*THE FISH CLINIC*
*FISH DISEASES*
NEED HELP DIAGNOSING YOUR SICK FISHIE?
THIS PAGE CONTAINS INFORMATION ON THE FOLLOWING FISH DISEASES, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENTS (as listed) :
AMYLOODINIUM
ANCHOR WORMS
ARTHROPODS
BACTERIAL INFECTION
BLACK SPOT DISEASE
CAMALLANUS WORMS
CHILODONELLA
COLUMNARIS
CRYPTOCARYON
DROPSY
EGG BINDING
FIN & TAIL ROT
FUNGUS
GILL & SKIN FLUKES
HEXAMITA (Hole in Head)
ICK
LYMPH
NEON TETRA DISEASE
POPEYE
SWIM BLADDER
TUBERCULOSIS
TUMORS
ULCERS
AMYLOODINIUM
** Similar to ICK, but instead appears as a gray dusting, not white dots, like sprinkled salt. It attacks the fish's gills with no visible signs except for extra mucus, which can only be seen by lifting the fish's gill covering.
SYMPTOMS:
**Fish has whitish gray or yellowish rust colored, velvety appearance. Fish exhibits rapid breathing, remains in air or water stream, scratches against objects, has dull eyes and shows loss of appitite.
TREATMENT:
**The most effective treatment is Copper Sulfate. Treatment should be given in a separate tank for it can be moderately harmful to bacteria in the gravel in your main tank.
ANCHOR WORMS
**Small parasitic worms that look like 8 inch long pieces of string with forked tails. Usually, these worms are introduced into the aquarium from live foods. The parasites bore into the skin causing an ulcer like appearance, but the worms are visible.
SYMPTOMS:
**Clear to white or brown string like worms, with forked tails are visible on the skin, head, or mouth. Open sores may appear on the fish's skin with the worms protruding from the sore.
TREATMENT:
**If the worms are large, it's best to remove them rather than medicate the fish. Place fish on a clean wet towel and pluck off the worms carefully with a pair of tweezers, pulling with the grain of the fish. Dip a swab in a broad spectrum antiseptic and dab the swab on the sore where the worm was attached, let the medicine penetrate for ten secs. then place fish directly back in the main tank. Do not keep fish out of water for more than one minute.
ARTHROPODS
**Tiny eggs attached to worms on the fish's gills or body. Easily seen under magnifying glass. Newly added fish can carry these parasites.
SYMPTOMS:
**Tiny clusters of eggs attached to wormlike parasite on the gills, skin, body, or head. In some cases, only the eggs can be seen.
TREATMENT:
**Use medications manufactured for use against ANCHOR WORMS.
BACTERIAL INFECTION
**Bacterial diseases usually are from result of unsanitary tanks. To help prevent this disease, maintain water chemistry, or maintenance.
SYMPTOMS:
**Cloudy eyes, abscesses, open sores, rotting or inflamation of the skin, internal organs or fins, bulging eyes or rapid breathing are all symptoms of a possible bacterial disease.
TREATMENT;
**Nitrofuran or Kanamycin sulfate. There are also other packaged medications available such as: aureomycin, neomycin sulfate, tetracycline, oxytetracycline, nitrafurazone, nalidixic acid, and one of personal favs, is MaryOxy.
BLACK SPOT
**Black parasitic flatworms that attach themselves to the skin and internal organs of the marine fish. If left untreated, death is probable. Yellow tangs seem to be especially susceptible to this parasite.
SYMPTOMS:
**Tiny black specks appear on marine fish's tail, fin, or body.
TREATMENT:
**There are several medications used to treat black spot. Ask your fish dealer to recommend the most succesful treatment available. Treat the fish in a seperate hospital tank.
CAMALLANUS WORMS
**Small red or brown worms that attach themselves to the rectum and intestines of the fish.
SYMPTOMS:
**The fish's anus appears red and inflamed, or there are worms protruding from a resting fish's anus. Fish may also appear pinched in the belly.
TREATMENT:
**Ask your fish dealer to recommend a proper medication for internal parasitic worms. Trichlorfon, yomesan or piperazine are three such medications. Do not attempt to pull the worms from the fish. They have a firm bite and could rip the lining of the intestines.
CHILODONELLA
**Parasitic disease that attacks the gills and skin of the fish. Creates a large build up of mucus on the fish's gills, resulting in breathing problems. The cause is usually from improper water conditions.
SYMPTOMS:
**Excessive muscus on gills, cloudy or hazy skin, rapid breathing and sluggishness.
TREATMENT:
**Treat the same as for ICK. If this treatment is unsuccesful, give the fish a formalin bath.
COLUMNARIS
**Bacterial disease often confused with Fungus. Fuzzy puffs of columnaris appear on the fish's body. Found in tanks with poor water quality.
SYMPTOMS:
**Fuzzy puffs of columnaris around the gills, head, mouth, and in open sores and wounds. Close examination of the gills reveal erosion at the filament tips. Rapid breathing.
TREATMENT:
**Same as BACTERIAL INFECTION.
CRYPTOCARYON
**Marine ICK
SYMPTOMS:
**Same as ICK
TREATMENT:
**Same as ICK
DROPSY
**Bacterial disease that attacks the fish's internal organs, causing a concentration of fluids in the body tissues or cavities, resulting in a general swelling of the abdomen, thus causing the scales to protrude from the body.
SYMPTOMS:
**Body will have general swelling and protusion of scales. Eyes may also bulge.
TREATMENT:
**Not very infectious, however treat in a seperate hospital tank with MaryOxy, or other medications listsed above in bacterial infection.
EGG BINDING
** Eggs in female egglayer species are not released do to no males being present, therefore inhibiting the "spawn". Eggs become impacted causing the abdomen to swell, scales however do not protrude as in Dropsy.
SYMPTOMS:
**Fish is severely bloated in the belly, may exhibit rapid breathing, become lathargic and loose appetite.
TREATMENT:
**No medication available. Do not attempt to squeese the eggs from the fish's body, this will result in damage to the internal organs. The only treatment in to let the eggs be naturally absorbed into the fish's body. This process can be aided with Epsom Salt soaks.
FIN ROT OR TAIL ROT
**A bacterial disease that attacks weak or slightly damaged fin edges. Once established, the bacterium will slowly work its way toward the body. This causes the fins to appear ragged, frayed or even like stubs.
SYMPTOMS:
**FIsh's fins are frayed or ragged and may appear to be shrinking or decaying. Goldfish and other long tail fishes may have red streaks in their veiltails.
TREATMENT:
**Best treated with antibiotics.
FUNGUS
**Fungus is a secondary infection. When a fish has an opened wound caused from injuries or even a recent disease which penetrated the skin, the lack of mucus covering would leave the wound temporarily unprotected. During this period, the wound would be susceptible to secondary infection such as Fungus.
SYMPTOMS:
**The fish has patches of white or gray cottony puffs attached to its skin, fins or in wounds. The fish's eyes may also have a flim covering them. Fungus is usually a freshwater fish infection.
TREATMENT:
**If medicated quickly, Fungus is easily cured. There are several packaged fungicidal medications available. Most include such drugs as acriflavine, neutroflavine or copper sulfate.
GILL&SKIN FLUKES
**Microscopic wormlike parasites that attach themselves to the gills and skin of fish. The tiny transparent worms are extremely distressful and cause the fish to swim widly, scratching it's gill coverings or body against sharp objects. The worms spread quickly, causing considerable damage and leaving the fish susceptible to lethal bacterial infections.
SYMPTOMS:
**Fish swims wildly, scratching against objects, or swim near the water's surface. The gills may show excessive mucus or turn a dull gray. Livebearers tend to show clamped dorsal or anal fins and become lathargic.
TREATMENT:
**Can be treated effectively with formalin baths or other mediation such as Maracyn, or Maracide.
HEXAMITA
**Or Hole In Head.Parasitic disease and can be introduced from live foods such as tubifex worms or feeder fish. The disease is more prominent in Cichlids, Catfish, and Discus and can be both internal and external. If external, the disease becomes evident by small visible round holes in the head area.
SYMPTOMS:
**Fish has tiny holes in head area. CLose examination reveals small whitish string worms inside the holes.
TREATMENT:
**Ask your fish dealer to recommend a proper marine or freshwater medication for Hole in Head disease. If none are found, use drugs manufactured for the treatment of flagellates such as metronidazole. In addition, increase the amount of roughage in the diet by feeding more algae, lettuce, and green vegetables. Patience is required, for this is a difficult disease to cure.
ICK
**The most common parasitic disease among all freshwater or marine fish. It is almost always present in the aquarium and infects fish that are in poor health or have had recent infection that has temporarily left them without certain immunities. The best way to prevent Ick from occuring is to maintain optimal water conditons.
SYMPTOMS:
**Tiny white spots show up on body and fins of fish. As the disease spreads, the fish will have an appearance as though it has been sprinkled with salt. Other symptoms include scratching against objects, cloudy eyes, rapid breathing and some fin deterioration. Don't confuse Ick with AMYLOODINIUM. Ick usually has distinct, individual pin head sized white dots, as with amyloodinium's spots are smaller and clustered together, giving the fish a "velvet" appearance.
TREATMENT:
**Medicate with proper ICK medication, or with Maracide. Turn off all aquarium lights and keep the hospital tank as dark as possible. Increase aeration to ease breathing problems, and increase temperature slowly to 85 degrees, at a rate of one degree every five hours. Maintain these conditions throughout the treatment period.
LYMPH
**Lymphocystis is a viral growth that can appear on the fins and skin of aquarium fish. Lymphs are easily distinguishable from other tumors.
SYMPTOMS:
**White to gray, cauliflower or raspberry like growths on the fins and body of the fish. Usually begin at the tips of the fish's fins and spread towards the body.
TREATMENT:
**Since Lymphocystis is not very contagious or fatal, the best treatment is to leave the fish in the aquarium and let the disease run it's course. If you have an ultraviolet light, keep it on to stop the spread of the virus.
NEON TETRA DISEASE
**This is the parasitic disease, PLISTOPHORA, most common among neon tetras and related species. This disease enters the fish by way of infected food.
SYMPTOMS:
**The fish appears pale and loses it's red stripe. The fish may also exhibit swimming problems and weight loss.
TREATMENT:
**Before treating for neon tetra disease, be sure that your water conditions have been ideal. The fading colors can also be caused from unsanitary water conditons. There are several medications for this disease, ask your fish dealer for the most recommended one.
POPEYE
**A condition that causes the eyes of the fish to bulge abnormally from the fish's socket. Can be caused from eye injuries, abcesses or tumors, bacterial diseases and over-aerated water. If left untreated, the eye may bulge out so far from it's socket that it causes the eye to pop out, resulting in the loss of the eye.
SYMPTOMS:
**One or both eyes protrude from the sockets. Lack of appetite.
TREATMENT:
**First, eliminate the possibility of over-aeration. If you have been using high powered power heads that shoot streams of bubbles into the water, your fish may be a victim of nitogen supersaturation. The tiny air bubbles enter the fish's blood stream and can accumulate behind the fish's eye, causing it to protrude.
**The treatment for nitrogen supersaturation is to turn the power head water stream adjustment to it's lowest setting. Temporarily shut the air off to the power heads, and allow the air pump to be the only source of air. Observe the popeye, if nitrogen supersaturation was the problem, then the eye should receed back into the socket. If no improvement is noticed or worsens, then assume a bacterial infection has occured. Follow treatment recommended for BACTERIAL INFECTION.
SWIM BLADDER
**When the swim bladder of a fish is affected, the fish developes equilibrium problems. The key to diagnosing swim bladder problems is to make sure the fish has no other problems, resulted from fighting, improper water conditions, inflamed internal organs, etc.
SYMPTOMS:
**FIsh has buoyancy problems. The fish floats, sinks to the bottom, swims with it's head down or does headstands in the gravel. At later stages, the fish may lose its balance or swim upside down.
TREATMENT:
**No medical treatments. If the fish's problem is not caused from other diseases, then it may resolve on its own.
TUBERCULOSIS
**Mycrobacteria that attack various internal organs of the fish. Since tuberculosis has symptoms like other major diseases, it cannot be positively diagnosed without post mortem. Care should be taken when dealing with a tuberculosis infected fish, since there is a slight chance of human infection from the tuberculosis fish. Wear rubber gloves whenever you place your hands in the aquarium or work with potentially infected utensils.
SYMPTOMS:
**Pale colors, bulging eyes, rapid breathing at surface, sluggish movements, hiding, swelling of the abdomen, no appetite and pinched belly, or wasting away of the fish.
TREATMENT:
**The best treatment is a broad spectrum gram negative antibiotic such as nitrofuran or kanamycin sulfate. Other packaged medicines include tetracycline, nitrofurazone, or nalidixic acid. Ask your fish dealer to recommend the brand that has been most sucessful. Tuberculosis is a difficult sometimes impossible disease to cure. It may be best to sacrifice the fish for the benefits of it's tankmates.
TUMORS
**Ocassionally, internal and external tumors become apparent among aquarium fish. Although unpleasant to look at, many tumors are benign and fish seem unaffected by them and can live a normal life. However, others can be cancerous and will continue to grow to enormous sizes, causing distress and death. A viral tumor, known as a LYMPH, will usually rectify itself if left alone. Other tumors, however need specialized attention.
SYMPTOMS:
**Lumps or growths appear on or beneath the skin of fish. If the growth is underneath the gill covering, it is probably a swollen thyroid. If the lumps are gray raspberry shaped nodules on the fins or skin, see LYMPH above.
TREATMENT:
**If the tumor is small, does not affect the fish, is not unpleasant to look at and is not growing at a rapid rate, it can be left alone. If the lump is under the gill, it is most likely a swollen thyroid and can be treated with potassium iodide. Add one milligram of potassium iodid to every gallon of water. This treatment period can take up to four weeks.
ULCERS
**Refers to open sores on the fish's body. Usually caused from the bacterium Vibrio that forms a lump on the fish's skin and eventually hemorrahages. The ulceration gives the appearance of one or more round eruptions of the skin, with red abscesses or red edges around the ulcer.
SYMPTOMS:
**Fish has one or more open sores on it's body or the base of it's fins, and the sore has red edges or abcesses. The fish may also have red edges around the fins, or fin rot. Lack of appetite, or exhibiting sluggish behaviour.
TREATMENT:
**Treat the same as BACTERIAL INFECTION. If the treatment is unsuccessful, and the fish is a marine fish, the protozoan disease Uronema may be the cause. In this case, treat the fish according to ICK.
