Paralysis?

Hi.

I wonder if anyone has any experience of paralysis in a bristlenose? Catto is a little Ancistrus, less than a year old, just under 8 cm and was in great condition until the tank got neglected (illness in the family). He doesn't have a mark on him, is becoming way too thin, and I'm considering euthanasia but can't give up until I ask the experts.

The water parameters haven't gone off - amonmia and nitrites always 0, nitrates under 5.0 (lots of plants) but the tank got a buildup of organic stuff, and the filter blocked then dumped gunk into the tank. A platy got an white eroded ulcer, was separated, treated, euthanased with CO2 when she deteriorated. Our little family of four Sterbai's cories has varying degrees of erosion of their barbels, but nothing serious. No one else is ill - male Betta, two female Bettas, four guppies all good - except for Catto. His eating slowed when we couldn't get his favourite algae wafers, three or four weeks ago, but he was still around sucking on things. Sunday I realised something was really wrong. We'd restocked his wafers, but he didn't care. He wasn't moving much, and now he's almost rigid. Dorsal fin erect most of the time, rapid respiration, and moving, if at all, in small jerks. He's moved maybe 20 cm today.

Has anyone heard of anything like this before?

Thanks for your time.

I should have said - they're in a 90 L (40 g) tank, heated to 28C (around 82F), ph around 7.6

Oh poor thing, that does sound bad,,,So sorry to hear your bn's troubles..also sorry to hear of the family illness...Hugz

Do you give him any vegies ,like Cucumber? He might be starving...or
I wonder if he has a worm infestation...BigL wormer works well, 1ml to 7L..
could be a number of things, so hard to diagnose ...

The gunk in the tank that got dumped back in..ya can vaccum that out with a siphon pump..
Have you got Carbon in the filter, if so, take it out, it doesn't need carbon, it can & will dump all the toxins back into the tank once it is full, hard to know when that will happen too.
Do you use water conditioners when doing water changes? most in the know use Seachem Prime..

I suggest a gravel vacuum and water change(with conditioned water) with a dose of BL after the water change...

If he doesn't come good after that, I would use some Sterazin, as per directions...

I hope some one else comes to advise I can't think of anything else right now..
Luck with him...

Thanks Mooo. We really love this little guy...

I've offered him green bean and zucchini but he didn't care, so I pushed softened wafers under his nose. I think he's sucking - his mouth is working and I think he made a hole in a special catfish chip ''with willow and alder wood'' I got for him yesterday, but he's definitely starving. He can't move around to eat.

Would worms have other symptoms? I looked at internal parasite meds but wasn't confident to dose him.

I did a major vacuum with the big vac on sunday - 40% or so - and the same again on wednesday, and washed the filter both times. It's like a new tank, but I'll be doing another on saturday just the same. I do use conditioner, but finished the bottle last change and don't recall the brand. I just bought Sera, and I'll look for Seachem Prime next time.

I put a low dose of rock salt in the water (disolved) which is now half cleared out by water changes, and used Melafix and a dose of tri-sulfa, on the assumption that it must be bacterial, even though he doesn't have any signs of bacterial infection that I can see. I took out the carbon when I put those meds in. (Panicing and trying not to throw everything in the water, and not entirely succeeding.) I'll get Sterazin first thing tomorrow - thanks for that recommendation. It sounds good, and I really feel we've got nothing to lose now.

Thanks so much for the advice and support. I'l let you know how it goes.

Moo's advice sounds tip top Lel....

and I do not have time right now,
so I am sure one of our other members will be able to provide additional help

I have little experience of worms so would have to investigate for you.

The only thing I can add is are you sure it is a 40gallon tank, I could be wrong due to continental conversions
but the dimensions you mentioned do not seem to equal a 40gallon tank to me....

not a major factor when things are going right but when going wrong you have to get your water gallon measurement spot on for adding medicine.


Currently typing on my mobile so unable to confirm the exact measurements though there are tools around to covert size and gallonage. This may help..
http://www.firsttankguide.net/calculator.php

Though I did think there was a tool feature on here some where....lol

Keep us posted.... and good luck

I have to go for a rest now

Lel,

I forgot to mention... you are using tank water right for cleaning your filter media.

Many untrained fish keepers rinse them under normal tap water and this can cause even more harm than good.

Always rinse and squeeze gently your filter media in water removed from your fish tank during the water change...

kind regards

lj

You could try GARLIC GUARD it may just tempt your BN into eating. You can also just rub a piece of food with a garlic clove and it should have the same effect. Hopefully now you've sorted the tank your fish will improve once he starts eating.

Personally I don't think it will be a worm problem but more bacterial caused by the poor water conditions after your filter problems.

Thanks, Wolverine, you're right about the tank size - it equates to 20 gallons. I'm in Australia and think in metric. I put the conversion in for our imperial thinking friends, but I dose to the metric measure. Excuse the confusion.

I do use tank water to wash the filter, and I appreciate your attention to detail. Who knows what obvious things I'm missing? I've been reading voraciously for months but nothing beats experience. I used to refill the tank with cold water until we had an outbreak of ich, and I discovered the importance of a stable environment (and learnt about the life cycle of ich - very interesting).

Everything was ok in the tank until it got so dirty. I was probably overfeeding them occasionally for a short period because I wasn't on the ball, and these were the things that immediately preceded Catto's decline.

Thanks jim.and - i did try garlic on a wafer but it's like feeding an invalid. I have to get it under his mouth with minimal handling to avoid stressing him. He didn't respond. I'll try it again today.

It looks like a neurological problem more than anything, and could have been coming on for weeks - maybe a month or more. When I think back, he's been progressively less active in the tank and less greedy about his wafers for about this period of time. I suspect a toxin, which could have been produced by bacteria.

Right now he's jerked himself into a bush in the corner. Not knowing what's causing this I'm worried about the other fish, but don't have a quarantine tank. Poor little guy. I feel I'm dragging out his suffering and should administer the coup de grace. His body doesn't bend anywhere any more.

Thanks, guys.