Praecox rainbows.. what is going on!?

[jammedfool]

Ok you may have seen that so far I have had 1 rainbow (male) with what looked like lymphocystis, that went on its own

Another male rainbow (pictured in the background below) is currently quite under the weather and has nipped fins
I already had a cherry barb with a touch of fin rot (now healed, treated with interpet anti fungal)
For these two I also have added melafix for the past 5 days including today...

Now this rainbow (female) has a strange bulge on her right either just behind the gills or behind the pectoral fin
She swims around fine and doesn't seem too bothered but is it something to worry about?



Thanks again in advance

Oh.. also I have a loaaad of white hair algae.. is it just my lights? I haven't added ferts for weeks

[plankton]

Your white hair algae looks like the start of black beard algae in the pic.
For that, lights down to 6 hours until you've sorted it and then slowly build back up to no more than 8 hours.
Make sure the flow around the tank is good.
The rainbow looks like either swelling from gill flukes or a tumour, but the pic is a bit fuzzy to see details.

[jammedfool]

I'll get a different pic of the algae, there's white stuff and black stuff on various plants, and much shorter green stuff which looks more like moss growing on the wood...
I'll start with the lights as they are probably a tad over 8hrs currently on a timer
Flow is on a 1000L/hr pump for the 120L tank, plus a wavemaker at the opposite end, both are pointed at the front of the tank (that ideal or no?)

re: Rainbow, I'll look up gill flukes - only noticed since adding melafix (problem?) and will do a water change tonight to keep things pristine
I guess if it is a tumour there's nothing to be done but it would have grown quick

Thanks as always @plankton

[plankton]

Melafix, as far as I know, only has a problem with pencil fish.
I've used it with praecox rainbows without problems, but then the batch I got was pretty weak anyway, but they didn't react like that.
If it appeared very quickly then it's more likely to be flukes.

[jammedfool]

I think I may be about to lose the male praecox who's not been doing so well.. did a water change today (had no time this week) came back 0/0/0 and PH7.4b(no swings)..
Put him in a breeder box to observe for a bit, and to try to give him food to himself he's been basically just staying alive, not eating or interacting for a little while.. melafix did nothing, no idea what it is.

Suddenly he had a sort of fit, I thought I saw some brown liquid and now over the past 15 mins or so, I've seen his scales start turning brown??? I thought the box might be stressing him so let him out into the tank..

He has zero energy from not eating, and as I released him from the breeder box he just got sucked in and then buffeted about by the wavemaker, now I turned that off and he's being sucked into the filter intake, no energy to swim away...
It's really sad and I don't know what to do :/
Turned the filter and lights off for the moment and hope I have something that can help...
Prior to putting in the breeder box he was just swimming away from the filter intake but much better than he is now... He's really not swimming well
Should I dose melafix again?

Meanwhile the female rainbow still has a lump but doesn't seem phased

[jammedfool]

Struggled to get a good photo but here we go...

[Andys temperate tank]

Sorry for the problems mate. Sound like the the fish is too far gone though. I think euthanising it might be the kindest thing to do now.

[jammedfool]

Thanks Andy,

It wasn't long before he put himself to sleep

I'm now concerned about what caused it in the first place and if it was contagious.



Until last night the only thing that seemed wrong was he didn't seem to be eating
Maybe I finished him off with stress but the scales turning brown is weird, it was like I saw it happen while watching

[plankton]

Sorry you lost him.
Did you get a gill fluke med?
I think that's what was needed.

[WinterRose73]

Sorry for your loss