# Unknown Disease Eating Through my Aquarium



## Tom Ward (Sep 29, 2013)

Please help! 
I've lost a lot of fish to this disease, but still have no idea what it is... 
The fish that are effected by it suddenly lose there ability to swim, and drift around the tank (usually upside down) completely pushed by the current. 
Another fish just got effected by it... Literally just like 12 seconds ago... 
Anyways, I fed my fish about half an hour ago and they were all fine. This one seemed a bit inactive and wasn't eating much, but didn't show any signs beside that of being sick. Suddenly just out of nowhere he was just overcome by spasms and swam erratically around the tank, then just sank to the bottom. Literally out of nowhere, this just randomly happened... 
Please help, I can't stand to lose another fish to this unknown disease, any help is appreciated. I needed to do a water change anyways, so I'll start with that, but I have no idea what else to do... 
(P.S. I don't have a hospital tank [at least not yet] so he's still in my community tank.) 
(P.P.S. I'll post nitrite, nitrate and ammonia levels in the comments, but I haven't checked them yet, and I don't want to delay posting this, even if only by a minute.)


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## Tom Ward (Sep 29, 2013)

Right after posting this I went back to check my tank, and found him dead... His body completely twisted in a U shape... The fish I've lost to the other disease showed the same symptoms, but usually survived about three days, and there bodies never twisted like that... 
Help would still be appreciated, I've lost tonnes of fish to the disease I mentioned in the original post, so that would really be helpful, as I'm afraid that it'll probably show up in some of my fish again. As well, for this case too. Any idea what disease it might of been... As well, anything I should do? I mean, is it something contagious? I had to do a water change anyways, as I said, so I'll get that done today. 
Responses still appreciated.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

What is the tank size, water change schedule, ammonia/nitrate/ nitrite levels stocking and filtration?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Water change, water change, water change. I would do 50% water changes for 3-4 days. Always, always perform a large water change when something like this happens. You may have inadvertently gotten something in the tank.

Is this a new tank?


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

I agree with the previous comments, do a water change, and post your water parameters... any new additions to the tank recently? What is you stock and tank size?


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

As others have said maybe something is in water.Try to run carbon if possible.If it seems to be all good with water as in other fish are fine until "their time" I'll suggest you search fish TB.It is a mycobacterium that has few symptoms besides "curved spines" and death.Sometimes fish will isolate from others of it's own kind and not eat,possibly have lesions.Symptoms last 1-3 days then death.If this is the case the whole tank is lost,no cure.
Fish Tuberculosis


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## Tom Ward (Sep 29, 2013)

My nitrate is 20, my nitrite is 0 and so is my ammonia (that is before I performed a water change.) I have a 20g tank with 4 cherry barbs, 4 glowlight tetras, 3 leopard corydoras and what was a day ago 5 harlequin rasboras. This tank will be 5 years old this January (and this fish was would've been 5 this April, so I can imagine that might be why the disease took him so fast...) Anyways, I change my water once every week... 

I was thinking fish tubercolosis when I lost my first couple of fish to this, as Coralbandit said, but dismissed it thinking that if it was something contagious that it'd go through my fish faster (it usually seems to infect a fish about once every 2-3 months [figuring instead it was something triggered by something that happens more or less so often, like a momentary water quality decrease, or something of that sort.) Anyways, another disease I was thinking was neon tetra disease, which explains something since my tetras were the first, and most common fish to be killed by this (the disease being most common in tetras.) Though I dismissed it for the same reasons as the others... As well, because I just didn't want to give thought to the idea that I could lose all my fish to some incurable disease... Whatever the case, I certainly don't know...


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Tom Ward said:


> I was thinking fish tubercolosis when I lost my first couple of fish to this, as Coralbandit said, but dismissed it thinking that if it was something contagious that it'd go through my fish faster (it usually seems to infect a fish about once every 2-3 months


Unfortunately the stress level in each fish can make or break the victim.It is not unncommon for there to be lapses in deaths as far apart as 6 months,as a healthy "unstressed " fish will survive longer(but is still considered a carrier).
I would like to lable this with something else,so please keep investigating every other disease possible,when/if all are illiminated then there is no choice left but fish TB.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

My experience with NTD is it will show itself before it starts affecting the fish too badly. You usually see some type of issue going on with the body.


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