# Boesemani rainbow fish problems?



## ctyesterday13 (Dec 22, 2014)

1. Size of tank? 80 Gallon

2. Water parameters
a. Ammonia? 0
b. Nitrite? 0
c. Nitrate? 0
d. pH, KH and GH? ph 8.4 kh 300 gh 300
e. Test kit? tetra easy strips

3. Temperature? 75F

4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)? was fresh water put recently added 1tbs/10g

5. How long the aquarium has been set up? 2 months

6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them? A spotted raphael catfish almost full 2 months as well as 4 red claw crabs (two of which died about 3 weeks ago) A gold nugget pleco, albino rainbow shark, and the 4 sick rainbow fish who were all added about a month ago Also I have about 2 dozen fry from the rainbow fish that showed up about a week ago

7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)? No

8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants? 1 red rubin sword, a few pieces of contortion val, 2 Dwarf Sagittaria, whats left of Narrow Leaf Ludwigia, 2 Anubias Frazeri, and a hand full of Cabomba
b. Sand, gravel, barebottom? Arag-Alive Eco-Complete Plant Substrate and gravel
c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors? rock, brick, driftwood

9. a. Filtration? whisper 30-60 and emperor 400 with bio wheel also a koralia nano 425 and 240 for circulation
b. Heater? fluval e series

10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used? aquatic life edge led
b. Any sunlight exposure? How long? not really maybe indirect from 830-5

11. a. Water change schedule? weekly
b. Volume of water changed? 5 gallons
c. Well water, tap water, RO water? tap water
d. Water conditioner used? api stress coat+
e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed? weekly with water change

12. Foods? frozen blood worms, flakes, pellets
How often are they fed? 2-3 times daily only what they will eat for the rainbows and once daily for the cat and pleco which is either two tabblets or one blood worm cube

13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms? rainbows not really eating, swimming in wavemaker currents constantly, and what looks like a white fuzz growing on there bodies. The rest of the fish are un affected
b. Appearance of poop? unknown
c. Appearance of gills? normal

14. a. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? Yes
b. What meds were used? Maracyn plus and Pimafix


The problem is a little over a week ago I noticed a 1/4 inch white spot on one of the male rainbows when he was in the light and over the next couple days it spread dramatically. They all now have what looks like a thin layer of white on them. The original male has it all along the top of his body. I have since removed my carbon filters and treated with pimafix and maracyn plus because I am not sure if it is fungal or bacterial. I have also added salt at 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons. I think it might be Columnaris but am not sure and the store where I bought all the fish weren't much help. The stats on my tank levels have been the same the whole time except when I first introdused the rainbows. I believe I was over feeding so my nitrates shot way up. I did a 10 gallon water change and another 5 gallons 2 days later and they went back down to 0. I have been treating for 4 days now and while the fish don't look worse they don't look any better either. Any help would be much appreciated.


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## Kieranfish (Dec 23, 2014)

hi there! Thanks for providing so much information! I'll try and help you to the best of my ability. First of all, how is your nitrate 0?


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

That was my first thought too. 0 nitrate doesn't sound right given the small amount of live plants and your water change amount weekly. 

If it is Columnaris, you're going to want to treat it with a gram-negative bacterial med. Furan, Triple-sulfa, Terramycin etc..

Do a large water change now, keep up water changes throughout treatment and I would up your weekly water change amount to at least 25%


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## Kieranfish (Dec 23, 2014)

+1 to what Romad said. Also "and the 4 sick rainbow fish who were all added about a month ago" indicates that it was the tank from the store you got them from. So I advise against buying from their again. 

Also, you say the aquarium has been set up for 2 months. Is it fully cycled? Are those 2 months after the cycle finished or what?

Like Romad said, Terramycin works pretty good. Saved my uncle's Bosemani Rainbows a year ago. similar symptoms- White cotton-like growth (white spot) 

And since you're "not sure if it is fungal or bacterial" I believe it is fungal.


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## ctyesterday13 (Dec 22, 2014)

Nitrates are 0 still. I have a siphon that I use to vacuum the gravel when I do my water changes which is probably whats keeping the nitrates minimal. I have been treating with maracyn plus and while it doesn't look like it is getting better it doesn't look like it is getting worse either as far as spreading. I was also treating with pirmafix at the same time for incase it was fungal. I now have had two of them die. The two that died were healthier looking than the one in the photos. I now have the remaining two in separate quarantine tanks and will try treating with Terramycin and also up my water changes in the main tank. I spoke with the person who referred me to the store and they said they bought a red fin shark and a pleco after I did and both seem to have similar issues. I appreciate the help and will make sure to post how it goes. I really hope I can save the remaining two but the one male looks really bad. I have heard you have to catch it early or they are goners. Unfortunately I didn't know what to look for when I started.


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## Kieranfish (Dec 23, 2014)

I still strongly doubt that your nitrates are 0. You say you are using test strips, and that could be why. they are notoriously bad. I used to use them, until it kept saying I had ammonia levels of 2 when I had 0. I am so sorry for your losses of 2 of the rainbows. But let's do all we can to save what's left of them. And like you say, once it gets to a certain point, there is no rescuing them unfortunately. since the 2 that passed on were the healthier looking ones, have you noticed any symptoms of any other diseases? Since most diseases strike when the fish is weakened.... White poo? If the 2 healthier ones passed, then something like internal parasites could be at play possibly. that's just an example and it might be just the ich that killed them. I'm just listing other possibilities.

It is very good that you are willing to go the extra mile and get the terramycin for your fish. When do you think you'll be able to get it?


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## ctyesterday13 (Dec 22, 2014)

I now have lost 3 of the four fish. I will be picking up a better water tester because after putting in the antibiotics and skipping a weekly water change, so that I didn't remove the medicine, my nitrates were sill 0. I did some more research and found out because of my higher ph the maracyn plus was not a good choice. Unfortunately the Terramycin didn't arrive in time for the male. The remaining female looks fine but I have some Kanamycin flakes coming incase there is some internal infection still going on. I found a very good website for columnaris. It is http://www.myaquariumclub.com/columnaris-and-what-i-have-learned...-1689.html One of the first two that died, the night before it died, was swimming at the surface. I hear they will do that if they are lacking air. I am thinking it might have attacked the gill tissue on these two more. After they died I did notice skin rot. I figured it could be other fish picking at it, but one had the area around the eye and part of the eye looking like the bacteria was eating away at it after death. It was weird because it didn't show up until after it was dead. Hopefully it has passed and I don't have to worry about this problem again. I will continue to monitor and any other input would be appreciated. I hope I never have to go through this again but if so hopefully I will be able to do a better job of stopping it from what I have learned.


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## Kieranfish (Dec 23, 2014)

ah. sorry for your losses. you say "One of the first two that died, the night before it died, was swimming at the surface. I hear they will do that if they are lacking air" Yes, it could be low oxygen levels, or ammonia poisoning. if your tests gave 0 for nitrates and you know it was wrong, then it would say ammonia is 0, correct? It's probably not actually 0 and your water levels seem dodgy to me. not your fault, but they do seem poor.

So just to clarify, you have just the 1 rainbow left? Anything else in there? if that's the only fish in the entire tank, then just watch her VERY closely. hourly check ups if youre not at work or going out or whatever I recommend so you can spot anything out of the ordinary. I hope the remaining rainbow does continue to heal up.


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## ctyesterday13 (Dec 22, 2014)

The last rainbow seems to be doing just fine. I also have a gold nugget pleco, albino rainbow shark, spotted Raphael catfish, two red claw crabs, and about 3-4 dozen rainbow fry. All of them appear to be just fine. She is no longer swimming in the wavemaker all day and is eating well.


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## Kieranfish (Dec 23, 2014)

that's good to hear! Hope you don't have to go through this again


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