Hi, first time here.
Ive had an on going issue with my Boesemani Rainbow fish. I Had 5 males and after 2 years of keeping 1 developed the following?: Sores on the general body, sores particularly behind the pectoral fin, damage to lower portion of the pectoral fins, growth below the mouth and some raised scales with white nodules(flukes? worms?). The white nodules seem to come and go.
NOTE: I am in Israel and I Ive looked everywhere but good medications are almost impossible to find.
I moved the single fish to a quarantine tank and began treating with salt and went to high levels with no noticeable improvement after 2/3 weeks. I was able to find a malachite green based medication for fungus which i tried for 2 weeks and also methylene blue for 2 weeks after with no improvement. He seemed to have issues eating well and would only eat 1 or 2 granules of tetra color granules every few days and bloodworms occasionally too. He eventually succumbed and passed away. This was 2 months ago....
About a week or 2 after my first fish died one of my 4 remaining rainbowfish developed the exact same symptoms, I decide to move the whole group of rainbows to a quarantine tank. I found an Ant-parasitic/fungus medication with no listed active ingredient but i thought the disease was scale flukes with a secondary bacterial infection. So i treated with this with no results, and even upped the recommended dose but nothing, i tried with methylene blue again just out of desperation... I've moved them back into the main Aquarium as i believe the water is cleaner and theres no evidence of infection to the other rainbows or other fish.
As of right now I cannot work out what disease this is, it looks to me like a parasite with a secondary bacterial infection but with restrictions on medications in the country its impossible to find good medications that list active ingredients. I also think the fact one rainbow fish at a time gets it because it's most likely the least dominant and the disease is possibly dormant but may be induced through increased stress (my theory).
I watched one of Cory's recent livestreams where he talks about using dog/cat medications to treat aquarium diseases for countries with limited fish keeping medications which I think may be the way to go, but I'm not so sure whats what.
Anyway sorry for the long winded post but the more background info i give the more informed help I can get from you.
pH - 7.8
Nitrates - 15
Hardness - TDS - 277
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
KH/Buffer-?
Water Temperature 79 F (hot climate so no heater uses so temps tend to fluctuate within 2 degrees)
Other Fish in 60 gallon aquarium: 2x Angels, 7x Cories, 1x Bristlenose pleco
Pictures aren't great because he wont slow down and there are currently no white nodules visible on the fish.
Thanks!!
