Fish wasting disease?

[waveyuk]

Wonder if anyone can maybe shed some light on a question I have...
Is there a disease that can cause fish to waste away or not grow? Two weeks ago, I had a rummi-nose tetra die. It went very thin, almost torpedo like. It was one of 5 which I bought all together. Out of the remaining 4, one is very large, two are of a medium size, and one is quite small (and I am sure it's going the same was as the fish that died a few weeks back). They were all roughly the same size when I bought them.
Additionally, I bought 3 Clown Loaches. Again, all were roughly the same size, two of which have grown to a nice size, whilst the third is still very small, and I am sure he's either getting small, or not growing at all.
So, is this some sort of disease which affects the fish, and if so, is there any known cure?
I reguarly test the water, Nitrites are between 0-.25ppm and the Ph is around 6.8-7.2. Any help appreciated, either by a post on here, or to dave.parker@progenita.net
Thanks
Dave

 

[Somonas]

Hi Dave, I had the same problem with some african cichlids. Hexamit seemed to help, as did more waterchanges, and feeding better food.
Also, nitrites should be always zero.

 

[waveyuk]

Hi.

Thanks for that. Is Hexamit a solution for the tank? Can't say I have seen it in the shops (in the UK). I will have a look around. I change the water weekly (15-20%) and nitrites are at 0ppm-0.25ppm.

Dave

Originally posted by Somonas
Hi Dave, I had the same problem with some african cichlids. Hexamit seemed to help, as did more waterchanges, and feeding better food.
Also, nitrites should be always zero.

 

[Papillon]

Hmmm

Many fish that seem to waste away are burdened by flukes. In the abscence of any stress such as poor water quality, fish can carry large numbers of flukes, but they slowly lose body condition as they bleed to death through their gills... This is especially common among smaller fish of the one year size. Larger fish that exhibit wasting may have an internal pathology.. Wasting can be caused by tuberculosis of the liver, other liver pathology or poorly formulated diets..
Check for flukes and diet!

Marie

 

[smalltank99]

or it could be dominence in the largest fish over food

 

[Iggy]

Fish growth can be stunted by:
a) Lack of oxygen in water (crowding/overstocked) - most common
b) Constant (even low) amounts ammonia in water (bio-load)
c) Parasites - usually from live or frozen food source
d) Disease - usually from stress (ammonia/nitrite/other)

I would take a real close look at (a) and (b) first.