Praecox rainbows.. what is going on!?

[jammedfool]

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

I did not, but this wasnt the one with a bulge

Any recommendations? Esha gDex?

[jammedfool]

Well I've ordered some Esha gdex as it will be good to have anyway... Looking again at what this could be, possibly unrelated to the other rainbow... Lymphocystis??







Also now worried about my cherries.. same dark patches on skin as the rainbow had just before he passed...

[VikingMummy2015]

I wish I had answers. I don’t know rainbows at all because they don’t suit my water, and I don’t know huge amounts about disease.
Your female cherry does look a bit off, although I know how difficult it is to get a halfway decent picture of them because they just don’t stop. But I can see a dark spot for sure under the dorsal fin that isn’t normal.
So some form of parasite would be my guess, treating with Esha 2000 and Exit combined. Can’t remember if you can also throw gdx in at the same time to cover all bases, hopefully a guru can advise on that, or the Esha information sheets in the boxes of meds.

[plankton]

I think it may be an internal parasite that's just woken up, it looks as though something is trying to get out from the pics.
The female cherry just looks like aging colouration to me.
Try the gdex, as it could still be flukes.

[jammedfool]

Thanks both

I will try the gdex... Will that do internal too or would I be better with something else, eg sterazin /other?

I have an assassin snail in but I could take him out and plop him in another tank for now of any of the meds would kill him

[plankton]

I'd make sure that it's not gill flukes first.

[jammedfool]

@plankton sterazin apparently does gill flukes too, but I was going with the Esha being safe with snails/shrimp

Really appreciate the help!

[jammedfool]

Day 3 of the esha gdex... lump is still there.

I will try to describe what I see.. the front is fairly bright, but so is the scale colour on the fish,
It is semi spherical and the front half looks like it is just raised scales. The rear half looks quite pink, with some almost furry pink bobbles. It’s directly on where I would imagine a muscle to be, under the fin, but swimming fine, eating well and not lethargic or otherwise looking off,..

Could the fish have been hurt by something and cut its side?
Could it be a tumour?

Side note.. my wife went to p@h on her way to do a food shop on Sunday. she spent an HOUR talking with the aforementioned Keith (and I listened on speaker), who went round in circles, always coming back to ‘bring your water in for us to test’. He said they don’t sell anything for parasites (??) and it could be internal bacteria, but wouldn’t know unless we tried treating. But then if we start a treatment you need to let that run it’s course before trying another.. (and each time at this point he would circle back to needing the water)
He couldn’t make out anything from the pictures, suggested maybe bringing the fish in if worst came to worst.
I had already ordered the esha so going with the Dr. Greg House technique of hitting it one thing at a time until something happens - starting with flukes as suggested.

How long should esha take to clear parasites?

[plankton]

It won't happen overnight, give it a couple of weeks to show improvement.
You having said about tumours in rainbows led me to think - I think @KevB has had tumours in rainbows so it may be a relatively common thing.
Eventually they pass which is the sad thing.

[F3l1ss]

I've had and got tumours in rainbows too.