Sudden death of shubunkin

[jmajid]

I will start by prefacing that i have not tested the water and the fish i am referring to are new fish just purchased from a LFS at the weekend.
We purchased 3 shubunkins - all from the same holding tank in the LFS
They all appeared to be acting normally in the LFS and i dont recollect seeing any abnormalities.
I had been doing partial water changes once a day since the fish were put in there - they were in there as a group - no other fish in there.
All 3 were feeding OK; my wife told me yesterday day afternoon she noticed one of them was motionless at the bottom of our QT tub. When she looked closer and took it out she said it was not breathing and was dead.
She put it in a separate container with water in it. Sent me a photo.

When i got home and looked at the fish it appeared to have something sticking out of its side (like a hockey stick) and there are red areas on its body too....
Also one eye was normal and the other was totally black as shown in the photo.
When i saw it - it was now floating.

We are not 100% sure that there wasnt something on its side - but pretty sure... if you know what i mean.
We remember thinking that the fish appeared to be acting normal and producing waste in the bag on our way home from the LFS... in hindsight this might have been mistaken for the think sticking out... just not sure.
I do remember that all fish were actively eating - even the first night they were put into QT

See photo...

Any ideas what this is?
I looked at the gills- they were white - both sides...mouth was closed.
We are keeping a closer eye on the fish now - but the remaining two seem OK...
Will do a water test later on, but when i did it before putting fish in, nothing jumped out as being abnormal.
I had resigned to not having a fully cycled tub, but instead performing partial water changes every day.
The tub was being used for other fish which have since been in/out of their QT and moved onto the pond...with no problems.

 

[Dave 54]

Let me get this correct you bought three shubunkins and have them in QT and your wife is doing daily water changes to look after them , is this fasility filtered please?
Next the water changes that your wife is doing , is this direct from the tap with nothing added , what about dechlorinator ?
I have a feeling your shubunkins are suffering from a Parasitic infection most probably from the discoloured gill filaments your looking at gill flukes.
Your going to have to take a scrape from just behind the fishes gills to be sure of this then put it under the microscope .
I posted a number of slides a few days ago use that to check your findings .
To treat your going to need a organophosphate based treatment, as I'm not sure of the treatments you get in the US.
Normally I'd say Kusuri Fluke M however I have major concerns as to your QT fasility because quite plainly you cannot treat them in the fasility you have them in simply because it cannot be filtered if your wife is doing daily waterchanges like that .
All that your succeeding in doing is stressing these fish out even more by doing it and also making it impossible to treat them because your removing water each and every day replacing it with new.
In reality you should have a dedicated tank set up with its own filtration which runs 24/7 365 days of the year with or without fish in it so that it is ready for any purchase you may well decide to buy .
Another thing you just should have picked up un is that thee fish were under par to start with and quite simply shouldnt have been purchased.
If your unsure dont buy ,
As to the thing like a hocky stick sticking out from the fishes side your most probably going to find that this is an anchor worm so basically these fish were not up to par in the first place.


Dave

 

[jmajid]

Dave...
thanks for your reply -
it is filtered - but not fully cycled
We were happy with purchase - thats why we bought them.
so what is the thing sticking out of the fishes body? and how quickly would it present itself?
this was a small fish - 2 inches perhaps.
looked very closely at the fish this morning - the other two are fine - nothing wrong with their bodies or eyes.

EDIT:
any water added will always have dechlor added

 

[Dave 54]

If its an achor worm then its fully presented , think yourself lucky that they didnt get into your pond as anchor worms are a pain once established they grow externally
Some better photo's i;e close up would help some
Dave

 

[Mmathis]

Anchor worm? I've never seen one, except in photos, but that's kinda what they look like.

 

[jmajid]

thanks dave and Mmathis
We'll keep an eye out for the remainder 2 and see how they get on...
i see potassium permanganate is the solution of choice for anchor worms... even as a preventive for fish that dont have any visible...
any idea where i can find this?

 

[Dave 54]

You can normally buy it from an koi dealership website

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

Can you get a much clearer shot of this so we can have a propper look at this please jmajid

Dave

 

[jmajid]

i cant get any better a shot.
Im pretty convinced it was an anchor worm
the other two are acting fine and eating.

 

[Dave 54]

Good however make doubley sure they dont have them before they go into a pond , as the anchor worm multiply very rapidly and can take over a fish quite easily , the worst photo I have ever seen was a goldfish that was so infested that it looked like a shaggy dog

Dave

 

[Donnacagg]

I will start by prefacing that i have not tested the water and the fish i am referring to are new fish just purchased from a LFS at the weekend.
We purchased 3 shubunkins - all from the same holding tank in the LFS
They all appeared to be acting normally in the LFS and i dont recollect seeing any abnormalities.
I had been doing partial water changes once a day since the fish were put in there - they were in there as a group - no other fish in there.
All 3 were feeding OK; my wife told me yesterday day afternoon she noticed one of them was motionless at the bottom of our QT tub. When she looked closer and took it out she said it was not breathing and was dead.
She put it in a separate container with water in it. Sent me a photo.
View attachment 66001
When i got home and looked at the fish it appeared to have something sticking out of its side (like a hockey stick) and there are red areas on its body too....
Also one eye was normal and the other was totally black as shown in the photo.
When i saw it - it was now floating.

We are not 100% sure that there wasnt something on its side - but pretty sure... if you know what i mean.
We remember thinking that the fish appeared to be acting normal and producing waste in the bag on our way home from the LFS... in hindsight this might have been mistaken for the think sticking out... just not sure.
I do remember that all fish were actively eating - even the first night they were put into QT

See photo...
View attachment 66000
Any ideas what this is?
I looked at the gills- they were white - both sides...mouth was closed.
We are keeping a closer eye on the fish now - but the remaining two seem OK...
Will do a water test later on, but when i did it before putting fish in, nothing jumped out as being abnormal.
I had resigned to not having a fully cycled tub, but instead performing partial water changes every day.
The tub was being used for other fish which have since been in/out of their QT and moved onto the pond...with no problems.

Hello, I was just wondering if you learned as to why the one eye was totally black and large, as the same thing happened when my shubumkin died this morning. Without any visible signs of being sick. Thanks.

 

[mrsclem]

@Donnacagg - this thread is 8 years old. There was no follow up.

 

[j.w]

@Donnacagg
Sorry I don't know why your fish died. Perhaps you could start a whole new thread about your issue so others will see it that might know how to help you.