# Peruvian Altum problems



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I received some Peruvian Altums a while back. All are supposedly "wild caught" and treated by a reputable local breeder/importer. I began to notice some white spots appearing on their bodies. Before I could begin any treatment my daughter was born so the fish had to wait 

I thought it was ich at first but it has blossomed into a nasty looking fungus looking type problem.










Any ideas on what it could be?

Sorry for the image size, but if I drop it by much, the fungus (?) is too hard to see.


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## aquaessentials (Dec 15, 2004)

I certainly does look like a fungus.

You must treat immediately with an anti fungal remedy or else you face loosing all the effected fish. The disease looks fairly set in so every minuite wasted could prove fatal.


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## MoonFish (Feb 12, 2006)

Congratulations on your new daughter. Can you get them to take food? It seems like things that want to eat are usually destined to live imo.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Yikes! Fungal infections are usually secondary to another process or disease. I'm guessing the fish were injured and stressed during the catching, processing, and shipping process. This doesn't look like ich to me. I'm certainly not a fish disease expert. Are the angels eating? I'd say that if they are, that they'll probably pull through. If not, I'd say they're in trouble. I'd probably remove them to a quarantine tank and whack them hard with some antifungals. The only worry is that there is some underlying illness (parasites?) that is leaving them vulnerable.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Thanks everyone for the responses. The fish are eating normally (both flake and frozen foods) so I guess that is a good sign, at least for now. Shortly after I first received them they developed what looked to be ich but I did not begin treatment, except for increasing the temp to about 86 degrees. The problem could have started from what I thought was ich and evolved to a fungal infection as Guiac_boy mentioned. 

I'm new to the fish "disease" part of aquaria. I've never had anything more than a minor outbreak of ich (only once) in 20 years or so of fishkeeping and have never had to use medication. I do plan on removing them to a quarrentine tank and treating so what Antifungal does everyone recommend? There are 9 "Altums" in the tank and I have two 10g tanks available for treatment as of right now. 

None of the other fish in the tank (regular P. scalare, Apistogramma borelli 'Opal', Microgeophagus ramerizi, or Hemigrammus bleheri) seem affected at this time so I would guess it was a stress induced parasite that started things.


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## Gumby (Aug 1, 2005)

I hate to be the guy who "sank your battleship," but to me that looks like Lymphocystis, a viral infection. After years of working in fish stores, I've seen just abot everything, including this. The irregular, lumpy appearence of the sores occuring mostly on the fins makes me think that this might be what your fish has 

There are 3 ways to tell if it's Lymphocystis:
1. It doesn't respond to any treatment(no cure for viral infections).
2. It's stiff to the touch, not mushy.
3. Look at it under a microscope.

In all cases I've seen this disease, it was usualy on South American Cichlids. It grows fastest on the caudal and dorsal fins, slowest on the actual body. The only treatment I've seen effective is surgical removal. Most fish that we saw with this disease were usually euthanized, otherwise lumpy "tumors" would over take their body and prevent them from swimming properly. 

Lets hope that this is not the case, but I just wanted to let you know that it is a possiblity.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Again, thanks to everyone for the responses. After delaying for a few days, I moved the Angels to a 10g quarrentine tank and decided to give a fungal treatment a try. I am on day 4 of treatment with Mardel's Trisulfa and so far all but two of the Angels have cleared up. They were treated with one tablet per 10g as the package states. I need to finish up today and dose them for tomorrow but things are going well so far. If the last two do not clear up, I will go with another 5 days of treatment. If that doesn't work I will keep the last two in the tank and see how they do. 

If all of them clear up I will edit the name of the thread to include fungus so folks may have a better chance of finding it should they run across a similar problem.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

That's good news. If you're seeing a response it must be only a fungal infection and not the virus gumby was referring to. I'm sure they were a pretty penny to get imported. How many do you have?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

A couple of the SWOAPE folks and I got a few but I'm not sure of the total number. I had 5 initially and two of them died. One of the other members sold me his 6 so I now have 9 in a 75g. As they grow, I'm sure I will have issues with them but hopefully I will be able to get a pair or two out of the bunch.


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

very encouraging news...
wish you luck on the pairing. btw what ht are the fishes now?


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