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Sick yellow lab


Pennyc

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Hi I am really hoping someone can help. We have a 180lt tank with some yellow labs red zebras and cobalt zebras. They are all still juvenile stage at approx 5cm some a little bigger than others.

We had one lab last week starting resting on rocks and near the bottom. The next day he was dead. The only mark on him was a small brown dot right behind a side fin. My husband said it looked as if a little chunk had been taken out. Now today another one is hiding down near a rock. He did come out when the food was out but he is paler his bars are showing darker than the other fish and he too appears to have a little brown mark behind one fin.

All the other fish seem ok eating swimming. Water is fine 26.1 temp ammonia 0 nitrites 0 Nitrates 5 PH 7.8. They have been in the tank for about 5 weeks the cobalts were added 5 days ago.

I will try and upload a pic tomorrow. We haven't seen much aggression some chasing but no fighting to speak of.

Any ideas appreciated we don't have a hospital tank but if I need to treat the tank for something it would be good to know.

Thank you

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Small water changes daily for the next seven days,,, don't let temp drop less than half a degree during water change to keep away any form of stress.

DO NOT,, feed for the entire seven days,, AT ALL.

What you have is a problem that's reasonably common by beginners doing the wrong thing,,,, do not take any of my words harshly.

I'm just trying to show the point easily.

What you have is a gram negative bacterial issue.

Usually caused by either poor maintenance or over feeding and sometimes overcrowding which results in one of many kinds of bad bacteria that causes open wound flesh rotting lesions.

Bloat, color loss, lesions, resting on bottom, poppy eyes and gasping are visual signs of internal/external infections caused by the bad bacterias.

Excessive waiste like uneaten food, poo and anything that's solid that resides in water for extended or indefinite time which fuels and feeds the bad bacteria making their population explode and become contagious.

Once they evolve and a population explosion begins,,, they then start to attack living flesh once infected as well as the excessive rotting waiste (uneaten food,, fish poo or fully blocked up filters harboring nasties).

Sounds horrible, but likely, especially if you see open lesions and they double in size by end of following day.

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Hi

Thanks so much for the detailed response much appreciated.

Happy to follow suggestions as detailed. We have been feeding a very small

Amount of flake daily (all eaten within 1-1 1/2 minutes) and a 20% water change once a week. Is there anything we should be doing that we are failing to do ?

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Fish eating all their food in 1 - 1.5 minutes can still be getting fed to much.

A fish pigging out as much and fast as it can eat in 1.5 minutes can be to much if your loading it in.

The timing suggestion is a rough guide line.

Really a fish going hard and fast at eating should last 5-10 seconds !!!, maybe spend the next 30 seconds picking up the minuscule specks.

Going by visual appearance is better,,, a fish should never have a full round belly after feeding.

A straight belly or ever so slightly convex is what should be seen after feeding.

Very underfed fish are much more healthier than very slightly over fed fish.

It's surprising how little food fish actually need.

Believe it or not,,,,,,,, feeding fish is a art. (the art of feeding). :)

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Just don't feed for a week to start with.

Experiment to see how much you can get away with minimizing amount you feed.

If they start to get a little thin, just feed a touch more, (careful observation).

If I were you, I'd catch the one out with open wound and cull it. (reduce spreading especially if it dies and others start nibbling it).

Once these open lesions appear the only way to fix it is to put in hospital tank and treat with DMZ (antibiotics), same treatment as bloat, and still depending how advanced the stage is,, 50% chance of survival rate.

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This is the fish I think you can see the little mark

image_zps086e8155.jpg

I might get him out as you suggest when the kids are in bed. No one is bothering him at the moment and occasionally he goes for a little swim but not far

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Can't see much,, but if it's exposed flesh you can see like a hole appearing,, then yeah what I said.

My info is just going by what it sounds like.

Seeing in the flesh so to speak, is best way to determine.

It's up to you to determine yourself with the given info. :)

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Thanks we culled him today :(

I have posted a new question (possibly in the wrong area knowing me) asking about water quality and circulation. I want to make sure we are doing everything we can to prevent this happening again

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Now another one is unwell water parameters the same it seems as soon as one yellow dies another seemingly healthy one starts fading. Still haven't fed them any ideas on anything else I can try?

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There may be infected fish past point of no return.

With out getting technical, usually there's a primary problem which escalates into a secondary problem.

Once physical systems appear,, for some/many it's to late.

You said your ph is 7.8 so it's likely rest of peramters are close enough,,,, although on odd occasions not nessesarily.

Meaning high ph with higher end general hardness with very low carbonate hardness. Which is rare, and shouldn't cause grave problems.

It's likely with your ph and a typical norm throughout oz close to cities, it's likely your general hardness wil be fairly high with a moderate to slightly low carbonate hardness,,, which is acceptable but not prime.

To be honest, don't worry about that unless you want to go that far.

Just expect a bit of irreversible damage also practicing patience.

Once all balances out, just move slow.

The best you can do is keep their conditions stable in tank,,, no large temp changes or water chemistry changes,,(many small incremental water changes).

Learning the hard way is the quickest and best way to learn I reckon. (keep that food out of your kids reach to). :)

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Thanks I feel terrible it may be my inexperience and I am missing something there is one larger yellow left and two small ones all ok as of this morning will do as you suggest regards tank and feeding and cross everything that the carnage stops lol

Buccal sincerely appreciate your input it's keeping me sane

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