White Cloud Mountain Minnows - Mystery Disease

[caylentor]

One of my fish isn't looking right today - his scales seem a little bumpy (the one with the droopy fin).

Is this the start of pineconing/dropsy? He's been eating ok but his tail has been droopy for a few days and I'm a little worried about him.

[Colu]

He doesn't look good it's a difficult one with the meds you have treated with I would have expected to see some improvement in your fish the fact more are getting sick could mean you need to treat with antibiotic medication with a different active ingredient as it's more than likely a bacterial infection if you go on Amazon you should be able to get Sera baktopur direct tables active ingredient is nifurpirinol a broad spectrum antibiotic that's what I would treat 

[caylentor]

He's still with us, but still a very sick boy.

I wasn't able to find Sera baktopur anywhere in the UK, but I did get more enrofloxacin from the vet so we're trying that in food.

Today while cleaning the tank I found one of my small Amano shrimp and it looks really odd - it has a dark brown colouration and white spots all over its body. It doesn't look fluffy like pictures of vorticella online, but could the shrimp be carrying something that's making my fish sick? My two adult Amanos look fine.

 

[caylentor]

Sadly we lost the fish with dropsy, and had two more come down with swim bladder issues. They both passed and I had them taken in for another necropsy, with the following:

 

Quote

Our pathologists note:  In both white cloud mountain minnows, there is nematode (worm) infestation in hollow organs suspected to be the stomachs, associated with mucosal fibrosis (abnormal thickening of the stomach lining), and glandular atrophy (shrinking of the normal glands in the stomach). The level of infestation and the pathological changes in the stomach lining are considered to be significant and likely to have contributed to the death of the fish. The pathologists have not been able to find information relating to the possible nematode species that may infest white cloud mountain minnows.

 

Any ideas what they might be? We tried treating the tank with Esha NDX last year, which I guess either hasn't helped or only helped for a short time. Should we retry this or should we try a different medication? @Colu I'd really appreciate your input if you did't mind please.

[Colu]

On 2/23/2022 at 2:31 PM, caylentor said:

Sadly we lost the fish with dropsy, and had two more come down with swim bladder issues. They both passed and I had them taken in for another necropsy, with the following:

 

 

Any ideas what they might be? We tried treating the tank with Esha NDX last year, which I guess either hasn't helped or only helped for a short time. Should we retry this or should we try a different medication? @Colu I'd really appreciate your input if you did't mind please.

Nematodes worms are types of round worms theirs a lot of different species  as Esha ndx active ingredient is levamisole hasn't work I treat with fenbendazole in food it a more powerful dewormer he's a food recipe it more effective in food as you have shrimp I move your fish to a Qarantine tank and treat as fenbendazole can kill shrimp and snails

Edited February 23, 2022 by Colu

[caylentor]

I've dosed with NDX again as I can't get fenbendazole without a prescription (though the vet has said we can get it if this doesn't work).

They've also recommended sterilising the tank and replacing the plants. I'm happy to do this, but is there a way to clean the filter media without killing the beneficial bacteria? They're in a canister filter.

[Colu]

On 2/24/2022 at 1:20 PM, caylentor said:

They've also recommended sterilising the tank and replacing the plants. I'm happy to do this, but is there a way to clean the filter media without killing the beneficial bacteria? They're in a canister filter.

Sterilising your filter will kill your benefial bacterial theirs no way around it if you have another tank were you can cycle some filter media to put back in your filter once everything is cleaned is the best option

[caylentor]

Unfortunately nothing large enough, we have a little tank with some baby fish but it's only 30L vs 180L in the main tank.

 

I'm worried about stressing the fish with the combination of meds + temporary tank + cycling a new tank, given they've already been through a long illness. Is it likely that worm eggs will get in the filter media or will they maybe have been caught by the sponges and filter floss?

[Colu]

On 2/24/2022 at 3:56 PM, caylentor said:

Unfortunately nothing large enough, we have a little tank with some baby fish but it's only 30L vs 180L in the main tank.

 

I'm worried about stressing the fish with the combination of meds + temporary tank + cycling a new tank, given they've already been through a long illness. Is it likely that worm eggs will get in the filter media or will they maybe have been caught by the sponges and filter floss?

They are more than likely in your filter what I would do is leave your tank as it is and treat with Esha ndx once a week for 3 weeks if you see improvement then I would follow up with a fourth course  that will take care of any of the parasite that hatch in-between treatments and doesn't require you to bin your plants