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Re: Rapidly dying goldfish- please help!

Subject: Re: Rapidly dying goldfish- please help!
by longhairedgit on 26/4/2009 22:49:17

Where are you living ATM? Cryptosporidium and the resultant metacarcaria that will kill fish ingesting meat from dying snails (ramshorn snails are a known early stage host for cryptosporidium) could potentially result in severe parasitism. Any tummy bugs in the family at the moment, in later stages it could be human transmittable? PS wash your hands well when dealing with your tank. A lot of folks think that crypto isnt transmittable to fish, but in fact it can be if the primary host ie, invertebrates and molluscs like snails is present in tank, it has to go to snails before it can go to a fish or mammalian host. There were a spate of infections last year when a lot of aquarists had tyo take to boiling water in some regions, though the only fisdh typically becoming ill were those housed with invertabrates and the symptoms were typically manifest a few weeks or months later than the initial reported outbreak. Anglia, galway, northamptonshire all had problems in recent years.

Spring, its that time of year, sometimes crypto comes through the tap, its chlorine resistant, though typically its not keen on chloramine. Might be worth checking with the local water authority for announcements.

If it is the problem, metronidazole or trimoprethrim sulfa should shift it.

Beyond water quality issues, snails and fish copping for it from the same disease in an aquarium is rare, rare enough to make me think crypto is at fault, but make sure you check substrate cleanliness and oxygenation and water surface disturbance levels to make sure toxic gas issues arent complicating matters.