omg im trying my best not to freak out, but when i woke up today my huge blue oranda was laying sideways in a plant. i rushed to test the water, everything was fine, no nitrites, no ammonia, nitrates at 40..

i dont understand this

could there be something else in my water? my oranda was perfectly fine yesterday

his scales are pineconing a bit, but not nearly as severe as any of the pictures of dropsy ive seen.. his eyes arent protruding nor is he showing any other symptoms.

im walking over to the lfs very soon to get a 10 gal tank to put him in, and hopefully meds, but i dont know which meds to get.

could he have anything internal even though his scales are lifting a bit? i THOUGHT i saw my pearlscales scales pineconing a little after she died but it couldve just been the way she looked anyways

here are some pics of him..

^you can see around the white on his sides his scales are a little bit lifted


^i have no idea what all the red ness is

someone please help.. ive already lost 2 fish in 2 weeks and i cant lose another..

That's terrible! Do you think he injured himself? Do you know how the other's died? I don't know much about this problem but I think the pictures will help.

I'm sorry too.

he couldve injured himself but im not sure on what.. theres nothing really blatenly(sp?) sharp in my tank.. maybe if he tried to fit where he didnt he couldve gotten scraped up but im not sure.. and i still have no idea how the other two died.. i still think elliot probably died from just being not so healthy from day one, and my pearlscale.. i have no clue.. she did almost the same thing as this one except she was definetly not happy for days before she got so ill.. but my blue oranda was in perfect shape yesterday... i just dont get it...

I think it's a really good idea to get a new tank. Do you think the tank you have is infected? There are general bacterial infection medicines and for fungus and whatnot. Somebody please reply since I don't know much about this. I think medicines or completely cleaning your tank may help the other guys in the tank. I'm sure there is a medicine, however.

HELP!

yeah, im starting to think there is something in tank thats infecting everyone, which worries me since it took so long to get my tank to cycle and i dont know where id put the other fish in there if i had to cycle it again, but i REALLY dont want anyone else to die.. and i really hope i can save my blue oranda

Try http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/clinicalsigns.htm

It has some helpful hints on diagnosis. At least until we hear from someone more expert.

This fish looks simalarly infected:

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/bacterial.htm

hm.. i saw on there lifted scales were a sign of bacterial infections too.. and that picture does look like my fishy.. except without the open wounds-ness.. hm.. does anyone know the best meds for bacterial infections?

okay i bought a 10 gal. tank and put a plant and ornament from the 55 gal. in it, and gave my oranda its first dose of umm i dont have the bottle near me but it said it treated internal infections, dropsy, and uhh something else. so i figured if it has internal bacterial infections or dropsy this might work, plus, it was the ONLY medicine my lfs had that treated internal infections. my oranda is resting in the plant in the tank, and i put an airstone in there, but i was wondering.. do i need a filter in there? i had to buy everything new and didnt have an xtra filter, or much more money Lol so i just bought the basics. but i can go get a filter if he needs one.. what do you think?

Well I wouldn't worry about the filter as you're supposed to take the charcoal out so the filter would only be recycling the water which would put more oxygen in it. You've already taken care of that with the airstone. I guess all you can do now is wait to see if the treatment works.

oh i hope it does.. i cant stand to lose anymore fish it seems like i ALWAYS lose several right in a row.. but hopefully this little guy will be alright.. although he looks like hes a little stressed and breathing a bit heavily and opening his mouth all the time kinda like hes talking.. some of my fish do that alot anyways but i dont know.. does that mean hes stressed out?

Let us know how u go ermidontknow....poor fella When u know what medicine name yet, let us know okie. My lsf recommends this bottle called formalin-malachite which they use for internal sickness...not sure if you're using the same thing. Actually...I've been quite stupid, my fantail does have protruded abdomen area could be bacterial, although no one pointed that out to me in my previous post. Good luck there.

heres the medicine i bought.. i was a little leery since id never heard of this brand but i went to 2 stores and neither had anything for internal stuff , so this was my only hope


and heres my quarantine tank:


does it look ok for a quarantine tank? should i put more gravel in? i just put some in so the plant had something to sit in.. also.. should i do water changes while hes in there or will it take the meds out of the water?

im really worried about him.. hes losing alot of his color, and looks a little skinny.. but oddly he still has alot of personality to him.. like.. hes not just sitting there.. well he is but hes still looking up at us and gets excited and tries to swim when he sees us.. and it breaks my heart to see him like this.. his stomach is really looking not so great , and his scales are still pine coning

is there any better internal infection meds that i could look around for? or since i already gave one dose should i stick with this one?

(sorry for all the questions lol)

I think the sick tank is fine. Just watch the water conditions if he starts eating especially. Addin stone might help with a sense of bottom and calm him, but whatever you want to do.

How are the other fish? Look for legions to see if anything starts. I dunno about the stress of the medicine but have you considered treating the other tank as a precaution? If you don't get a lot of replies start another post if you like. It has helped me in the past and actually calmed me too (helped me more then the fish...lol). Keep us posted.

i went out to check on him in the middle of the night and he was dead

Nice try ermi. At least you tried.

How are the other little guys?

everyone else is in good health, no ones lethargic or anything.. i examined everyone thoroughly to check for red marks or whatnot and everyones looking healthy right now.. should i treat the 55 gal. with the meds i was treating my blue oranda with? im a little leery since im not sure if somethings in the water in there that could get to all of my fishys in time.. although im not even sure i was treating my blue oranda for the right thing.. he was looking VERY bad by the time he died.. and this morning i found fungus like stuff all over him .. i cant believe i didnt notice he was ill sooner

I think it would be alright to treat them. A carbon filter will filter out your meds, so you have to get rid of that first.

I haven't had this illness in my tank before, but I think people do this sometimes. Are there knowledgeble people at one of your lfs?

Anybody else on this board have some suggestions?