Archived message board.
Spot Again
Well, Spot - our fish who is being treated for popeye - seems to
have another problem. He acts like he feels fine and I'm in the process
of giving him MaracynII (after 5 days of Maracyn ). Today was his
first day of MaracynII. He appears to be bleeding internally. I read
about hemmorrhagic Septicemia but I'm not sure if that's it. Also,
I have not seen him "poop" for over 2 weeks. Obviously I
don't watch him every minute, but I also don't see much poop in the
rocks.
What now? ...And I will be out of town from Friday around 11:00am
to Sun. a.m. so please let me know something ASAP if you can!
Mandi
- mandi, This probably is septicemia, as I talked about earlier. Septicemia
is a condition of infection which has spread from a local infection,
to a systemic blood born infection. Bacteria (and the toxins they
produce) enter the blood stream...depending on what pathogen it is,
they will tend to be localized in certain areas...one place very commonly
in fish is the eye...this is why you see the popeye condition...the
next "step" so to speak, is the pathogen begins to irritate
and harm the walls of the blood vessels...this causes hemorrhage (leaking
of blood from the vessels)and is the red streaking that you see. At
this point the infection is fairly progressed, and rarely is there
a good outcome. In other animals you would probably treat with intravenous
antibiotics, but since you can't do that with a fish (at least not
yours), the only option is to continue the regimen you have started...the
medigold(if he will eat), or the dissolved antibiotics and hope for
the best. The trick is using the right one...but without culturing
the pathogen, or coming to a definite diagnosis (which is impossible
under these conditions) it is hard to hit the nail on the head...no
matter what anyone says, definite diagnosis from observable signs
in fish is sketchy at best, as certain signs can be caused by a large
variety of organisms...so continue the treatment you have started...use
the medigold if possible (if it eats) and say a prayer for the best:)
curt
- I guess my biggest reason for hoping for a good outcome is that
he acts fine. Any ideas about the "no poop"?
- mandi...I'm real sorry ...I do concur with curt...I was hoping to
help out here...If your fish is septic it's going to be hard to pull
it through...I was hoping he was eating and treating with oral Rx
would help...as curt said try your present Rx regime and keep your
water conditions at an optimum level and we will see...keep the faith
- He eats like crazy and doesn't seem to feel bad. The biggest problem
is that he is in a 2gal tank with no filter. The ammonia goes up sometimes
when you treat any tank with the meds, but I have that as well as
n unfiltered tank that is only 2gal.
I'm still hoping and praying for a good outcome and he still acts
fine!
- mandi...this is definitely part of the problem...think of it this
way...it is like someone trying to recover from smoke inhalation in
a smokey room...it just doesn't work...he needs to be in a tank that
is cycled, or at least capable of filtration that will remove the
ammonia, then if you use the medigold (since he is still eating),
this should not harm the filter (unless you dump large amounts in
and he doesn't eat it and it dissolves). You definitely have to keep
the water quality sparkling to nurse a sick fish back to health though.
Most likely the lack of defecation is due to less eating and not feeling
well, or maybe you just aren't seeing it...:)
curt
- Thanks for the quick replies! He is actually eating very well. Can
I put him in my 10gal with a few others and treat them too? It is
a clean tank.
- mandi I am glad he is eating...have you read all the posts on your
previous medicine question?...any luck on getting the medi-gold?....further
to your question ...Too bad you have such a little QT tank...I really
do not feel good recommending placing any sick fish back into a healthy
tank with others....is there any chance you can move the other fish?.....Unless
curt feels otherwise?...Just really tying to help here....
- What other fish are in the 10 gallon, and are they sick too?
curt
- Okay - I read that if Spot is constipated I can put him in a bucket
of tank water for 10 min. with 2tsp of Epsom salt per gallon and that
should help "loosen" things up. Ever heard of this????
- I have 3 Silver Dollars, 1 plecostomous, 1 gold molly and a breeder
with about 20 baby mollies that are about 5-6weeks old. I would love
to move them all to my 55gal but I'm still waiting for it to cycle.
Tomorrow will be 4 weeks, but my nitrites are still about 1.5 on the
chart. I read that frequent water changes on a new tank slow down
the cycle-time. I know what the Genesis section says and I did frequent
water changes but I believe that it could help slow the process!
All of my fish seem healthy except Spot - and he acts healthy. I know
that if I treat the whole group of fish in the 10gal with the medicine
then they might begin to build a tolerance to it and might not respond
to the medication if they need it later...but what are other consequences
of medicating the whole tank?
No, I haven't found the Medigold. Where can I get it?
- hi mandi..we are not ignoring you...curt must be real busy and I
was leaving this up to him...and he will get back to you..in the mean
time..poor spot..my god what next?..some fish are prone to constipation
angles and silverdollars are.. You can soak your flake food in paraffin
oil to help that...but also using anti-biotics can cause this problem
as well...the medi-gold we talked about you can get at your LPS..or
from the goldfish network...also the only reason we do those frequent
water changes during cycling is if your ammonia and nitrite levels
get out of control...your 55 is big It will take time...but you don't
want any more sick fish if your levels get toxic....
- Y'all (I'm from Texas) have been great about responding - I don't
feel ignored at all.
I'm really very confused. I saw Spot pooping some today so I guess
he's not constipated. He did have the medicated, antibacterial flakes
a couple of weeks ago so that could have made him a little constipated
for a while.
Also, he has a red streak along his abdomen so I don't know what it
could be rather than septsis(sp?), but he acts so completely healthy.
He doesn't act sick at all! He is active, not hiding, he eats, everything.
The red streak is the only indication of any problem at this point.
His eyes still look "buggy" but, since I can't determine
exactly what kind of fish he is, I don't know how they should look.
I originally thought it is popeye because he began to get more still
so I started looking for indications of some problem. His eyes are
definitely more raised than my other fish but some species are that
way.
Do you have any idea what else it could be with these symptoms (of
lack of...)?
- all right mandi....I don't think your fish is septic..if he presents
as happy and eating..yee haw...get the medi- gold...from your LPS
or the goldfish connection.....give him that and use your common sense...fish
look sick just like other animals...obseve observe..make notes etc...if
this one doesn't then get him back into the best water environment
possible....maybe the little fella has pulled through....other than
what curt may have to say that's the best advise I can give at this
time....
|
