Filefish on his way out, what is going on?

[Budman93]

Hi guys. Unfortunately I think some kind of infection or parasite got to my pygmy filefish the last few days. I noticed him hiding behind a powerhead a few days back with what I thought was a nipped tail. (I have a damsel and assumed it had started being aggressive) Over the last few days he lost the ability to swim on his own and started getting thrown about in the water column until I set up a makeshift upside down tupperware lid with some holes that hes been in at the bottom of the tank. Friday night I had an epiphany since I had noticed my damsel getting cleaned by the cleaner shrimp for the first time and my tailspot flashing. Got out of bed and gave the filefish an RO dip late saturday night. Didnt really notice anything come off but I did notice what looked like tiny white grain of rice looking things that would move in the water and were attached to him.

Assuming this was flukes I bought PraziPro Saturday and dosed the tank. Today I no longer notice any of those things on his body but he is unable to right himself and just tumbles about upside down in his container. Trying to swim but unable to properly stay upright.

Anyways am I right to assume that this will not get better? Seems like it could almost be neurological at this point? If so I may unfortunately euthanize him. As it seems better to do than just watch him spin around and hit the sand and wall of the container all day until he starves to death. Any thoughts? The other tank mates seem to be doing better after the dose.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi guys. Unfortunately I think some kind of infection or parasite got to my pygmy filefish the last few days. I noticed him hiding behind a powerhead a few days back with what I thought was a nipped tail. (I have a damsel and assumed it had started being aggressive) Over the last few days he lost the ability to swim on his own and started getting thrown about in the water column until I set up a makeshift upside down tupperware lid with some holes that hes been in at the bottom of the tank. Friday night I had an epiphany since I had noticed my damsel getting cleaned by the cleaner shrimp for the first time and my tailspot flashing. Got out of bed and gave the filefish an RO dip late saturday night. Didnt really notice anything come off but I did notice what looked like tiny white grain of rice looking things that would move in the water and were attached to him.

Assuming this was flukes I bought PraziPro Saturday and dosed the tank. Today I no longer notice any of those things on his body but he is unable to right himself and just tumbles about upside down in his container. Trying to swim but unable to properly stay upright.

Anyways am I right to assume that this will not get better? Seems like it could almost be neurological at this point? If so I may unfortunately euthanize him. As it seems better to do than just watch him spin around and hit the sand and wall of the container all day until he starves to death. Any thoughts? The other tank mates seem to be doing better after the dose.

Sounds like the fish may be moribund. Can you furnish a video or at least pics under white lighting?

 

[Budman93]

Sounds like the fish may be moribund. Can you furnish a video or at least pics under white lighting?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you and sorry to say but fish is moribund and will likely not be able to eat or swim normal from this point forward. There is no additive or anything I can recommend to perk it up and adding an airstone is the only fighting chance offered but likely wont do much either
Fish in this condition rarely survive, even if it can be determined what is wrong....sorry. It does seem thin to me, and their feeding history kind points towards that.


Are you confident these were tank raised? Sometimes, wholesalers lie to the LFS about the origins of fish. Also, there is a huge difference between domestic and foreign captive raised. With the latter, they may have been exposed to wild cardinals and picked up the nasty virus that makes the wild ones so delicate now days.

Live brine shrimp is a good enticement to get these to feed. One thing to be wary of - in desperation, trying to get fish to feed, people sometimes flood a tank with food. This can trash the water quality.

 

[Budman93]

Thank you and sorry to say but fish is moribund and will likely not be able to eat or swim normal from this point forward. There is no additive or anything I can recommend to perk it up and adding an airstone is the only fighting chance offered but likely wont do much either

Thanks, i think i agree with you. Sad to see. If i had assumed illness and not fighting a day or two earlier i might have been able to save the little guy.

I do wonder what it is though? Upon looking up some videos it could be ich and not flukes…Does ich usually kill so quickly? Guy went from healthy and eating to moribund in 3 days. I dont have pics of what they looked like but they arent flat like flukes look like they protruded out like tiny white bristles

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks, i think i agree with you. Sad to see. If i had assumed illness and not fighting a day or two earlier i might have been able to save the little guy.

I do wonder what it is though? Upon looking up some videos it could be ich and not flukes…Does ich usually kill so quickly? Guy went from healthy and eating to moribund in 3 days. I dont have pics of what they looked like but they arent flat like flukes look like they protruded out like tiny white bristles

I agree, the fish is moribund - sorry. It looks really well fed though, so whatever hit it was really quick, no time for it to get skinny.
You typically will not see flukes (except the oval Neobenedenia) without a microscope.
Filefish are sometimes infected with copepods, the FW dip would have knocked most of those off, but maybe the damage was already done?
Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks, i think i agree with you. Sad to see. If i had assumed illness and not fighting a day or two earlier i might have been able to save the little guy.

I do wonder what it is though? Upon looking up some videos it could be ich and not flukes…Does ich usually kill so quickly? Guy went from healthy and eating to moribund in 3 days. I dont have pics of what they looked like but they arent flat like flukes look like they protruded out like tiny white bristles

Doesnt appear parasitical and hard to say without noticeable symptoms and behaviors which you would have seen such as heavy breathing, loss of appetite which the fish had good body mass and such.