15 replies to this topic

[Khai Wan]

Can anyone please help identify what kind of sickness that this particular rainbow shiner is having? This is a wild caught fish that I have been keeping close to 2 years. Out of a sudden, it became like this since 2 days ago. I'm thinking the white lower part of the body is paralyze as this fish has difficulty swimming wagging the lower part. Any idea?

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[fundulus]

It's some form of bacterial infection. The rainbows I've kept almost always died from a sudden onset of that infection, especially they would die very soon after spawning. I'd guess that their immune system suddenly fails and that's that, more so than most other cyprinids.

[gerald]

Might be Columnaris (aka Flexibacter or Flavobacterium). I see it most often on recently caught wild fish, usually within the first few days. Starts on fin edges (tail especially) and works its way up the body. IME it doesn't often attack fish that have been in captivity for 2+ months unless new fish were recently added. But recent spawning could be a stress similar to capture & transport.

[littlen]

I also agree with the previous two posts. That is a pretty severe infection. You might want to think about isolating that fish so as to not spread the disease. More realistically, my suggestion would be to assist it to the afterlife.

[Khai Wan]

Thanks everyone for advice. I have taken the fish out from the main tank and put him in isolation. This fish is truly in bad shape, looking closer.

[sbtgrfan]

If it is somewhat fuzzy, it could be saprolegnia. Very similar to Columnaris and hard to tell apart outside of a microscope, but the main difference is it is fuzzy. Treatment for saprolegnia is probably the same for Columnaris. Salt bath works in some cases. Formalin if you got it. If in fact it is saprolegnia, that indicates poor water quality and a good cleaning is in order.

[predatorkeeper87]

Doesn't look like columnaris...as posted above is it fuzzy? Or fungus-like in any way? I am treating my pickerels for columnaris right now, it acts like a fungus, creating white fuzzy patches on the fish and in the tank, and also causing blisters or lesions on the fish itself.

I agree that looks bacterial in nature but I would treat with wide spectrum antibacterial meds just to cover all the possibilities.

[gzeiger]

If ever a post needed Irate to point out "It will die" this is surely it.

[Michael Wolfe]

I notice that this fish is colored up still (mostly) and the others are not (at least in the picture. It may just be old age and inability to maintain metabolic function. Not too long ago, we collected a colorful fish that got even more colored up in an orange bucket. Someone here (maybe Bruce) mentioned that it is common for post spawned, Hydrophlox to sort of flame out as the die.

Whats the status of this particular fish (recovering, or dead?).

[littlen]

I got $20 on dead.

[Matt DeLaVega]

It is good that you isolated the fish. Beyond that what can you do? Try to experiment with medications and try to cure it? Or say screw it an euthanize the fish. I would kill it myself. I would however love to see someone treat and cure a fish in this condition. I have had redside dace look very similar to that. I treated with only Melafix and Pimafix. No go. After that I got pretty stringent about culling any fish that showed any symptoms of disease. I kind of threw the baby out with the bath water. Maybe I should have treated more. My big problem is that I have a background in agriculture. You treat an illness in cattle, but you cull a sick chicken. Larger animals seem to be more hardy, and respond to treatment well. Small animals seem to not respond to treatment as well, and due to size have less commercial value, so you simply don't spend much on them. Same would be true with fish. But saving a particular fish may be important to some of us right? It would be nice to hear some success stories. Sorry for the rant. Good luck with the chrosomis. Bruce's observation/theory may be a factor.

[Khai Wan]

The sick fish is almost dying out as of observation now. I don't think it will last till tomorrow - laying still without much breathing but still alive. Looking closer, the white part of the body seemed to lose all the scales. The strange thing about this is that this fish seems to exhibit breeding color on his upper part of the body even until now with this bad condition. Not sure if he got injured somehow that leads him to this condition. The white part is not fungus like. I don't see cotton like fungus around the that white part; looks like something is eating up his scale (bacteria as Bruce mentioned).

[Matt DeLaVega]

The breeding color is probably a function of stress. Fish is jacked up with hormones, and it makes him showy. Or like some plants, when they get stressed they go to seed. Maybe immenint death is making his body try one last time to pass on its genes.

[littlen]

Matt, you make good points for both treating and culling small, aquarium fish. All the voices in my head are harmoniously shouting, "Cull! Cull! Cull!" However it would be a great idea for a dedicated individual to further the hobby/industry to treat small/individual fish. We could certainly stand to learn a lot. I just had a large Warpaint break its back slamming into the side of the tank. The back half of the body went pale, but not to the extent of Khai Wan's fish. (Since you're wondering, the Warpaint was introduced to Dr. Kavorkian).

[gerald]

"Small animals seem to not respond to treatment as well" mainly because research into diagnosing and treating them has been limited by their "disposable" status, not just because of small body size. Fortunately there are Vet Schools and orgs like FTFFA and Tree Walkers International that now conduct or sponsor health & disease research on "cheap" pet fish and herps.

You treat an illness in cattle, but you cull a sick chicken. Larger animals seem to be more hardy, and respond to treatment well. Small animals seem to not respond to treatment as well, and due to size have less commercial value, so you simply don't spend much on them.

Here's some good info on Flexibacter/ Columnaris by "Dr. Barb". As you've seen on the shiner, it's not always fuzzy-looking. IME it's usually more cloudy-looking than fuzzy looking.

http://www.thekoikee...eadedflexi.html

[Matt DeLaVega]

It is also a problem with food animals because of unapproved meds and slaughter withdrawal times. Like I said I would love to hear suçcess stories.