Wierd deaths

[Callie]

I had 2 spendid inornate 1M and 1F. 3 weeks before christmas my female smashed into the glass and went wonky, disorentated, and easily startled. she would get stuck in all sorts of things and would always be found upside down in the plants unable to get out. Then she jammed herself into a pieces of driftwood and I had to cut it apart to get her out. She was loopy

She wasnt eating during all of this and her scales on her face were peeling away, eventually she had fungus growing on her face. not to bad of a case. I had her in and out of a floating basket. she seemed to be hanging in there but did not show much progress other then swimming up right. She died on christmas day when I moved her and the quaritine heater malfunctioned and cooked her at 96'

3 days ago I heard some banging and splashing, the male stopped eating and his scales started to brake away from his face and he had some stringy bacteria on his face. on the first day he had a small kink in his spine close to his tail. he was easily startled and would bang into thing and get lost in the plants when I would walk by or other fish darted around. On the third day he was getting stuck and would be upside down in the plants. He died on the third night. he looked to far gone to help him, moving him would kill him so I left him.

They are in an all rainbow planted tank 67G, and my heat is usually high 84'. I try my best to keep it down but it just goes back up. There is a UV steralizer on the tank and they get a W/C about every 9 days.

A couple CAS members also think it may be neurological damage from smashing (hard) into the glass intially

Please help i dont know if this is the cause of if it or if it could be a viral or bacterial problem that could spread

Thanks for your time

Edited January 14, 2009 by Callie

[PiscesGirl]

oh the poor things

do you think it is possible they were flashing?

I've never actually heard of a fish flashing so hard to cause neuro damage, but maybe?

[RD.]

It's possible that your fish is infected with Myxospora, which is commonly referred to as whirling disease.

Feeding infected Tubifex worms seems to be the #1 cause, but there are other ways that this

disease can be transmitted. (such as water, new fish, plants, etc)

[PiscesGirl]

I did some poking around and found a few statements here and there that scales falling off, bent/kinked spines and other symptoms similar to what you described are classed as caused by mechanical injury or external damage. I also found "Any swimming that seems erratic (sudden changes in direction, darting around, bumping into objects, etc.) or any lack of movement can be an indication of illness."

I remember reading once about internal parasites that eventually burrow into the head causing strange erratic behaviour... But I think Neil might be onto something there too!

Also, someone please correct me if I am wrong.. don't high temperatures promote these kinds of illnesses?

How are the other fish doing?

[RD.]

edited to remove dup post ........ oops

Edited January 14, 2009 by RD.

[Callie]

Thanks guys I will look into some of your ideas. The other fish are doing well. One of my herbies for the last few months, has been behaving differently especially during feeding. He darts to the surface (which is normal) but he tends to quickly change direction and head straight for the bottom of the tank. He never use to do this. He hasnt shown any other signs, so other than that everything else is normal.

Do you think infected glass worms could do it? I feed it to them 0-2x a month. They have had no tubifex

flashing do you mean running into things. if so yes they do it when the lights turn out, they smash hard and its loud, I dont like watching them do it. If im home I turn on house lights befores their lights go out or I turn on the acatinic so they can adjust to the dark. I dont think that it is common but I have a friend that believes he lost a couple healthy rainbows from that cause.

I forgot to mention, The 2 inornates are from the same line, but different spawns. Approx 2 years old. Could it be genetic?

[Blue Ram]

I would lower to your temperature to no more than 78-80 degrees. Anything more than this is excessive for rainbows. The temperature may be causing some stress to some of the fish. If your heater is not keeping the temperature consistent at what you set, I would be investing in a new one.

[Shai]

I agree with Blue Ram, get rid of the heater ASAP before it really cooks your fish. I keep rainbows too (different variety) and they just don't need water that warm. A few degrees can make a lot of difference! Warmer water has less oxygen too, and rainbows really appreciate well-oxygenated water.

Edited January 18, 2009 by Shai

[Callie]

I dont have a heater in my tank and I have a window screen as a hood to help heat escape

My Apt heater is busted and I cant shut off or adjust the heat valve. My house temp is at 80' and I have it set for 70 something. The thing that baffles me is isnt the tank water supose to be cooler then the room temp. My other tanks dont have heaters either and they usually sit at 80 and nothing more then 82. With any of my tanks I will try to cool them off with water changes and within 12 hours it is back to normal

Edited January 19, 2009 by Callie