# Need Help With Infection Asap! New To Piranha Fury



## langer4545 (Mar 24, 2011)

Hey guys, I just created a PF account because I am concerned about the health of my fish and I know there are many users on this website that could provide helpful information. I have 2 rbs and about 4 days ago they began to develop what appears to be a bacterial infection. I converted the substrate from gravel to sand then back to gravel, but made sure to remove almost all sand particles and when I refilled the tank I replaced about 20% of the water with their old water, then added an appropriate amount of dechlor for the remaining 80%. I was also recently forced to feed my fish comet goldfish from Petco because rosy reds were not available. A couple days later is when the infection appeared. I don't know if this would be due to the change in substrate or eating infected comets, or both? The infection appears in large, puffy white patches on the main part of the rb's bodies. It almost looks like the scales are gone and the flesh underneath is becoming visible. I bought some melafix and today is the first day I treated them with it, but I'm just wondering if melafix is the right medicine for this infection. If anybody has any ideas of what this infection might be/other treatment options for the infection I would REALLY appreciate it. I don't want to lose my fish


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

Hello Langer,

Sounds to me like a fungal infection. Have you tested your water parameters? if so what are they? That is the first place we need to start to figure out whats going on. We need to know exactly what ammonia, nitrite and nitrates are. When you changed out all that water how did you clean your filter?? You could also be going through a cycle depending on your response.

If your test kit shows ammonia or nitrates, I would immediately do a 25-50% water change. make sure you test your water daily and replace water when necessary. As for treating your fish, I would bump up your temp to about 82 degrees and add melafix and pimafix.

Pictures would help but arent necessary. Welcome to P-Fury


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## Buck27 (Aug 21, 2008)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1847208469518&set=a.1847208389516.106511.1519866072[/media]

[media]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1847208589521&set=a.1847208389516.106511.1519866072[/media]

[media]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1847208749525&set=a.1847208389516.106511.1519866072


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## Buck27 (Aug 21, 2008)

The pictures above are of Langer's fish


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

Looks like ammonia burn to me. Plus your water looks really cloudy. Do you have a master test kit??? I would do a 50% water change asap!


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## langer4545 (Mar 24, 2011)

ksls said:


> Hello Langer,
> 
> Sounds to me like a fungal infection. Have you tested your water parameters? if so what are they? That is the first place we need to start to figure out whats going on. We need to know exactly what ammonia, nitrite and nitrates are. When you changed out all that water how did you clean your filter?? You could also be going through a cycle depending on your response.
> 
> ...


I don't have a test kit right now to test my water parameters, but I will definitely go buy one tomorrow. I turned my heater up about 6 hours ago to 84 degrees after doing a 33% water change and complete gravel vac and it seems to be holding steady at that temperature. The filters I put on the tank were from a friend. I put on an emperor 400 and a marineland magnum that i just cleaned with water and a rag to remove old build-up. I left another filter running that has always been on the tank (it's just a little crappy aquatech 30-60 filter) but it should have still had some bacteria. I also have another emperor 400 on the way, it should be here friday. I realize that the new filters will need to adjust and collect bacteria, but once that process is complete and assuming i can adjust the water parameters to the proper amounts, is there anything else i should do to cure this infection? like i said, i am just beginning melafix treatments and i could go get some pimafix tomorrow and begin treatments with that as well. Thanks for your quick response by the way.


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

Welcome to fury, Mankato has couple cool bars & tons of beautiful girls running around everywhere. Melafix & pimafix are made to work together & imo work best when used together.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

I'd keep the water clean and dose a weak med like mela and pimafix. To me it sounds like your tank may not be fully cylcled which would explain why ammonia would build up and give them an ammonia burn. Even if the fitler was established it may still not of had enough bacteria to handle the bioload of p's.

I didn't see the actual pictures so I am just assuming ksls is correct on the ammonia burn.


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## HGI (Oct 27, 2009)

From what I've heard ammonia is more harmful at higher temps so you might want to lower the water temp back into the 70's


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## langer4545 (Mar 24, 2011)

Alright thanks for the input. I'm going to get both my tank water and tap water tested today to see if there is any ammonia in the tap water itself before conditioner is added. I'll post the results as soon as I get back. Also, I plan on searching and finding the answer to my own question, but in case I don't have any luck and you guys seem so willing to help out, once my tank is cycled and bacteria growth is sustained, will this problem take care of itself so that it doesn't happen again in the future? I'm going to continue treatments (just added some melafix when I woke up this morning and plan on getting some pimafix when I'm out today) but I was just wondering if a fully cycled tank will be able to handle the bioload of the p's without additional treatments. Thanks for the input guys!


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

remember that when you clean your filters etc, use water from the tank vs the tap. this will prevent any loss in bacteria


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## langer4545 (Mar 24, 2011)

Well, I just got back from a very reputable local pet store and my water seems fine for the most part. I had them test my piranha tank, my 29 gallon minnow/isolation tank, and my apartment's tap water. The ph was 7.5 for all 3, no ammonia was present, and no nitrates either. The only thing they said was that the water was a little hard. Unfortunately I don't have access to the water softener at my apartment, as it serves the whole complex. I had previously been using Prime conditioner, and today I bought Stress Coat as a replacement in hopes that it will help repair any scale/skin problems. I also bought some live nitrifying bacteria because I was told that Melafix would remove necessary bacteria and this should be used as a supplement. I was told Pimafix would be unnecessary at this time since the sores don't appear to be getting worse, just staying rather constant. The p's eyes are still a bit cloudy, but I'm hoping that will fade with additional Melafix treatments.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Not showing any nitrates would be a bad thing because it would mean that the tank isn't cycled -- unless you have a very heavily planted tank. What type of "live nitrifying bacteria" did they sell you? Melafix shouldn't nuke your nitrifying bacteria in your filters, even stronger antibiotics like erythromycin don't usually cause problems.

If it's just ammonia burn, you'll need to make sure the cause has been figured out and taken care of, then you can treat with salt.


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## langer4545 (Mar 24, 2011)

JoeDizzleMPLS said:


> Not showing any nitrates would be a bad thing because it would mean that the tank isn't cycled -- unless you have a very heavily planted tank. What type of "live nitrifying bacteria" did they sell you? Melafix shouldn't nuke your nitrifying bacteria in your filters, even stronger antibiotics like erythromycin don't usually cause problems.
> 
> If it's just ammonia burn, you'll need to make sure the cause has been figured out and taken care of, then you can treat with salt.


It's a new bacteria that the store just got in called Fritz Zyme 7 for freshwater. And no, I don't currently have any live plants in the tank. I am keeping up with regular water changes/gravel vacs, so if I just let the tank do its thing for a while longer do you think I'll be alright? If not, what steps would you recommend from here?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

That stuff has been around for a long time, you probably would have been better off spending that money on a test kit so you could monitor the water yourself. In situations like this, it's always nice to have a test kit so you can help diagnose the problem right away. The only thing that sticks out to me is the fact that they got a 0 reading for nitrates, which isn't a good sign since nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle -- in other words, if you aren't registering nitrates, the cycle could be broken.


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## langer4545 (Mar 24, 2011)

JoeDizzleMPLS said:


> That stuff has been around for a long time, you probably would have been better off spending that money on a test kit so you could monitor the water yourself. In situations like this, it's always nice to have a test kit so you can help diagnose the problem right away. The only thing that sticks out to me is the fact that they got a 0 reading for nitrates, which isn't a good sign since nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle -- in other words, if you aren't registering nitrates, the cycle could be broken.


Oh alright. Well sorry for not being experienced on this topic, but if that's the case then what should I do?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Well you'd need to test the water yourself to be sure of what the problem is... if the tank isn't properly cycled, then you'll just have to wait it out and keep a close eye on things until it is cycled -- keep ammonia and nitrite levels in check, add salt if needed, etc.


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## langer4545 (Mar 24, 2011)

JoeDizzleMPLS said:


> Well you'd need to test the water yourself to be sure of what the problem is... if the tank isn't properly cycled, then you'll just have to wait it out and keep a close eye on things until it is cycled -- keep ammonia and nitrite levels in check, add salt if needed, etc.


Alright will do. I just got a test kit this morning and everything is still pretty similar to the test results of yesterday, which comes as no surprise. The sores are still not getting any worse, but the eyes are still fairly cloudy. Last night before bed I did a small 15% water change because I want to keep as much of the Melafix in the tank as possible for now, but thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep ammonia down if the tank isn't properly cycled yet. The fish seem to be doing a little better, though.







Two of the smaller ones are finally eating a minnow here and there, but the bigger guy still doesn't have much of an appetite. I'll try to stay updated!


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