Calling a SOS need HELP with Sick baby BN Pleco

[MollyMomma]

On 6/22/2021 at 1:29 PM, Hobbit said:

I just want to jump in and say that whatever you’re battling is definitely outside of what’s normal for aquarium fish. Which is to say—you’re doing everything you can and if things don’t work out, it’s not your fault. ❤️

Thank you!! I have not checked in on this site for about 1 month, but your comment just brightened me up a little, because I've been struggling with this tank. I have had NO new deaths, but symptoms have not improved much. The white spot on 1 Cory healed up nicely, her barbels are coming back a little bit, but the other older Cory is still looking pretty beat up. The pleco (a few months ago) had that nasty hole in her head, but it healed!! .. although she still has 2 small white raised areas on her - she's grown quite a bit though & is really starting to plumpen up. There are also 6 ottocinculus in here, a couple seem to have stringy poo... So I was thinking of maybe using the Paraclense next. 

 

This tank has really been a stickler, I have multiple tanks & have never seen a "bug" stick like this & hold on for many months OR cause reinfection with multiple symptoms. I've literally done everything I know how to do, I'm simply not advanced enough to know how to fix it. So I want to thank everyone for ALL the help and encouragement! It's greatly appreciated 👏

[Hobbit]

Thanks for the update! Glad to hear you don’t have more deaths, but sorry that there’s still some funny business going on. Sounds like you have some tough fish though! I hope the tank continues to improve!

[MollyMomma]

Ugh, think I may need help. So the pleco began getting worse white spots on her back. This is exactly how the large hole in her head began- white spots. 

I don't know what it is. So I took down my 29g. I moved ALL stocking inside it to a 15g to medicate easier, I moved the filters & plants there too. I ran the QT trio through my tank with very little improvement. The 15g is going to act as observation/QT tank.

I E-Mailed Aquarium-Coop, asking if the QT trio is not working, then what should I do next?  They suggested aquarium salt. 

I have not added salt in over a year, we are dealing with ottos, cories & a pleco. So I am adding it slowly.

I added in 1 Tablespoon slowly over the course of the last 24 hours & now my pleco has small red spots on top of the white area? Is this normal? I don't want to hurt her 😞

(Sorry about photo quality, the bottom reflection is making it look dirty but it's just my fingerprints on the bottom of glass)

Edited September 4, 2021 by MollyMomma

[Colu]

As you have a had problems with this tank for awhile and looking at your pictures That looks like a secondary fungal infection what I would do is treat the fungal infection  with ick x and and  do a course of furan2 the active ingredient in furan  is nitrofurazone that very effective at treat systemic fungal infection as you pleco has had on going problems

Edited December 22, 2023 by Colu

[MollyMomma]

On 9/4/2021 at 2:56 PM, Colu said:

As you have a had problems with this tank for awhile and looking a your picturesThat looks like a secondary fungal infection what I would do is treat the fungal infection  with ick x and and  do a course of furan2 the active ingredient in furan  is nitrofurazone that very effective at treat systemic fungal infection as you pleco has had on going problems

Thank you, I unfortunately Used the API-Furan 2 already 😞 and I just finished the Ich-X treatment. That's why I'm at such a loss of what to do! Is there another medicine that contains nitrofurazone? That I could try?

I used Kanaplex, and it completely cleared them up once, few months ago, well back in spring time. I'm not sure why.. but the Kanaplex helps more than the other meds. I read that it treats Gram-Negative infections, do you think that's what this could be?

[MollyMomma]

#Colu I have Jungle Fungus Fizz tabs, they contain 18.4mg Nitrofurazone!! I have 2 boxes on hand in a drawer, should I try it? I'll have to do some research and see if it's okay to use with cories & Otos.

Edited September 4, 2021 by MollyMomma

[CalmedByFish]

@MollyMomma I'm no expert on plecos, but I do know their salt tolerance is at least much lower than that of scaled fish. I'd make sure to get a definitive answer before adding a speck more.

I once had a pleco die just hours after I added salt. It was a long time ago, but I don't remember other factors. I think it was just the salt that did it.

Maybe you can separate the scaled and scaleless fish into 2 containers? That way, at least the ones with scales could get a helpful amount of salt.

[MollyMomma]

On 9/4/2021 at 5:34 PM, CalmedByFish said:

@MollyMomma I'm no expert on plecos, but I do know their salt tolerance is at least much lower than that of scaled fish. I'd make sure to get a definitive answer before adding a speck more.

I once had a pleco die just hours after I added salt. It was a long time ago, but I don't remember other factors. I think it was just the salt that did it.

Maybe you can separate the scaled and scaleless fish into 2 containers? That way, at least the ones with scales could get a helpful amount of salt.

Hmm..I *think* maybe they all are sensitive to salt. Its 1 pleco, 2 corydoras, and 4 ottocinculus. I cant separate them anymore, I have like 5 different tanks going and I'm out of room. The 29g they were originally in 100% empty, no sand, no filter.. until I can figure this out. If I can cure them, but I've been battling this on/off for a while.

When I was treating an albino pleco for ICH many moons ago. She tolerated salt for the duration of treatment. These cories also endured salt in a different tank 1 year ago, very little though. And I've used salt with Ottos before, so I think these fish can tolerate it but only short term. I've never used it long term.

But I was concerned the salt was irritating her infection and creating the red spots. 

I will do a water change, I just want to cure my poor fish & stop whatever this is from attacking them. I'm tired of fighting it.

[Colu]

On 9/4/2021 at 8:52 PM, MollyMomma said:

#Colu I have Jungle Fungus Fizz tabs, they contain 18.4mg Nitrofurazone!! I have 2 boxes on hand in a drawer, should I try it? I'll have to do some research and see if it's okay to use with cories & Otos.

I would treat with jungle fungus tabs it's safe to use with scaleless fish it not as powerful as furan2 two as that has 85 mg of nitrofurazone but it should do the trick

Edited September 4, 2021 by Colu

[MollyMomma]

UPDATE;

Well I Finished the Kanaplex treatment. I'm not sure if it helped or not.

I started the Jungle Fungus Fizz Tabs, and I'm still not seeing much improvement. The "white" area on the pleco is starting to grow upwards onto her dorsal fin. The ottocinculus that are in this tank are clean of disease but look stressed from the meds. And the 1 cory- her mouth looks a bit puffy like Columnaris and her fins are starting to fray. The other Cory seems okay. 

Could this be a slow moving strain of columnaris? Where is shows up as a saddle on the pleco but in the mouth of the cory? 

 

I've been watching parameters, using all these types of meds makes me nervous. I keep ceramics rings tossling around in my 20g filter, so I took a couple out & added them to the QT, seems to be keeping the parameters stable so far. But the water is cloudy after starting the fungal tabs.

[Colu]

It a difficult one I would have expected to have seen some improvement by now with the meds you have used if it were Columnaris I would have expected it to have killed your fishs by now as it been going on for over a month  I would finish the course of jungal fungus fizz tabs hopefully you start to see  some improvement after that I would holded off on the meds for a week and just do daily small water changes and add a small amount of salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons  and gradually increase it over I couple of days to 1 table spoon for 3 gallons just remember to only put the amount of salt back in that you take out so if you do a three gallon water change put one table spoon back in the salt will help with gill function and add essential electrolytes to reduce stress in your fish

Edited September 15, 2021 by Colu

[Hobbit]

You have a tough disease and some tough fish!!

[MollyMomma]

Ugh, well more bad news.. I don't know what's going on but my poor pleco is just looking worse and worse. The white on her back is no longer fluffy looking its flat, but it looks raw. And now she's peppered in white spots? ICH? so I have never had ICH in this tank or my 20g. So I am really confused about where that came from. I haven't had ICH breakout in any of my main aquariums in a very long time.

So I'm presuming she is very stressed out & is now more vulnerable to catching other diseases. 

Colu I havent just been battling this for 1 month, these fish have literally been sick from way back when I first purchased them.. Online order, overnight shipped from Imperial Tropicals back in March? On/off. It literally wipes out almost the whole tank at it's peak-the fungus/red blotch/Septicemia whatever it was. These fish that are left are just the survivors from whatever this is.

So now when the jungle fizz tabs are done in a few days, should I use the ICH-X?

(I've treated ICH successfully twice in a QT tank before, on a couple of platys and on 2 ottos in past with ICH-X but that is a 5 gallon QT & has all separate buckets, gloves, hoses and equipment- I've never passed equipment back & forth)

Gosh, this Is awful guys 😞

Edited September 17, 2021 by MollyMomma
Adding photos

[MollyMomma]

I retract my earlier statement about ICH. I completed the first round of Jungle Fungus Tab, did the WC today and tonight I added another tab, so onto the second round of treatment.

I was able to closely inspect the pleco & it does not look like ICH. The spots are larger, round and flat, some are white but most are flesh colored orange or pink. 

The fungus tab has helped somewhat, the raised white area, has receded and become flat.. But with the new "spots" showing up, I am going to do a second round just to be safe. I've Been testing parameters & ammonia nor nitrite have increased- so that's good!

Tonight when I added the second dose of fungal tabs, the pleco was irritated, I could tell because she was skittering in place and breathing heavy. I checked on her a few hours later though & she seemed okay! 

Let's hope this works!

[Guppysnail]

I just want to put this out here for you since you are still having issues that are not resolving. Most water conditioners treat 1 ppm chlorine. My water company is at 2 ppm and occasionally flushes and it hits 4 ppm. I always have to double dose and test for chlorine. Is it possible this could be chlorine irritation.  It will also cause the fish to produce excess slime looking fuzzy and sometimes flaky. My eyes are not superb and I’m not a medical expert by a long shot. But on the one pleco pic it almost looks like chlorine irritation/burn

[MollyMomma]

On 9/18/2021 at 10:52 PM, Guppysnail said:

I just want to put this out here for you since you are still having issues that are not resolving. Most water conditioners treat 1 ppm chlorine. My water company is at 2 ppm and occasionally flushes and it hits 4 ppm. I always have to double dose and test for chlorine. Is it possible this could be chlorine irritation.  It will also cause the fish to produce excess slime looking fuzzy and sometimes flaky. My eyes are not superb and I’m not a medical expert by a long shot. But on the one pleco pic it almost looks like chlorine irritation/burn

Thanks for taking the time to read about my pleco! So when the issues first started I checked my water & my tap water. There is very little chlorine in my tap thankfully. But regardless I normally use 2 drops of Prime per 1 gallon of water. Right now im using stress coat ( I always use stress coat while medicating) on the test strips I haven't seen any chlorine pop up.

On another forum a few people mentioned to test for copper. So I spent money on a copper test too & it read 0ppm. Then they told me to try phosphate test & a TDS meter. All came back normal. 

TY for the information though. This has been ongoing for a while.

[Hobbit]

Okay so while we’re thinking outside the box… is it possible you could have an electrical leak into the tank? Perhaps something’s broken and there’s an electric current that keeps irritating their skin/scales?

[MollyMomma]

On 9/18/2021 at 11:37 PM, Hobbit said:

Okay so while we’re thinking outside the box… is it possible you could have an electrical leak into the tank? Perhaps something’s broken and there’s an electric current that keeps irritating their skin/scales?

Which appliance would cause that, the heater?

Right now in the 15g QT, for equipment there is a brand new Aqueon 100W heater (the other one was a fluval in the 29g & was too large to transfer to the 15g), the Aqueon filter (transferred from the 29g)

That's it I think. There's an aquarium coop nano sponge filter, can sponge filters transfer currents? I transferred it over as well to use any BB it may have had & as an extra means of oxygen while medicating.

[Hobbit]

In most cases the most likely culprit would be the heater, but maybe the filter could do it. If that’s the only thing that got transferred from the other tank, I’d suspect it first. Sponge filters can’t transfer currents down the air tube so that’s safe. But honestly the electrical current thing is a long shot. If you had said, “Oh yeah I have some cheap submersible lights in there” I would have got excited. 😆

[MollyMomma]

On 9/19/2021 at 7:00 PM, Hobbit said:

In most cases the most likely culprit would be the heater, but maybe the filter could do it. If that’s the only thing that got transferred from the other tank, I’d suspect it first. Sponge filters can’t transfer currents down the air tube so that’s safe. But honestly the electrical current thing is a long shot. If you had said, “Oh yeah I have some cheap submersible lights in there” I would have got excited. 😆

Haha yeah, no- no submersible lights for me. I tried thinking outside the box- like the copper test & other things, and honestly I can't find an answer.

So the best answer I have come up with is that the fish I ordered online brought a disease with them, it killed them, and in time started hurting my older stocking. 

I treated it and thought I had solved the issue, most of the symptoms resolved except the pleco had a few white patches left. I should have done another round of treatment, and did not, so the disease lingered around and took a foothold again. That's the best I can come up with. I believe I am/Or was battling multiple diseases/infections & that's why so many symptoms keep appearing.

[MollyMomma]

Here is the sick cory:

Her in March in first photo, her in June in second photo, her today in the last couple photos; She's gotten very poorly. 

 

[MollyMomma]

Okay Tonight is the end of Round #2 of the Jungle Fungus Tabs, (4 days each round then WC) tomorrow is WC day.

AND Pleco looks better!!!!! The white stuff was webbed on her dorsal fin and looked really bad. I just turned lights on & checked on her & I think it looks much better! And all those tiny white dots have faded as well! Yay progress 🙂

But.. My cory, the poor old girl, I'm starting to fear she's too far gone. She's tilted on her side a lot because her fins have eroded from this, she's not moving much & breathing slow.

 

[Hobbit]

So glad to hear about your pleco, but poor little cory girl. ❤️ 

[MollyMomma]

I need help guys, the Cory has a new symptom. She has a large ball of fungus puffing off her front fin. There's fungus medicine in the water! So I don't understand why it's still attacking them! 

There's a small piece of driftwood in the QT, it's growing some stuff, could it have transferred or attacked the Cory because her immune system is already compromised?

 

[Colu]

It could be an opportunistic fungal infection that affected him because of his compromise immune system  as your still treating with jungal fungus clear I would add a dose of ick x in as well  and see how he does