Barramundi Cod Diagnosis

[SEQReef]

Hi Everyone!

This is my first post and am after some advice on what the problem with my juvenile barramundi cod could be. Story is as below:

-I have had him in a QT tank for a little over two weeks now. But it has been a tough run as the tank was only half cycled when I got him.
-I have been doing daily testing and water changes for the last two weeks. I battled ammonia and then nitrite and have seen nitrite return to zero but ammonia is still hovering around 0.25ppm. I have been using prime to detoxify the ammonia but it just doesn't want to go to zero. Nitrate and PH are at about <10ppm and 7.8-8.1 (depending on time).
-Over the two weeks I tried my best to keep both ammonia and nitrite under 0.25ppm but there was a day here or there that they could have looked a touch over, but never more then 0.5ppm.
-Water parameters aside, he is doing a lot of aggressive flashing. He is periodically lethargic, meaning one minute he is perched somewhere looking sad, the next he is swimming around like a bull in a china shop.
-Aside from the flashing/scratching he is also staying near the top of the water. Not sure if it is a swim bladder problem or by choice. I have an oversized bubbler, a hang on back filter and an internal filter all disturbing the water surface.
-His fins are for the most part fine, apart from a few small tears at the tips where i think he has cut them while flashing.
-I can't see any white spots/parasites (yet).
-And in general you can just tell he isnt a perfectly healthy fish!

Help me pleassssse!

 

[ichthyogeek]

Well...pictures would be useful for helping assist with a diagnosis. How's the fish's breathing? Feeding behavior?

For the ammonia, @brandon429 can tell you a lot about "stuck cycles".

Flashing/scratching would indicate some sort of ectoparasite. I'm still reading about large fish care, but is it viable to attempt to do a freshwater dip, for the purposes of finding any parasites that fall off? If you can't see anything, my first guess is flukes.

 

[Dragon52]

If your using the API test kit they are known to show .25 even when there isn't any, either way take a sample to your LFS & have them test it.

 

[SEQReef]

Well...pictures would be useful for helping assist with a diagnosis. How's the fish's breathing? Feeding behavior?

For the ammonia, @brandon429 can tell you a lot about "stuck cycles".

Flashing/scratching would indicate some sort of ectoparasite. I'm still reading about large fish care, but is it viable to attempt to do a freshwater dip, for the purposes of finding any parasites that fall off? If you can't see anything, my first guess is flukes.

Hi ichthyogeek,

I have just dipped him for 5 minutes and this video was taken more or less straight after I put him back in the qt tank.
It doesn't show him flashing or anything, but at the end you can see where he returns to perch up against the filter. Breathing looks a little fast to me, and he quite often swims head in to the filter outlet... flukes right? but I couldn't see any parasites fall off in the dip. Two days ago I started dosing reef revolutions parasite removal because coming from fresh and seeing the flashing I assumed ick, but now I am not so sure. Eating? this thing would eat a cow if I left it in the tank ahah

Also, Dragon52 It is an api test kit which is why i am not overly concerned about the amonia. And I figure since I have trace amounts of nitrate (keeping in mind I am doing nearly daily water changes) and no nitrite I assume the tank is more or less cycled and water quality satisfactory.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Hmmm....everything points to it being an ectoparasite, the flashing, the somewhat heavy breathing, the swimming into the filter's current...

If there weren't any little opaque things that fell off of the fish in the bath, then I'm skeptical about it being flukes. Which doesn't rule them out. If there aren't any spots, then I'm doubtful about it being ich or velvet either, and we'd see black ich if that was the case as well...

@Jay Hemdal ? The only thing that's coming to mind right now is that I'm thinking of zebras when all that are there are horses....

 

[SEQReef]

Hmmm....everything points to it being an ectoparasite, the flashing, the somewhat heavy breathing, the swimming into the filter's current...

If there weren't any little opaque things that fell off of the fish in the bath, then I'm skeptical about it being flukes. Which doesn't rule them out. If there aren't any spots, then I'm doubtful about it being ich or velvet either, and we'd see black ich if that was the case as well...

@Jay Hemdal ? The only thing that's coming to mind right now is that I'm thinking of zebras when all that are there are horses....

ichthyogeek,

I just had another look and I think because of the blue bucket it was hard to see, or maybe they hadn't settled to the bottom yet... in anycase I have attached two pictures. One zoomed out and one zoomed in. Note that the white ones are my substrate which I accidentally brought in with the aerator before the fish had been in there, but the darker colour specs were not there, fluke or poo or something else?

Should I try another dip tomorrow?

 

[ichthyogeek]

That looks strangely 3d to me, so it might be poo, it might also be parasites, but I can't say for certain, although my gut feeling is that it's just fish waste. If you can extract it somehow, and take a closer picture, that would be better. Or prod it. If it falls apart, it's waste. If it doesn't, then we might have a parasite.

 

[SEQReef]

That looks strangely 3d to me, so it might be poo, it might also be parasites, but I can't say for certain, although my gut feeling is that it's just fish waste. If you can extract it somehow, and take a closer picture, that would be better. Or prod it. If it falls apart, it's waste. If it doesn't, then we might have a parasite.

I got it out with a pipette, looks like waste to me... so apart from that, i couldn't really see anything else in the bucket. I have attached another video of him doing a little twirl for the camera. He actually looks better in these videos after the dip... which makes me so confused! He has been staying up the top in the filter flow normally, just sinks a little in the water column when i put the light over him.

Im stumped! Do I continue with the ick/marine velvet reef revolution treatment or try another treatment or stop treatments all together? I am still doing daily testing and parameters look fine (PH a touch low at 8ish). Should I drop salinity to 1.020? currently at 1.025.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Late to the party here. I’m having difficulty viewing videos, can’t see any of yours posting them public to YouTube works, as does a downloadable file.
The stuff in the dip is just mulm or fish waste. Neobenedenia flukes are big and easy to see, but gyrodactylus are small and get contorted, you need a microscope to see them. If the fish seems improved the day after the dip, that tells you something, and you might consider daily dips to buy more time.
Jay

 

[SEQReef]

Late to the party here. I’m having difficulty viewing videos, can’t see any of yours posting them public to YouTube works, as does a downloadable file.
The stuff in the dip is just mulm or fish waste. Neobenedenia flukes are big and easy to see, but gyrodactylus are small and get contorted, you need a microscope to see them. If the fish seems improved the day after the dip, that tells you something, and you might consider daily dips to buy more time.
Jay

Hi Jay,

Don't worry the party isn't going anywhere for a few weeks yet! The videos don't show anything anyway, i have attached some screenshots FYI. I am hoping it is marine velvet as I have been treating his tank for a few days already with a medicine for velvet and ick (reef revolutions parasite remover), do you know if this will deal with flukes as well by any chance?

As you suggest I think I will maintain daily dips and also pick up some formalin this weekend. Apart from that I don't know what else I can really do.

Cheers.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Reef Revolution is an Australian product, right? Sorry, I’ve never used it. Here is the thing: reef safe medications don’t have much if any benefit for acute infections. Also, I won’t put anything in my tanks if the manufacturer won’t divulge what’s in it, or like in this case, spells the disease name wrong (grin).
Does the tank have any structure for this guy to feel more secure?

Jay

 

[SEQReef]

Reef Revolution is an Australian product, right? Sorry, I’ve never used it. Here is the thing: reef safe medications don’t have much if any benefit for acute infections. Also, I won’t put anything in my tanks if the manufacturer won’t divulge what’s in it, or like in this case, spells the disease name wrong (grin).
Does the tank have any structure for this guy to feel more secure?

Jay

They spelt it right, I made the error.

Yes the tank has a bit of live rock forming a little cave and I also typically have the sides covered with towels.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

They spelt it right, I made the error.

Yes the tank has a bit of live rock forming a little cave and I also typically have the sides covered with towels.

Good- in the pic he looked a bit uncomfortable in a bare part of the tank like that.
Ha- no, I saw one of their ads where they spelled it wrong...just doesn’t inspire confidence
Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

They spelt it right, I made the error.

Yes the tank has a bit of live rock forming a little cave and I also typically have the sides covered with towels.

I would continue with the dips, and then, when you get the formalin , how will you dose it?
Jay

 

[SEQReef]

I would continue with the dips, and then, when you get the formalin , how will you dose it?
Jay

Oh hahha that is not good on their behalf.

Yes, I also had some PVC in there at one stage but he never used it so I took it out, he mostly perches himself between the internal filter and the glass.

I havn't used formalin but expected to just follow the instructions! I believe a 5 min dip, then 60min bath? This doesn't seem to be a permanent solution either... so if I can't diagnose how do I know what to treat the tank with?