this was originaly posted by me on aquatic babble on june 24

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ANCHOR WORM
Caused by: parasite Lernaea
Obvious Symptoms: worms embedded in the body , which usually penetrate as far as the internal organs and can cause secondary infections.
Heavy infections have been known to cause weight loss and in an acute case can cause death
Occurrence of the disease: more often than not this disease affects newly imported fish and more likely to affect coldwater fish than tropical fish.
Treatment and Control: You should kill all visible worms by dabbing them with a cotton swab, dipped in Potassium Permanganate or an anti-parasitic medication. Then you should carefully remove them from the fish with tweezers. This process may require repeating after a week or two. During this process hold the fish firmly but carefully in a soft damp cloth. You should kill the parasites before removing them because if they have burrowed deeply, removing them alive could cause the fish pain and significant physical damage. Once you?ve removed the parasite, you should then dab the wounds with Methylene Blue to prevent secondary bacterial infections from occurring. It is highly recommended that you feed the fish with medicated food. The tank will also need to be treated to kill any unseen, free-swimming juvenile parasites. You can use Fluke Tabs, Clout, Paragon or Trifon for this.

COTTON WOOL DISEASE or MOUTH FUNGUS
Caused by: normally the Flexibacter bacterium
Obvious symptoms: cotton wool like tufts around the mouth area, also reddened ulcers on the body and frayed fins, scaleless fish may have a reddened edge to any ulcers. Infected fish will also go off their food appear very thin.
Occurrence of the disease: Common in newly imported fish , fish in a poor condition, A sudden change in water conditions or over stocking and infrequent water changes
Treatment and Control: It is better to treat this disease in the early stages as it is likely to be confined to the outside of the fish and can be treated with antibacterial or fungus remedy . If it is a heavy infestation i.e. it has affected the internal organs you will need a antibiotic or similar antibacterial remedy, it may also pay to think of euthanizing the fish before any more fish become affected ( is the price of one fish worth loosing your entire stock ? )

DROPSY - MALAWI BLOAT
Caused by: Bacterial and/or viral infections as well as metabolic or nutritional disorders
Obvious Symptoms: Fish resembles a pine cone I.e. the fish has protruding scales, swollen belly, ulcers, pop eyed and a reddening at the vent or base of fins.
Treatment and Control: Due to the uncertainty of the cause of this disease, treatment can be very hit and miss. The best way is to remove any affected individuals to a hospital/quarantine tank with ideal water conditions and try bathing the affected fish in Epsom salts. In very bad cases it is better to euthanize the fish due to organ failure,

FINROT
Caused by: Various bacteria such as Aeromonas, Pseudomonas and Myxobacteria
Obvious symptoms: split fins, ragged fins and stumped fins often with a white edge
Occurrence of the disease: Newly imported fish , rough handling, fighting especially fin nipping , poor water quality and poor feeding
Treatment and Control: Suitable antibacterial remedies should cure most cases. The adding of aquarium salt to the tank can be useful in preventing fin rot in some species such as guppies and mollies. Also it is good practice not to keep known fin nippers with long finned fish

FISH FUNGUS
Caused by: A variety of aquatic based fungi
Obvious symptoms: White, brown or grey like cotton wool tufts attached to the body/fins
Occurrence of the disease: Newly imported fish , rough handling, fighting , spawning activity can lead to the damaging of the protective mucus layer that covers the skin of healthy fish or cuts also fungus can be a secondary infection affecting the fish after other diseases , poor water quality, sudden the first sign temperature changes and decaying organic matter.
Treatment and Control: Use a propriety fungus treatment (plenty on the market) at of any fungus. If it is a light infection you can treat the fish in situ but if it is heavily infected remove the fish to a hospital/quarantine tank for treatment. If eggs are involved you must remove all dead eggs as soon as you can some people use methylene blue to prevent and treat fungus on fish eggs.

HOLE IN THE HEAD DISEASE
Caused by: The flagellate protozoan, Hexamita is normally involved and is also known as Octomitus
Obvious symptoms: Small holes in the body especially in the head (but can affect any part of the body) which in time can develop a stringy yellow tail of mucus looking like a worm infection. A fish suffering from this disease will also go off its food and have a hollow bellied appearance, and have pale stringy poo. Also lesions can occur at the base of the fins as well as near the lateral line.
Occurrence of the disease: Mainly affects Cichlids and gouramis due to overcrowding, low oxygen levels, unhygienic conditions and changes in temperature can trigger it off as hexamita often exists as a low level infection in the intestines of a variety of fish but only becomes a problem when the parasites multiply thus creating a heavy infestation.
Treatment and Control: By far the best way of treating this disease is by feeding a medicated food but as most fish suffering from hole in the head go off their food so it is hard to treat this way but there are plenty of propriety treatments out there. For control of the disease is to avoid the conditions that can trigger it off.

NEON TETRA DISEASE
Caused by: Infection by the parasite Pleistophora
Obvious symptoms: Loss of colouration, strange swimming behaviour, curvature of the spine, fin rot and emaciation Note it is not just neon tetras that suffer from this disease as many species are susceptible to this its just tetras appear to be very susceptible, zebra danios and some barbs are commonly affected by a similar disease.
Occurrence of the disease: Keeping fish in any thing less than good quality conditions is believed to trigger this disease off.
Treatment and Control: There are no effective treatments that I know of apart from euthanasia. Best controlled by a well maintained aquarium.

POP EYE
Caused by: Bacterial infection, parasite infection, poor water quality and internal disorders
Obvious symptoms: One or both the eyes protrude from the body.
Occurrence of the disease: Normally only affects one or two fish at any given time not noted as being infectious, can disappear as suddenly it appeared, if large number develop the symptoms then suspect water quality problems
Treatment and Control: Treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic medication and make sure water quality is good, monitor the fish if the infection seems to be spreading then isolate the infected fish, if the fish show any signs of suffering then it will be best to euthanize

VELVET DISEASE
Caused by: Single celled parasitic organisms known as Oodinum
Obvious symptoms: Yellow grey dusting to the body and fins, the fish may scrape/flick against tank decorations, increased gill movement, in an advanced stage they will stop feeding and lie motionless in the water. Can be confused with white spot, this disease is also referred to as gold dust disease as it can look like the fish has been dusted with gold dust
Occurrence of the disease: The parasite will move from host to host and can live host free for at least 24 hours and probably much longer. It is probably introduced into the tank with new stock as well as possibly on new plants.
Treatment and Control: Treat with propriety treatments for velvet disease you could also use a white spot remedy. Treatment can be carried out in the tank with only a heavily infected fish being moved to a hospital/quarantine tank.

WHITE SPOT or ICH
Caused by: The protozoan ichthyophthirius multifiliis.
Obvious symptoms: Coating of fine white spots on the body, fins and gills in heavy infestations the fish will scrape/flick against tank decorations, and have increased gill movement.
Occurrence of the disease: It is probably introduced into the tank with new stock as well as possibly on new plants.
Treatment and Control: Treat with propriety treatments for white spot disease you can also raise the temperature of the water to 90of / 32oc for a few hours at a time every 3 to 5 days (make sure your fish can tolerate this) The clown loach is quite susceptible to white spot but like some scaleless catfish are very sensitive to some of the remedies so read the instructions if you keep these fish
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the only stupid questions are the ones you dont ask

JINKY 1944-2006 R.I.P

Good info -

Thanks for sharing.

Very good thread. I hope that I don't have to put up with any. But very informative, thanks