Old rant, got a call about a sick fish, need help

[capewind]

A few of you may remember a few weeks back I posted a rant about a really bad/uneducated salesman (pond related), and my inability to keep my mouth shut ... Aside from opening my mouth, I had hubby give the man a business card, and told him to call if he needed more help (no charge LOL)... Well, I just got off the phone with him a little while ago ... he has an issue with two fish .... one was gasping badly, laying on its side on the bottom and he decided to put it out of its misery, the other is acting ok, but he just texted me a picture of the first fish ...

Sorry the pic quality is so bad, I took a pic of my phone with the camera ... He says at the affected area, the scales are raised a bit, but it is also furry ... he told me on the phone it was dark green ... Ive seen a few fish with minor fungal infections, where it looked like a bit of algae was stuck to it, but nothing like this ... any ideas???



When we met him, he was having his water tested. PH was low, something like 6.0, talked to him about ordering a KH test (hasnt done it yet) and the risks of a PH swing and stress ... Ammonia and nitrite were zero ... and he was having an issue with algae ... told him not to buy the crap the salesman gave him, and told him to fill a basket with cheap polly pillow stuffing ,,, he just did that 2 days ago and says the water is almost clear now ...

Salesman at an earlier visit gave him PH stabilizer, but just told him not to add it ... told him to test his PH when he gets up, and again about 7 pm tomorrow night, so we can compare the readings ... he is also going to do ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates .. all that came in the test kit he recently bought ...

Told him we needed to check his water quality ... talked about oxygen levels in the water, and everyone else is acting normal ... again, he is saying the water is nearly clear, so not thinking oxygen depletion issues, but ruling it out .. he DOES have some type of aeration going too ... Im thinking the fish's condition is secondary ... visible outbreak is usually secondary to another form of stress ... it IS that time of year, but I have no clue what else to ask him, or what is wrong with these two fish?????

 

[Carolyn22]

I remember the rant. Truthfully - in the picture you have attached, the eyes in that fish look sunken to me. Also, the algae on the fish doesn't look like algae on fish that I have seen - not that I have seen it all mind you. That algae looks dark and almost fresh looking, whereas the algae that is on a fish that is associated with sap doesn't looks as rich and fresh as that to me. What gives? Is that fish already dead? Do the eyes on that fish look sunken to you?

Also, I am wondering why if one is supposed to get a KH test, why one would wait? Has he added baking soda or some or type of stabiling agent? I am not understanding the lack of motivation on the guys part. I feel like there is something missing here, do you?

 

[capewind]

The picture was taken just after it was taken out of the pond.

The "missing" part is while a nice person, really not all that bright. He IS trying. The delay for the KH test was simply an uneducated "he forgot" ... he ordered a standard full test kit, but forgot the KH test as I had told him, You cant get a KH test locally. Remember, the whole reason he was in the store when we met him was to get his water tested. So some progress that he got the basics.

He did add 2 lbs of baking soda to the pond (roughly 6000 gallon pond), but I wasnt comfortable telling him to add anymore without at least an am/pm PH test reading to see how far apart the numbers were. I havent seen anything in person, so dont want to say do xyz without more info. I dont feel that he is educated enough for me to ask a direct question, and get a direct answer.

If you want to chuckle, I was very clear in explaining how to set up a basket to deal with some of the algae in his pond ... he missed half the instructions ... he got the pillow (cheapest way to get quilt batting here), but instead of putting it into a basket, just slit the pillow open, stuffed the tube of a spare pump into it, and zip tied it together. THAT came out when I had asked him if he had rinsed the poly yet LOL.

I dont mind helping him learn to test and figure out what may be off with his pond (I have some patience LOL), but my biggest concern right now is he has another fish with this same "green stuff" on it, that is still acting normal.

I dont know what was wrong with the now dead fish, to tell him what to do for the one still acting normal, but with the same thing on it ... Hubby hasnt come across any fish looking like this either.

 

[Carolyn22]

Ok - so apparently what I was missing is what i was not remembering from the original posting. It seems the older I get, the less I remember. I don't know if that is because there is more to remember than ever before, the cholesterol meds or something else I have not thought of to blame it on yet....

I still think the eyes on that fish look sunken in. Is it the picture or are the eyes sunken in? I can see the guy forgetting - he should write it down. Glad he added the baking soda, but obviously there is still a problem. Perhaps a swabbing and a check under a microscope is in order.

 

[capewind]

Well, I refuse to get older, but the short time I was on progesterone, I had plenty to blame on that ... glad Im off of it. Hate meds LOL.

Im not sure about the eyes. They dont look as bad on the phone, but I would say possible. Taking a picture of a picture doesnt give the best results, but near as I can tell, the stuff on the body looks the same. The face area in the picture I posted came out lighter than the original in the phone.

As far as I know, no "fish vets" around here. I tried calling around a couple years or so ago (want to learn how to give antibotic injections - I can give dog shots and draw blood, so know it cant be difficult, just dont know how/where), and to be honest, the only things I know how to evaluate under a scope is canine vaginal cells for cornification (to target when to start progesterone testing for breeding), and semen ... Neither of those skills are going to help here LOL.

 

[Mmathis]

You know, that fish does look kinda dead.

 

[capewind]

You know, that fish does look kinda dead.

It is :-(

 

[Carolyn22]

It probably does have sunken eyes then....

 

[capewind]

It was only dead a matter of a few minutes when the picture was taken tho. Maybe 15-20 minutes max. I didnt time it .. I had told him that I didnt hold out much hope for the fish if it had been on the bottom of the pond on its side and gasping ... later in the conversation he told me he had pulled it out, and said he could text a picture. So we hung up, he texted the picture, and then called me right back.