# Something Weird Is Happening!



## jamezgt (Jun 24, 2008)

So just two days ago, one of my five red bellies had died. It had cloud eye, the dorsal fin turned into a redish color and the scales kind of looked like they were peeling off.

Now today I do my daily inspection, and another red belly has white dots growing out of his head. No idea what is happening, and the other three piranhas are perfectly fine. It seems like there's always one sick piranha in the tank, and it just keeps continuing.

Parameters:
pH : 6.8 - 7
Ammonia : 0
NitrIte : 0
Nitrate : 10ish

No live food were fed, nothing was added into the tank, and the diet is still the same. The symptoms are a little different now, it's growing bumps instead of scale peeling.

I'm going to do a water change now, dose it with salt and Melafix, and increase the temperature alittle higher.

Latest Sick Piranha

















Other Piranha That Died

















Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated!


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## AmazonAddict (Jan 20, 2009)

Looks like ich. What your doing should make it go away.


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## RedneckR0nin (Nov 5, 2008)

I agree with amazon


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Doesn't look like ich to me, looks more like a fungus.

I know I'm not a moderator or anything, but isn't this "Disease & Injury" material?


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

i would treat with quick cure for 3 days and do a water change, melafix wont cure this, it looks 
to be an infection agreed but quick cure should do it. (make sure you read the directions for dosing,
pygos are in the tetra group as we all know and dosing is different for tetras..........

i dont think id do the salt either


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## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

dont think its ich either, looks like some kind of fungi
never seen anything like it so no ideas from me...sorry


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## RedneckR0nin (Nov 5, 2008)

Moved to disease section. Had to wait until I got to a laptop instead of my iPhone.


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## jamezgt (Jun 24, 2008)

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'm going to keep doing a daily dose of Melafix, and small amounts of water changes. How would I remove fungi though? Never had to deal with it before


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Melafix.

Follow the instructions on the label, and remove any carbon from your filtration if there is any during the medication process.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

I don't think Melafix would help this.
you may need to go stronger seeing what the other looked like.
Good luck man...I' don't know what "quick cure" is maybe Assclown can give a little more detail.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

"Quick Cure" is a treatment for Ich... which, unless I'm way off in left field... your fish does not have.

Unless I'm equally way off in left field, it's a fungus, and Melafix is the treatment of choice IMO.

Dr. Giggles?


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## jamezgt (Jun 24, 2008)

I appreciate all the comments guys.

I did everything I could - I will give you guys an update tomorrow morning, hope everything would be okay.


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## Us And Them (Dec 4, 2008)

jamezgt said:


> I appreciate all the comments guys.
> 
> I did everything I could - I will give you guys an update tomorrow morning, hope everything would be okay.


I would Try treating your Reds With Prazi Pro James , Could have a parasite on your hands.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Everybody seems to have a different diagnosis and treatment here.

What I'm curious about is... dude, what ARE you treating it with, and how's it coming along?


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## jamezgt (Jun 24, 2008)

Piranha_man said:


> Everybody seems to have a different diagnosis and treatment here.
> 
> What I'm curious about is... dude, what ARE you treating it with, and how's it coming along?


Been doing 25% water changes for the past two days, dosing it with salt and the recommendations for Melafix. Temperature is at 89C - would it be dangerous to raise it any higher?

And as for the results, the spots aren't as white anymore, but looks like they have started to spread over it's back. He's not getting picked on, and is swimming fine so I hope this would fix him!


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## Us And Them (Dec 4, 2008)

When You keep your tank High , I thought 85 was Sufficient. But Members have had Ps in Low 90s. I definetly wouldnt increase the temp anymore. and perhaps Isolating that Red , have a spare tank ?


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Yeah, you don't wanna turn it toooo high to as to stress him out...
89 should be fine... 85 would be pretty good...

No improvement with the melafix, eh?
Spreading, eh?

Hmmm
So hard to tell for sure from a picture!

I wish Dr. Giggles would get in here with his opinion...


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## jamezgt (Jun 24, 2008)

Piranha_man said:


> Yeah, you don't wanna turn it toooo high to as to stress him out...
> 89 should be fine... 85 would be pretty good...
> 
> No improvement with the melafix, eh?
> ...


Thanks for your concern man!

So right now I'm doing daily water changes (25-30%), dosing with salt and Melafix and the temperature is exactly at 90C. They don't seem stressed to me, pretty damn active actually.

I'm actually seeing an improvement, the white dots aren't as visible anymore, but has definitely has spread a lot. I would say he's getting better - good to hear on my Birthday


































//Kind of off topic but, how often do you guys feed your shoal?


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Hey man, looking a LOT better!

Probably the Melafix working on the fungus your fish have.

Happy Birthday!

p.s. Huccum if it's your birthday, it's not showing at the bottom of the welcome screen?

p.p.s. Piranhas don't "shoal."

p.p.p.s. I feed my Pygos a few times per day.


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## jamezgt (Jun 24, 2008)

Good news guys!

The piranha is 100% better, I couldn't even tell which piranha had the fungi. Just another quick question though - one of my piranha's belly seems to be getting skinner and skinner, the other three are perfectly fine. This was one of the signs that my other piranha was showing (the one that died) so I'm curious on what this is. Could it be some sort of parasite that is feeding off my piranha's food in his stomach?


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## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

good to hear

continue the fungi treatment as on the bottle

maybe give the Ps a few days rest, clean your water with carbon

try something for internal parasites

good luck

(I personnaly would not keep the temp at 90....80-84 is my range)


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Is the poop of the fish white and stringy ? If yes this can explain everything including the mucous that appeared like ich but wasnt.


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## jamezgt (Jun 24, 2008)

Dr. Giggles said:


> Is the poop of the fish white and stringy ? If yes this can explain everything including the mucous that appeared like ich but wasnt.


Nope! It's just a orangey-brownish color. Never seen any white poop laying around before.


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