Identification of ?

[pamc]

Tank Size: 10 tall (14 gallons)
Age of the tank: over a year
pH: 6.4
Ammonia: 0
NitrAtes: 0
nitrites: 0
GH/KH: ?
Temperature: 86
Fish:

3 Mikrogeophagus ramirezi,
Two female
One male (sick male)

Symptoms:

Noticed him yesterday morning, I found him guarding eggs and and saw his condition which has worsened quickly over night.
Today loss of color, loss of appetite, loss use of one fin was sitting on the floor of the tank by himself.
Whitish stuff emerging from behind his fin, as in the photo. The white below his eye is just light reflection.
A bit of fuzz developing around his mouth (secondary?)
Now he is in the java moss closer to the top of the water, almost doing a head stand.

[pamc]

No worries the male ram passed, and after speaking and showing photos to a reputable LFS I know what it could have been. But really with out a micro scope it is a guessing game.

Anyways the tank will not be treated as the the male ram's final spawn hatched.
The female has her hands full chasing the fry around. I have a second female in the tank I need to move out.
RIP in peace Papa Ram.

[babygeige]

Sorry he didn't make it. What did the lfs think it was?
I hope the fry do well!

[Carl]

Jan 31, 2010 13:45:04 GMT -5 pamc said:

No worries the male ram passed, and after speaking and showing photos to a reputable LFS I know what it could have been. But really with out a micro scope it is a guessing game.

Sorry you lost him

Did he come down with this infection quickly?

It appears to be columnaris, but you are right, without a microscope it is an "educated" guess.

Carl

[pamc]

This is what I learned...

Short story may have been worms, plus a parasite and or protozan
but who knows with out proper tools.

Long story
It was not fair to anyone to make a guess off the one photo shown as I have several other shots from several days that I showed the young man at the LFS, yes I took my camera. His suggestion was parasite as in worms, due to the change in look of the infection and the behavior. Yes there was more then one infection going on as the stressed fish succumb to the primary infection.

Sadly I found out that all wild fish have some form of parasites/protozans, and many distributors only treat for external parasites. In this case, the ram was exposed to wild caught corries who had been treated only for external parasites such as ich and gill flukes.

The only thing the LFS young man suggested beyond Paraguard (external) and metro (internal) in food, was a UV light to be ran on a infected tank for a week or so, as needed. As Paraguard only kills the free swimmers or adults and the eggs or cysts remain unharmed, the thought is the UV light would take care of the eggs or cysts.

Just a thought to chew on. This maybe why someone could have such bad luck purchasing fish from one particular seller or a particular kind of fish. Not so much the stock of fish, but rather then the lack of knowledge or desire to prepare the fish for the hobbyist. I can not push all the responsibilities on the fish distributors, hobbyists such as myself are not aware of this and need to educate themselves. Just because a fish looks good and healthy, it is not always the case. The fish could be hosting a time bomb, as some things can take a bit of time and will show up, even if they are kept in a optimum conditions.

As a hobbyist I am learning and always appreciate comments and or suggestions, we learn as we go along.

[Carl]

Yes, internal parasites can cause such symptoms, although this outward symptom appears to be a secondary infection (again likely Columnaris as it is opportunistic).

Internal parasites are a common problem with imported fish (as I found with importing fish for many years, with many sources being better than others).
Treating for internal parasites is often difficult, & often not performed.

This raises an important point as to treating for Columnaris and that is often Columnaris is often a secondary infection, often due to water conditions, but also due to internal parasites and not correcting these problems will result in failure to treat a a secondary Columnaris infection.

The use of UV Sterilization can help with prevention by removal of any parasite eggs or larvae in the water column and the lesser known benefit of improving Aquarium Redox Balance resulting in improved immunity for the fish to fight infections/infestations.

Carl

[pamc]

Thanks Carl for the links, I read and reread them ( many of your other pages as well) as I consider adding the UV.

I know the source of the rams and trust them, the source of the corries and how they are were handled are questionable.

Not sure what to do to the tanks, leave well enough alone for now, I guess.