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White skin disease


Ruadh
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Has anyone had the mis-fortune to have experience with this?

In the last three weeks I've had 2 tiger barbs die from what I'm sure is this.

It starts out as a thick white bar down the length of the back on both sides of the dorsal fin.

Then within a day or so it spreads all over the fish and they stop moving and die soon after.

I spent over an hour searching and found a small amount of info, enough to diagnose

and recommendations for four different drug treatments but I thought I'd go to the masses

for experiences before I threated the tank.

This thing moves very fast so I need to treat the whole tank.

Rick

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I have never heard of that before, what does it say to treat it with?

Has anyone had the mis-fortune to have experience with this?

In the last three weeks I've had 2 tiger barbs die from what I'm sure is this.

It starts out as a thick white bar down the length of the back on both sides of the dorsal fin.

Then within a day or so it spreads all over the fish and they stop moving and die soon after.

I spent over an hour searching and found a small amount of info, enough to diagnose

and recommendations for four different drug treatments but I thought I'd go to the masses

for experiences before I threated the tank.

This thing moves very fast so I need to treat the whole tank.

Rick

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I had an outbreak of something very much like this last fall and lost several really nice congo tetras. They appeared fine and colorful one day, then got a white saddle shaped patch the next, and started hiding. Within another day they were either dead, or so weak and slow that I was able to catch them easily and euthanize them (heavily planted tank.) Recently dead fish showed a reddish abdominal cavity beneath the skin, but surprisingly still had a lot of coloration.

It took me a while to figure out the source of the problem- I had a heater failure. It was not obvious during the day since my MHs heated up the water and it was warm enough when I stuck my hands in, etc. It was getting too cold at night, though. Once I clued in and bought a new heater... no more fish deaths.

The Textbook of Fish Health by Dr. George Post* has a small section on Pseudomonad Septicemia... and, if you get past all the stuff about dissecting and culturing, basically:

- Pseudomonas bacteria exist in water everywhere, and fish susceptibility is usually as a result of improper management, stress, or injury.

- There is no drug of choice for treatment, because of the differences in species/strains involved. Symptoms are also similar to other gram negative bacterial infections.

- It may manifest itself as single fish cases or involve the entire population if all the fishes are in a weakened state (eg. by malnutrition, etc.)

Losing 2 fish in 3 weeks sounds like it's pretty limited in scope (I lost 12+ in about a week). Are the fish fighting or stressed from territorial disputes? I'd think you'd see more losses if there was a tank-wide factor like poor maintenance or equipment issues.

Hope that helps.

* I just took over the CAS's librarian position so I now have lots 'o fish books around to refer to. :drool:

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Well heat in the tank is no problem. There's two, one at each end, both work fine and the temp only drops about 12 degree after lights out.

I've got 7 different types of Barbs in the tank as well as a good shoal of Scissor Tail Rasboras. So far it's only affecting the

Green Tigers. I've lost several over tha last few months but this is the first time I've noticed the white bars. Lost another one while I'm writing this.

I was watching the fish swim around while I thought about my writing and he swam out of the plants and floated to the top of the tank.

Picked him out by hand and put him in the freezer so maybe I can find someone to look at them.

After they die, the white marks fade quite fast, maybe thast's the bacteria dieing?

So far Ive found the following meds recommended:

bleaching powder

chinese gall

aureomycin

terramycin

levomycetin

bicillin

biomycin

P permanganate

basic violet K

hydrochloride

Is it any wonder we get so confused?

I found an e-ddress of a fella in Ag. Canada who I'm going to write to and see if he can help.

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I believe a lot of people just had an outbreak of this and lost their whole tank. I had three fish catch it and die, which was unfortunate as they were breeding and wildcaught.

I found this website http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/info...on/Diseases.htm

Milky cloudiness on skin Costia, Chilodonella Coppersafe, Quick-Cure, Acriflavine

I didn't try any of those. If it is in fact the same problem I had and it sounds like it, I tried api's

melafix, primafix then api's eurithromycin. In this order and not at the same time. They just got worse with each medication. I never tried any of the ones listed above and would be hesitant to use coppersafe in anything.

Edited by Baos
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Well heat in the tank is no problem. There's two, one at each end, both work fine and the temp only drops about 12 degree after lights out

Are you serious? 12 degrees??? I'm calling in sick to work if my tank drops 2 or 3 overnight.

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Well heat in the tank is no problem. There's two, one at each end, both work fine and the temp only drops about 12 degree after lights out

Are you serious? 12 degrees??? I'm calling in sick to work if my tank drops 2 or 3 overnight.

Sorry!!!

Mis-print. I forgot to put in the -.

As in 1-2 degrees.

Is that better?

It might as well be 12 degrees. I lost most of the fish in the tank over night.

I dosed with Seachems' "KanaPlex" last night and tonight when I got home---mass carnage.

Poopy darns.

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