Gill
Flukes
Symptoms: Gill area is red and
inflamed and the inner part
of the gill may protrude slightly.
Fish may gasp at the waters
surface and gills may move rapidly.
Gill flukes are tiny parasites.
Treatment:
They can be treated with Maracyn®
or Maracyn-Two® medication.
(Remove any activated carbon
from filter - it may take medicine
out of water)
Ich
(white spot disease)
Symptoms: Small white spots
appear on fish's body. Most
noticeable on fins. This is
probably one of the most common
diseases in fish. Ich is caused
by a protozoa, and generally
breaks out among fish newly
purchased from pet stores. Fish
who are stressed are also more
susceptible.
Treatment:
Ich is easily treated with medication,
and a number of medications
are sold to treat it (such as
Maracyn.) Ich can be fatal if
not treated immediately. (Remove
any activated carbon from filter
- it may take medicine out of
water)
Pop
eye (cornybacteriosis)
Symptoms: Fish's eyes suddenly
stick out more the normal because
of hemorrhaging. Its
important to note that some
fish have naturally protruding
eyes, such as certain species
of fancy goldfish. If bought
as a juvenile, it will take
up to 2 years to develop natural
protruding eyes. Know how a
fish should look as an adult
before you accidentally treat
it for non-existing diseases.
Treatment-
Use Maracyn® or Maracyn-Two®
medication (penicillin and tetracycline
are available for treatment)
Make sure you treat for septicemia
(below) also, if fish is to
survive.
Septicemia
Symptoms: Redness on body, blood
streaks on skin and fins, inflamed
blood vessels, hemorrhaging
around the eyes, sluggishness
and loss of appetite. Septicemia
usually occurs along side other
diseases, and can result from
poor water conditions. There
is a high risk of
Dropsy occurring
as result of septicemia.
Treatment:
Treat with Maracyn-Two medication.
Isolate the fish. Then call
a pet store or ask your vet
for information on treatment.
It is essential to treat septicemia
immediately, or else it is fatal......
Scale
Loss (stress)
Symptoms: Scales fall out, leaving
pits on fish's hide. Scale loss
is the result of extreme stress
(probably caused by wrong water
temperatures, bad PH and ammonia
levels, frequent attacks from
other fish, being new to the
tank, trauma, overcrowding,lack
of oxygen).
Treatment:
"Stress Coat" can
be bought in pet stores to help
reduce stress, and also you
should test water for PH and
ammonia, and reduce overcrowding.
Skin
Flukes
Symptoms: Fish rubs against
things in attempt to rid itself
of parasites living on the skin.
Fins may become slightly frayed
and skin may redden.
Treatment:
Medication - (Remove any activated
carbon from filter - it may
take medicine out of water)
Slime
Disease
Symptoms: Sluggishness, dull
coloration (fish is mucus covered,)
frayed fins, damaged gills and
death. This disease causes the
protective slime covering the
fish's body to get thick and
mucusy. Once disease spreads
to gills, death will occur.
Treatment:
Treat with store bought medications
(Remove any activated carbon
from filter - it may take medicine
out of water)
Tuberculosis
WARNING-TB
is transmittable to humans so
exercise EXTREME caution when
handling a TB infected fish!
Symptoms: ulcers
on the body ,fins clamped tight
against body, faded colors and
weight loss. Pop Eye
can occur along side of TB.
Treatment:
Quarantine fish as soon as symptoms
shows to prevent other fish
from getting sick. See a veterinarian
for further instruction
Ulcers
Symptoms: An ulcer is
basically a break in the skin
which fails to heal. It looks
like a circular (can be other
shapes also) wound with white
(dead tissue) around the edges.
It may be inflamed and even
expose muscle underneath. If
left untreated the ulcer will
grow larger. It's usually caused
by bacteria. Ulcers are most
common in ornamental pond fish,
such as koi and goldfish
Treatment:
Treatment can take weeks. One
medication is called Genesyz,
lymozyne Another is called
melaflex. They also have
"baths" use can use
to treat fish for ulcers, but
I don't recommend you try using
bath's without consulting a
vet or a pet store.
Velvet
Symptoms: Very small white speckles
on fish. Resembles a fine powder.
Velvet can be easily mistaken
for Ich , but
with velvet disease, the white
speckles are smaller and finer
and located mainly on body.
Treatment:
Medicine (Remove any activated
carbon from filter - it may
take medicine out of water)
Wasting
Symptoms: Fish grows skinny
and looks malnourished. Head
may appear to large for the
body.
Treatment:
Wasting is caused by lack of
eating. A fish may not eat if
it is under stress,
or not able to compete with
other fish in the tank for food
(overcrowding can cause this
problem). If the fish is timid,smaller
then its tank mates, not a fast
swimmer (fancy goldfish,) or
was recently ill, it will be
unable to get its share of food.
Put extra food into the tank
so the fish in question can
get its share, or you can even
go as far as isolating the fish
permanently (putting the fish
in a separate tank just at meal
times will cause stress). If
fish is feeding normally and
you rule out lack of food as
the cause of wasting,
it may be a symptom of TB.
Read section on TB
for more information and use
EXTREME caution when dealing
with TB.
.
