[Aquastar]

So, yesterday, for the fourth time, had an encounter with this disease. It is very deadly and fast acting. I have never heard or read of anything like this. Here is what I know about it so far:

Fast acting, symptoms will appear within a few hours.

Deadly, all fish I have seen with this have died within the next 24 hours.

Not contagious (ish), I was afraid that others would show symptoms, but no fish did. All though, all fish who died first had another die within the month or two. Only one other fish, not two.

Untreatable, It hard to treat, and medications have never shown sign of being effective.

Symptoms include: peeling scales, dissolved fins, and often bloat
Behaviour is: lethargic, sits upside down (head down), unable to accept food

Please note this is only off of 4 fish, 2 guppies and 2 cichlids. I would post in the Other Fish, but I think it would be god to know what it is in case it starts killing bettas.My first encounter was in my female guppy, I woke up one morning to find her missing. She was stuck to the filter intake upside down and panting. I put her in the breeder trap only to watch her sit upside down. All her fins were tattered, not fin and bone, only the fin. There was also no black edging, the fins were deteriorating. Pectorals, ventral, caudal, anal and dorsal fins were all deteriorating,but they weren't falling off, just rotting. I cupped her later with some cabomba and AQ, she was panting less, but still floating head down. I put her back in the trap for the night (oxygen), she was dead by morning. Same story with the class cichlid yesterday. I was the only one who noticed and then took action, apparently it was the class job to change water, s it hadn't been done for few months (4 chiclids, 1 pleco). But I don't think trusting our class with fish is wise. My journal has a story of kids first paying attention to the fish. Lots of kids wanted to try using the gravel-vac: bad idea. The water was perfect on the guppies and satisfactory for the chiclids. I can post pictures later, but they aren't very good.

So does anyone have any ideas?

 

[fabernopoli]

Your post rang a bell for me... Check out this thread. It's long and originated a few years ago, but it is still active. Is this what you're experiencing?

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=90086&highlight=kills+fast

 

[Aquastar]

I've read about graphite before, and I've seen the thread, but this is way different. I assume it's a new disease, but I'm not sure.
The fins just rot, but not the bone. The bone stays. Like they are slowly becoming zombies. Here a picture of the first guppy I lost to this. The picture does not show just how bad it was. But you can see her scales peeling and her fins rotting away.
Please reply, even if it's not inherently helpful: I need some help with deciding on what it is. The tap water here is pretty much perfect. No ammonia, next to no clorine or cloramine, PH of 7, I've even been to the lake where we get our water.

 

[BettaGirl47]

I am so sorry about her I hope it is not a new disease and whatever it is is treatable. I do not know much about diseases in fish but something that I can think of is how long have you been using the lake water? If you have used it her whole life there may be something new in the water that is eating her fins and scales. Try to see if some other type of water, or combination of, does not do that. If you have changed her type of water I personally do not know what to do other than see if there is somewhere that you can take her and see if they know what it is or can test it if she is almost gone (I hope she is not!). Hopefully she will get better soon.

 

[Aquastar]

She died the day the symptoms appeared approx 3 months ago. The water here is filtered, but it comes from a lake, so that its 'human safe'. Whatever it is, it's nothing to do with water quality. I just want to know what it is. It's been in the back of my mind for a while, but since yesterday...
It looks almost exactly like this, but the Oscar in this picture had been mauled my a pacu.

A lot of sources say Fungal Finrot, but I don't think that fungal finrot could destroy the slime coat, peel scales and reduce the all the fins to nothing in a day.

 

[BettaGirl47]

If she was already fighting something there may be a chance a combination of fin rot and a severe fungal infection may do that but I am not sure that it would be that bad. The red spots on them are usually a sign of a fungal or internal parasite though

 

[Aquastar]

This isnt just for her, there were 3 other fish with this. All under different circumstances, here they are.

Guppy 1: had a small Betta bite, nothing large. Symptoms appeared next day, water quality perfect.

Guppy 2: found her with symptoms at bottom of tank, died later that day.

Chiclid 1: we assume attacked by class pleco, died during the night.

Chiclid 2: was a bit secluded for a few weeks, one day came to school to find him in that condition.

 

[BettaGirl47]

Read up on Tuberculosis for fish. From what I have read some signs of it are what you are saying is happening to your fish. If that is the case and it appears to be that the best thing I can say is either to wait until it cycles through the fish you have now and get brand new everything when it is gone before getting more fish. I hope that is not the case. Here are 2 different links if you wanted to read some of it.
<<Delete>>
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_Mycobacterium_fish_tuberculosis_FAQ.html

 

[Aquastar]

That's always been a possiblity, whenever I see any symptoms I assume the worst, and since I *was* going to get a dwarf gourami before deciding against pointe TB, I have read an it a bit.
It definetly sounds like it. Peeling scales? Check. Paled colouring? Check. Fin rot, no, upside down, no.

This is why I don't think it is, I could be wrong though:

First of all:
2 tanks, two completely different tanks! Two locations, and I've never brought personal fish supplies in for the school tank, and no way it came through my hands. It was middle of August when the guppies died, and September/November when the Chiclids got sick. I doubt it could thrive that long on my hands without me catching it, my hands are really tarnished. I am very hands on, gotta make a garden? Uses hands, no tools required.

Second:
I looked at some pictures, but through the symptoms sound the same, Google Images shows fish that look 99% different.

Third:
Isn't fish TB contagious? I would definetly have posted questions about this on this sooner had more fish died of this. It's only been the two from both tanks, not all of them. I had some tetras, rasboras and guppies before I rehomed some, and none of them showed symptoms. In fact, the tetras are swimming happily in a friends tank and have been for over a few months. And I would have caught it. I do wash my hands after touching the fish water, but I kid you not: my hands are really beat up. At least one recent wound per hand, not bleeding, but still a bit raw from paper cuts and cat-scratches.

 

[Aquastar]

Guys! I'm making a website, so I have a disease section, and google showed a list of diseases, one of which is NEON TETRA DISEASE. I had a neon die within the fist week my tank started, I think it was NTD. But then I realized, that neons symptoms were very much alike to the other deaths!!! For being contagious, it took its time, but it seems a bit like it! Goggle images doesnt make it seem like it, but its pretty much what I had ages ago.