Something is killing my fish! Help please?

[Dani]

Hi there,
I have had my tank for several weeks now, and things were mostly going well; my water was clean, my fish looked happy and healthy, and none of them were picking on anybody else. I had a several guppies and few mollies and sword tails. Several days ago, my male sword tail started getting very shy, and just "sitting around" in the back of the tank near the bottom. During feeding I tried to get a good look at him, and found he had something white sticking out from just bellow his eye. it was stiff, but appeared to flex at the point of attachment, and I feared that I had allowed some foreign material to get into my tank and stab the poor guy in the eye! He soon became listless and weak, and even got stuck to the filter (which is the appropriate size for the tank) while still alive. I used the net to get him off, and he died later that day. the next day, I noticed the same process start on my oldest, largest, and most dearly beloved guppy she is also now dead. I am very worried, especially because one of my mollies, and another of guppies now have the same thing behind their fins, and the molly is developing what looks like an abscess because of it. I greatly fear that some sort of parasite has somehow gotten into my tank and is killing my fish! any suggestions?

[ZeroSystem]

Welcome to FTF Dani! Sorry to hear about your troubles! I am going to move this to the Freshwater Illness section of the forum, as it fits that catagory better I believe.

I agree that it sounds like some sort of parasite has managed to work it's way into your aquarium. This could be from a recently purchased fish. It's also possible it was already on some of the fish you had already and just took time before becoming apparent. My first guess about the type of parasite would be Anchor Worm, but what you've described doesn't quite fit the same description.. a pic would help in pin-pointing whatever this might be. Assuming it is a parasite there are several 'over-the-counter' style medications that you should be able to pick up at your local fish store. Salt and heat is another method utilized in the eradication of ich, another common parasite, but I'm not 100% sure that the same treatment would work against this new, and as of yet unidentified, parasite.

[Dani]

Thank you so much. If I can get my hands on a camera, I will post a pic (if I can figure out how...) I googled anchor worms, and it looks the same, to my untrained eyes, I will check with a pet store, thanks again!