Nicole

Well sadly I did a big water change and now whatever is afflicting my fish is back with a vengeance. You can see white things protruding from its scales.

@Colu Thank you for the aquarium salt suggestion. Both fish healed up nicely! Nicole

Thank you. I will start the aquarium salt tomorrow when I do my weekly water change. Nicole

It’s surprisingly difficult to get a clear photo. If this doesn’t help, I’ll try again. its that white dot to the left of the eye. The dot itself is not fuzzy. It’s hard looking, and it sticks out slightly from the scales if you look at the fish head on. I’d think it was an anchor worm, but I’ve seen those in person, and this doesn’t look the same. There’s no threadlike part, just a hard dot. A second fish - same kind - has a spot too. They are acting normal, good color, no fins clasped, good color. They’re eating well. This is going to sound odd, but it looks just like these little dots that sit on the water surface in the tank. They’ve very tiny white things. At first I thought they were just bubbles popping at the water surface, but after I watched for a long time, I can tell they’re not bubbles. I’m fairly certain they are Copepods. Do you think Copepods would attach to fish? Thank you for your time reviewing this. Nicole

I have a fish with these white “things” sticking slightly out of its scales. Hopefully if you zoom in you’ll see the two white spots toward the tail fin. I treated with ICH-X, gave them a week break and then treated with ParaCleanse. The fish lives with 7 small fish in a 40-gallon freshwater community tank with lots of plants and driftwood. I also have 8 amano shrimp and three nerite snails. Water parameters are good: ph 6.8 kh 40 gh 300 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 15 No ammonia or chlorine Thanks for any advice.

How did you test your calcium level? I can only find calcium tests for saltwater tanks.

I have some amano shrimp of various sizes. The majority are actually about the size of my golden white cloud minnows. Do you think assassin snails would go after the smaller shrimp?

So, get this. I have the usual “pest” snails in my tank, but the other night, these two guys made their presence known. Their eggs must have hitched a ride in some newly acquired water lettuce. I have never seen any in my tank with pointed shells, and the one that is darker in color and has black spots kind of looks like the pattern on some of my nerite snails. He is to the right of one of my usual “pest” snails. Any snail experts know what kind it might be? He’s pretty cool! Google Images identified him as a yam, as in the root vegetable. Lol!

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who rarely sees their clown pleco. I have one who hides in this one spot under some driftwood and thick annubias bunch. I only see it if I lift it the whole thing for cleaning. I often wonder if he moves around at night.

I am pretty sure I’m going to have to do this same thing. I have some nice Fluval 3.0 lights on top of the tank. They sit over a glass top, but I’m sure at different times they’ve gotten the water on them. Is that the sort of thing I can just disinfect or do you think I should replace those? What about all the chemicals, plant scissors, tweezers, net, etc.? That’s all stuff I can just disinfect right?

Well folks, the good news is that my fish have stopped dying, which is the most important thing. But now that I’ve back off on the Easy Green to keep my nitrates at 20 or less, I think algae is attacking my Christmas moss. It’s hard to see in these photos, but I’m guessing this grayish stuff is algae. It’s just a new kind I haven’t experience before.

Did another 50% water change. Added the crushed coral. KH is up to 80, and PH is between 7.0 and 7.5. Nitrates are at 20 ppm. The fish seem less stressed.

I think you are correct. I’ve got more crushed coral on the way. Nicole

After a 50% water change, my nitrates are down to 10 ppm. My other parameters are the same. 0 Nitrite GH 200 PPM KH 40 PH 7.0 0 Chlorine I see two more fish who know appear to be dying. Just to be on the safe side, I checked, and I’m not gassing the fish with my CO2. Im doing two drops per second, which is the lowest I can go and still have my drop checker fluid turn green about two hours after the lights come on. Hopefully these are the last two fish I lose. I’ll be backing down my fertilizer and iron this week to keep the nitrates at about 20 ppm max and see how the rest of the fish do. Nicole

Good idea on the filter media bag.

Yep, you are totally right about the KH. I have added crushed coral but it doesn’t seem the last long. I also add a large wonder shell and replace it when it runs out. The thing about our water here is that according to the LFS, it’s rock hard with lots of magnesium, but it’s actually low on calcium. Even if it was TB, it seems like it’s really had to get from changing the water. I’ve been keeping fish for years without any issues. But just to be extra careful, I’ll wear gloves until I stop losing fish. Thank you so much!

I did have a spike about 7 days ago, so I did a big water change and backed off on how much Easy Green and iron I was dosing. I noticed an increase in algae around the time of the spike too. Maybe it just go too high for too long. I didn’t realize anything but TB could cause the curved spine, but wow if nitrates are the only issue, that would be amazing. Totally fixable. Thank you so much.

Oh, ok, you’re talking regular water test. I test weekly, sometimes more with the Aquarium Co-Op test strips. 50 ppm Nitrate 0 Nitrite GH 200 PPM KH 40 PH 7.0 0 Chlorine I do a 50% water change weekly, and I’m due for one. I like to keep the Nitrates about 40-50. The tank has been up and running for several years in its current state. The only new thing is that about 4 months ago, I removed an overgrown Amazon Sword and put in some new driftwood that I covered with Christmas Moss. Thanks for any advice, Nicole

How do you test water for TB?

I had a guppy that developed a bent spine and apparently died. I have a heavily planted tank, so it is sometimes hard to find a body. Then I noticed another fish had died. I saw its remains, but by the time I got off work to remove them, they were gone, probably eaten by the others as well as my shrimp and snails. Now a White Cloud Mountain minnow is showing the same signs, curved spine, wasting, loss of color. I am now pretty sure this is fish tuberculosis, and I am a little freaked out to work in the tank. I’m heartbroken, because it has taken me years to get this tank in beautiful shape with thriving plants and very little algae, but do you think this means I have to take the tank down. Is it even worth the risk to my health to set it all up again? I just don’t know.

Excellent point. I’ll move this to the disease section. Thank you for replying.

I am so sorry that you had to take down your tank. I think I may be in the same boat soon, but I’m not sure. I had a guppy that developed a bent spine and apparently died. I have a heavily planted tank, so it is sometimes hard to find a body. Then I noticed another fish had died. I saw it’s remains, but by the time I got off work to remove them, they were gone, probably eaten by the others as well as my shrimp and snails. Now a White Cloud Mountain minnow is showing the same signs, curved spine, wasting, loss of color. I am now pretty sure this is fish tuberculosis, and I am a little freaked out to work in the tank. I’m heartbroken, because it has taken me years to get this tank in beautiful shape with thriving plants and very little algae, but do you think this means I have to take the tank down. Is it even worth the risk to my health to set it all up again? I just don’t know.

Would you consider running a Fluval 3.0 at 50% low, medium or high light.

That’s what I was afraid of. Thank you.