# HELP!!



## ILLdose13 (Nov 25, 2004)

PLEASE HELP!!.. I don't know what to do with these lumps on my caribe's fins.. I first did a Pimafix/Melafix combo for two weeks and that did no good.. Now I've dosed Seachem Paraguard at full dose for more than a week and see only the lumps getting bigger.. My piranhas are still active and are still eating.. Any advice is appreciated.

My water parameters are: 
pH: 6.8 
kH: 8 
gH: 12 
Ammonia: 0 
Nitrite: 0 
Nitrate: 20
Temp: 75F

I don't have a good camera to take pix of my fish, so the only thing I could do was record them

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

I can't find any disease that matches what my piranha has. The closest symptom is probably the Lymphocystis Virus, but the lumps are not white but instead a dark color and blends in with the fins. I noticed my piranhas getting the disease when I changed my setup to live plants. I doubt they got the disease from the plants though.


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## ILLdose13 (Nov 25, 2004)

I've had these piranhas for about 3 years. The only other fish that is living in there are some neon tetras but they've been in my tank for a year. My piranhas just decided to leave them alone after a while. And recently I added some nerite snails, but my piranhas had the disease a month before I added the snails.

My 120 gallon setup is a Magnum 350, Fluval FX5, VisiTherm Stealth 250W (x2), Coralife UV TurboTwist 36W (I turned the UV light off when I started dosing meds), fully automatic CO2 system, and a 260W CF light.

I've always kept my tank clean, by doing 25% weekly water changes, so I don't know why my piranhas are getting the disease now.


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2010)

Hmm, I have never seen anything like this and I see all your P's have it to some degree. Hopefully someone else can chime in and give you some answers.


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## jamezgt (Jun 24, 2008)

I can't say my fish had the same but a couple of my red bellies were developing symptoms like yours. But it was somewhat similar. I just kept doing daily water changes (25-30%), dosing it with salt every water change and Melafix. But what helped the most was increasing the temperature (gradually) to high 80's. At one point, it was 90C. The bumps literally disappeared infront of my eyes - try increasing the temperature a bit.


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## ILLdose13 (Nov 25, 2004)

I contacted Seachem for some advice and they said its viral. They suggested that I just cut off part of the fins that are infected and the bumps shouldn't grow back. I already bought Clover Oil to sedate the infected piranhas, so I may just do the surgery tomorrow and see how that goes since the fins are annoying me so much.. haha..

I'll be checking here before the surgery to see if anyone really know exactly what to do besides surgery..



jamezgt said:


> I can't say my fish had the same but a couple of my red bellies were developing symptoms like yours. But it was somewhat similar. I just kept doing daily water changes (25-30%), dosing it with salt every water change and Melafix. But what helped the most was increasing the temperature (gradually) to high 80's. At one point, it was 90C. The bumps literally disappeared infront of my eyes - try increasing the temperature a bit.


I already tried raising the temp before and tried the Melafix/Pimafix combo but it just seemed to make the bumps bigger


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

You should keep your temp at 82deg and treat with salt.
76deg is too low even if they are not sick


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2010)

Crap I would bump it to around 86 and dose with salt too. No need for surgery unless it is the absolute last option


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## ILLdose13 (Nov 25, 2004)

thanks guys i will hold off the surgery and raise the temp.. i won't be adding salt because i have plants..


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

You guys are so funny...

I wouldn't refer to "Snipping a few fins down" as "Surgery..."









If you have to do it, just be careful, keep them out of the water for as short of time as possible and snip with a pair of scissors IMO.
And KEEP THOSE FINGERS CLEAR OF THE TEETH!


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## ILLdose13 (Nov 25, 2004)

Piranha_man said:


> You guys are so funny...
> 
> I wouldn't refer to "Snipping a few fins down" as "Surgery..."
> 
> ...


haha yeah i guess you're right. the fins will grow back really fast anyways







.. i will go ahead with the "surgery" (haha) tomorrow :nod: .. i will video the whole process and post it here


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## xeloR (Jan 2, 2009)

if you keep their eyes covered on a damp towel i see no need for sedation, although that sounds a bit drastic for that. I definitely would bump that temp up and treat with salt before i remove them from the water. Keep your water clean!


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## ILLdose13 (Nov 25, 2004)

well i ended up sedating the fish and snipping off the affected fins.. all went well cuz my piranhas seem like they are not even bothered by what happened.. i even tried feeding them and they still ate like crazy!







now i just have to wait a few wks to see if anything lumpy grows back again..


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Glad it went well... looking forward to updates!


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