ive lost over 20 fish in the last week from a diease i cant identify.my angels and red tail shark are bleeding around the head and gill area,my other fish lose colour in patches all over their bodies and my tetras lose colour by their tails.on sat i lost all 10 of my emperor tetras and by tonight the last of my female fighters will be dead(ive already lost 4 females and 2 males)ive lost countless other tetras and 2 algae eaters.just dont know what to do.please tell me what my fish have so i can try save the few i have left.

Hi Liz,

It could possibly be neon tetra disease as you said fish are loosing their color in patches. This is caused by the disease killing the muscle tissue. Neon tetra disease does not only affect tetras it also affects other families too including Cyprinids (your redtail shark), cichlids (your angelfish), barbs and rasboras, with tetras being the most susceptible.

Unfortunately there is no cure for neon tetra disease, the best thing to do is do separate/remove the disease fish from the remaining healthy fish. Some literature on the web suggests "Quick Cure", I would visit your local fish store and see what's available.

This disease can be introduced to the tank through live foods such as tubifex or the addition of new fish.

The bleeding around the head area is most likely a secondary bacterial infection. You could try and anti bacterial remedy to try and prevent spread to other fish.

Also check your water quality parameters are optimal for the fish you are keeping, such as pH 6.5 to 7, ammonia and nitrite should be 0ppm. This won't cure the disease but correct water quality definitely help the immune system, in turn help fight off disease/s.

My recommendation would be to remove the diseased fish to a quarantine tank if possible to try and prevent further infection.

hi.thanx for the advice.someone has said it might be culmonaris or something.my parameters are perfect,and i cant tell which fish are infected,some die without the patches seen on others,so i cant seperate them.ill have to medicate the whole tank,though with what im not sure yet.maybe tetra tonic?

Hi Liz,

It's difficult to make a diagnosis without seeing the fish.

The disease needs to be identified before applying treatment. Maybe there is more than one disease present.

Columnaris is what is commonly termed as mouth fungus which looks like fungus (cotton wool like growths) growing around the mouth, but isn't actually a fungus. In my experience I haven't seen this disease wipe out so many fish at one time.

You might also try searching for images of diseased fish on Google Images to identify what disease the fish has.

Neon Tetra Disease is independent of water quality, as you said your water quality is fine.

Are the fish exhibiting any other symptoms?

Some symptoms of NTD are:
- The fish looses coloration - which you have already said,
- Whitened areas below the scales,
- Cysts can form on the body,
- The spine may become curved and the fish has difficulty swimming.

Waterlife offers a product called Protozin which names NTD as one of the diseases it treats.

You might want to have look at the following URL:
http://www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/protozin.htm

Hope this helps.

Mark
ATF

ive posted pics on another site.use this address to see them.http://hubpages.com/hub/unidentified-fish-diseases.hopefully that will help.