another death.. red blotches.. disease?

The other minnow I'v had for over a year just died.. the one that died a few days ago's sister. I saw this one die, I tried to help by putting in salt and taking her into a smaller tank away from the others (they were starting to nibble ) but she was too far gone..
there is still no signs of diseases, and like the other one, this one has red along her body.. is this some sort of disease?
I found her on the gravel in the tank and her body was sort of stiff, moving with the current... then she went upside down, not floating, but couldn't right herself. (not like with swimbladder though.. more like the way dying fish are)
I took her out, added a bit of aquarium salt and she moved a little bit and swam weakly around the little tank but then went upside down again... and stayed there. her body went tight and her fins were tightening against her body every now and again as if she was contracting or in spasms
her mouth is sort of reddish black.. there is red blotches along her sides and her body colour is a bit off... her fins were fine though.. still very bright colouring..
she was perfectly fine yesterday, and I didn't do anything at all to the tank water yesterday or today.

Any ideas what is going on? all I can see different is this redness..
I don't want the rest of the shoal to die.. they seem ok..

 

The red blotches sound like a bacterial infection, maybe septicemia.

You can try treating with Maracyn-two.

-Chelle

 

thanks, i'll look up some more on the web..

great news!!!
she's not dead yet! when I last checked, her gill flaps weren't moving, her mouth wasn't moving, and she was floating at the top.. she was the same an hour later, so I assumed she was dead, but I just saw a little flicker of her fin, so I put in a tiny bit more salt, and now she is weakly swimming (UPRIGHT!!) in the tank! i'll not put her back in the main one for a while if she survives though, she's still too weak to swim against a filter... of course she's not out of the woods, not even close, but maybe i'll be able to get her meds before its too late..
fingers crossed she holds on :|
I'll look up about that disease you mentioned now, thanks

 

Glad to hear ur fish is still alive. Hope you fine the problem soon.

 

hmm she is still alive.. but not looking too good.
the red blotches are still there.. and maybe its my imagination but there seems to be more. her tail is a bit forked looking and has black tips.
her mouth is still dark too. and now there is quite a bit of fungus (that happened overnight) its on her fins mostly, but theres a bit on her sides. she has had a poo hanging out for 2 days, clear and stringy.. is that of any significance? I put in some anti finrot and bacterial meds to see if that will help.
I looked up stuff and there's a disease called velvet that describes red marks on the skin.. anybody know anything about it?

 

Clear/white stringy feces is a sign of an internal parasite or infection. I would keep ut with the antibiotics. Also, are your water parameters still okay? black patches is a sign of ammonia burn.

-Chelle

 

sigh well she died last night..
i'll check the water as soon as I can get some more test kits.
RIP shimmer :cry:

 

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Sorry about your fish.