they don't..

TIA!

--
Otavio Exel /<\oo/>\

[Otavio Exel]

Otavio Exel > wrote:
>
> I'm going to try to fight this with my syphon, hose and lots of water!
> Heavy syphonning plus 25% W/C daily!

following up my own post!
no more deaths since I started my "brute force" approach!
amazing!!!

--
Otavio Exel /<\oo/>\