For anybody that has been following my fish health saga, you'll be thrilled to know the oscar is doing much better. I was very worried I was going to lose him.I finally pinpointed the problem, hole in the head. Jacked up the temp, changed some water, added more filtration, and added some salt.

Now I'm fairly certain I have an all inclusive outbreak of velvet. My tinfoil barbs are turning sort of a gold color. Now my cichlids and my pleco have yellow spots spreading around their gills and bellies.

My diagnosis is velvet. Anyone agree or disagree?

I think treatment would be raise temp, add salt, frequent water changes. Thoughts?

I'm glad you have a better idea of what problems the fish may have. Both hole-in-the-head and velvet are nasty but treatable. I've never had fish with them that I know of. Velvet is kind of like ick except they fish look like they have gold dust on them. As with ick, increasing the temperature (to shorten the life cycle) and adding aquarium salt may sometimes work by itself. If not, then they usually use copper sulfate. Keep in mind that it is toxic to snails, shrimp, insects, and sensitive fish. For the fish you've listed, I would be most concerned for the pleco. To test using a velvet or parasitic medication, first add it at half dose. If the fish don't remarkably change their behavior (spazing or the opposite), then you can add the recommended dose. If the fish freak out, then do a 50% water change and put fresh carbon in the filter to remove the copper sulfate.

There are many pages on velvet on the internet. Here's one:
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/velvet.htm

Ahhh! It now appears that my barbs are showing signs of htih. I'm not real sure though, it could just be damage from flashing due to the velvet.

Robyn, thank you so much for your help. You have helped me save my pleco's life twice before now. I followed the link you posted about velvet and have searched the internet quite a bit for answers. I still have one question though. Any idea how long it should take to start seeing signs of improvement from the temp/salt treatment? Saturday will be one week of that method. I am thinking if I don't see improvement by then I will treat with chemicals. Thoughts?

With most fish treatments, if you don't see a change in a week, it's time to try something else. When medications or treatments work, you usually see some change within two to four days. Some problems take longer to improve. Most chemical treatments can be done along with the salt. Also doing the heat though may be a bit much for them. Many medications lower the oxygen levels in the water; hot water holds less oxygen making it worse.

Robyn, do you have any experience with fish TB? I am beginning to notice some of the symptoms of it. I can post a link to a vid if you think you may help me give it a yeah or nay on TB.

I've had way too many fish have symptoms that I believe are fish tuberculosis. I think all my fish have been exposed. My past fish have had the many different types of symptoms - acne boil like cheesy tumors, grow huge (tumors, not dropsy although sometimes they had that too), others had anorexia and bent spines.

If you want to send photos or show a video, I can tell you what I think but I'm certainly no expert. I do know that whatever my fish have that I think is fish TB, I've yet to find any medication that results in improvement. It's always fatal but my fish can live with profound symptoms for sometimes a year.

All I can say is I really, really, really hope your fish don't have fish TB!

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE7BNyK_Ges

I don't know how much that will help you. The video is pretty bad and the only symptom that is obvious from the vid is that my oscar has several black spots. The site you recommend on your fish health page lists that as a symptom of TB in cichlids.

I have a couple questions you may be able to help me answer.

Is it contagous to other fish? I don't want to lose my whole tank.

I know that it's contagous under some circumstances to people. Can you get it from the water, or only by touching a fish? I have a 1 year old baby boy and am super scared he might be able to get it.

What would you do in this situation? Wait to see what happens or take some kind of action?

Thank you again for your help.

It's hard to tell much from the video aside from it's crowded in there. I see no obvious signs of fish TB in the video. My fish haven't had black spots but I can't say that having them isn't a symptom. I don't think your fish have fish TB. If they did, it's highly contagious so all the fish would have been exposed whether or not they have symptoms.

Many sites and people say fish TB is contagious. I've yet to get it as far as I know after working without gloves in my tanks for a decade. Of course, I'm not 100% sure mine have fish TB, just 99% sure. I suggest that you wash your hands well before and after working in the tank. Don't let your son put his hands in the tank. The fish TB is in the water if they have it (which again, I don't think yours do). Fish TB manifests itself in humans mostly as skin lesions.

I would continue to treat the fish for the problems that you think they have. As far as the fish TB goes, if they have it, treating them probably won't do much good since I've never got a fish to improve once they had symptoms. I would worry more about the problems they do have and treat for those. Hopefully, they don't have the TB so they can be cured of the other problems.

Thanks Robyn! I will continue to treat the conditions I know they have and keep my eyes open for other signs.

Do you know if hole in the head or velvet can cause a hollow stomach? Their stomachs look sunken in which is what originally led me to research TB.

It is crowded. I need to find a couple of homes for some fish. I am in the Reno, Nevada area if anyone has a hospital tank and an interest in saving some fish.

The sunken stomach could simply be that they aren't getting enough food which could be directly related simply to being sick from whatever problem. Some fish with tuberculosis do become anorexic but the ones that I've had that ended up like that were severly anorexic with bent spines. They had no meat on them hardly at all.

Update:
I was gone for two days out of town. The velvet seems to be clearing. The barbs are much more silver than gold now, which is a major improvement. They have lost a lot of color though. Their tails are almost transparent, with very little red left. My convict has lost a couple stripes. They have been washed out to more of a gray color.