sick chilid-emergency

Question
For 3 days now, I have been online reading & reading about Freshwater aquarium fish illnesses, and can not identify what is wrong with my Chilid. My fish is cuved to one side like a half moon. The side he is curved on looks like the gill is not working but just a bit. The gill on the other side is working very hard to help him breath. He swims upside down or sideways when he is stressing. I tested the water and have the ammonia under control. I have done a 25% water change (75gal tank). I cannot get the other nitrate under control. The level has gone down some but not enough. I have tried to do a Jungle Lab product called Fungus Clear (which states it takes care fin rot, dropsy, fungus, bacteria, etc.). Before trying the Fungus Clear I tried the Ich treatment. I have recently put aquarium salt in the tank. I am afaid of doing too much at one time in case I end up killing the fish instead of making him better. He seems to have a slimy feces trail that is mostly clear. With all the reading I have done about Chilids, he seems to be a Discus type. I have had him for 5 yrs now and have never seen this. He is about 8-10 inches big, and shares the tank with 2 plocostomas', which are about the same size as the Chilid. I have not fed the fish for 4 days now (he doesn't seem to have an appetite), the water change took place 2 days ago, and 1 day ago I put the Fungus Clear and salt in the tank. The inside of the gill that is working hard looks like a bright christmas red. I have been keeping the tank temp. at 80 degrees. I do have a heater in the tank. The color on his belly looks as if it is loosing its color, the rest of his body color looks fine. There are no protruding scales on him as of this time, and this morning I am seeing weird stuff that looks like fuzz floating here and there in the tank. What do you think it could be, and what else should I try? Please help. Thank you.

Answer
Hello Dawn,

Did you dechlorinate the water using a chemical when you did the water change?  Make sure you do so.  There are chemicals now required in the USA which harm the fish.  Ie: Chloramine, not just Chlorine.  Chlorine dissipates.  Chloramine does not.

Th fact that he is curved and a gill not working tells me this is Tuberculosis.  Fish Tuberculosis is hard to cure and most do perish, but don't lose heart.  

He has to be removed from the aquarium, the aquarium water changed and filtratoin cleaned spectacularly, because it is contagious.

Fish with TB can live for some time...they waste away and die eventually.

There is nothing that really works...it's a bacteria, a super bacteria.

It effects salt as well as freshwater fish.

My advice is to give 3 teaspoons of salt to this fish and to lower the temperature.  Raising it actually makes it worse.  So I would recommend 76 degrees while he is being treated.

Bright red gills are often a sign of chloramine poisoning.  Make sure you added the dechlorinator...but it could be the TB as well.

So, my advice is :

Take the fish out of the tank and hospitalize it, heating it to 76 degrees F only.  We want the bacteria to have a hard time forming any further.

Treat with Tetracycline and Salt.  3 teaspoons of salt per gallon.

Marine salt only.

Filter water well in the hospital environment.

Main tank needs cleaned thoroughly.  This is a highly contagious disease.

Watch for signs on the other fish.

Clean all filtration units and get new media.

Good luck, I hope this was helpful and I was professional as well as friendly.

I'm so very sorry he's sick, and it is probably not a very hopeful situation, but don't lose heart.  I've seen many miraculous fish recoveries from diseases like Dropsy and TB.  So, they can recouperate.

An additional thought...before I close, I wanted to tell you if you can crush garlic cloves and throw them into the tank, it will increase his desire to eat and it may also help aide in the rid of the bacteria.

Please feel free to ask further followups if necessary.  I check at least 2 times daily to answer questions.

Happy fish-keeping.

Renee