help id apparent gill parasites

hello All,

I've recently introduced 4 small SAEs to my tank after a 2 week
quarantine period; unfortunately it looks like they were symptomless
carriers of some bad stuff :-(((

the fish affected up to now are a local platy-sized livebearer; their
grandparents were caught in a local park lake some 3 years ago;

- 4 days ago I noticed one that was very thin, was not eating, looked
like he had difficulties to float and had a curved spine; next day he
died (and was partially eaten).

- yesterday I saw another one looking sick; it was not (yet) thin but
was not eating; the gill plates looked very dark; he was almost dying,
I euthanized him;

- today another stopped eating, was mostly motionless and had very dark
gill plates; I netted him out and took a close look: the gill plates
were indeed very dark and had a strong dark-blue reflection; he was
almost dying, I euthanized him;

I've tried to identify the problem thru Disease Diagnosis Sites without
succes; to me it looks like some sort of parasite; I don't know what to
do :-((

I did a good syphoning and a 25% WC; my plan is just to keep 25%WCs
daily and see what happens;

please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for me!
I wonder if nonspecific stuff like raising temp or adding salt(1) could
help..

TIA!

(1) although I have 4 very dear otos in the tank..

--
Otavio Exel /<\oo/>\ oexel.DeleteThis@economatica.com.br

"Otavio Exel" <oexel RemoveThis @economatica.com.br> wrote in message
news:slrnc60qpf.op3.oexel@queluz.economatica.com.br...
> hello All,
>
> I've recently introduced 4 small SAEs to my tank after a 2 week
> quarantine period; unfortunately it looks like they were symptomless
> carriers of some bad stuff :-(((
>
> the fish affected up to now are a local platy-sized livebearer; their
> grandparents were caught in a local park lake some 3 years ago;
>
> - 4 days ago I noticed one that was very thin, was not eating, looked
> like he had difficulties to float and had a curved spine; next day he
> died (and was partially eaten).
>
> - yesterday I saw another one looking sick; it was not (yet) thin but
> was not eating; the gill plates looked very dark; he was almost
dying,
> I euthanized him;
>
> - today another stopped eating, was mostly motionless and had very dark
> gill plates; I netted him out and took a close look: the gill plates
> were indeed very dark and had a strong dark-blue reflection; he was
> almost dying, I euthanized him;
>
> I've tried to identify the problem thru Disease Diagnosis Sites without
> succes; to me it looks like some sort of parasite; I don't know what to
> do :-((
>
> I did a good syphoning and a 25% WC; my plan is just to keep 25%WCs
> daily and see what happens;
>
> please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions for me!
> I wonder if nonspecific stuff like raising temp or adding salt(1) could
> help..
>
> TIA!
>
> (1) although I have 4 very dear otos in the tank..
>
> --
> Otavio Exel /<\oo/>\ oexel RemoveThis @economatica.com.br

I've had mixed success with Lifebearer for gill parasites. On a positive
note, the medication itself doesn't seem to have any noxious effects on
even the smallest fish (thinking of your Otos). As always, ymmv, but
good luck Otavio.

NetMax