Help! Quarantine Illness ID/Treatment

[omajehal]

Hello!
I’m hoping I can get some advice on a fish I purchased at my LFS. I brought it home and put it into quarantine with a couple of other fish. I noticed after a day or so that it had a spot on its side, and someone said it looked like Flukes. I picked up Prazipro and dosed the QT tank Saturday afternoon. Today the fish seems to have gotten way worse. The LFS isn’t much help and don’t offer any kind of health guarantee. Is there anything I can do to save it? TIA

 

[omajehal]

Sorry, I just realized I posted to the kinda wrong category. I am a bit worried about it affecting the other fish in quarantine also though.

 

[Big G]

White-ish spots should always be viewed with great suspicion. Probably a bacterial infection. They are brought on by injury, stress, poor water and or food quality.

Need to treat quickly as these infections can go sideways very quickly and for some reason they are very frequent on dwarf angels.

Best to treat with NFG powder (but a bit hard to source). Next best is Furan2.

Here's more info on bacterial infections:

Bacterial infections:

Symptoms - Sometimes it's self-describing: Popeye/cloudy eyes, fin & tail rot, dropsy (bloated fish), etc. But some other bacterial infections, such as furunculosis, hemorrhagic septicemia, etc., can have varying visible symptoms. Any redness or open sores/wounds on a fish should be viewed with suspicion. Also, a white film or fungus-looking growth may denote a bacterial infection. It’s important to note that in many cases a bacterial infection is usually secondary in nature to a parasitic infestation such as ich, meaning if a fish has been battling ich for a while then his immune system has been lowered. This makes infection more likely for many opportunistic, harmful bacteria.

Treatment options - Broad spectrum antibiotic medication i.e. one that treats both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial diseases. Examples of this include Furan-2, Kanamycin aka Seachem Kanaplex, Nitrofuracin Green Powder, Triple Sulfa Powder, or a combination of using both Erythromycin & Minocycline. The latter can be accomplished (albeit expensively) by using freshwater Maracyn 1 & 2 and then doubling the dosage for saltwater use. When battling a particularly nasty bacterial infection, combining Furan-2, Kanaplex and metronidazole (ex. Seachem MetroPlex) can be very effective (and safe). Props to “hedgedrew” for enlightening me of this.

 

[omajehal]

White-ish spots should always be viewed with great suspicion. Probably a bacterial infection. They are brought on by injury, stress, poor water and or food quality.

Need to treat quickly as these infections can go sideways very quickly and for some reason they are very frequent on dwarf angels.

Best to treat with NFG powder (but a bit hard to source). Next best is Furan2.

Here's more info on bacterial infections:

Bacterial infections:

Symptoms - Sometimes it's self-describing: Popeye/cloudy eyes, fin & tail rot, dropsy (bloated fish), etc. But some other bacterial infections, such as furunculosis, hemorrhagic septicemia, etc., can have varying visible symptoms. Any redness or open sores/wounds on a fish should be viewed with suspicion. Also, a white film or fungus-looking growth may denote a bacterial infection. It’s important to note that in many cases a bacterial infection is usually secondary in nature to a parasitic infestation such as ich, meaning if a fish has been battling ich for a while then his immune system has been lowered. This makes infection more likely for many opportunistic, harmful bacteria.

Treatment options - Broad spectrum antibiotic medication i.e. one that treats both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial diseases. Examples of this include Furan-2, Kanamycin aka Seachem Kanaplex, Nitrofuracin Green Powder, Triple Sulfa Powder, or a combination of using both Erythromycin & Minocycline. The latter can be accomplished (albeit expensively) by using freshwater Maracyn 1 & 2 and then doubling the dosage for saltwater use. When battling a particularly nasty bacterial infection, combining Furan-2, Kanaplex and metronidazole (ex. Seachem MetroPlex) can be very effective (and safe). Props to “hedgedrew” for enlightening me of this.

Thank you for the advice! I have done a 50% water change to get the PraziPro levels down a bit and get my nitrate down since it crept up after removing the filter media. I went to a LFS and got the Furan 2 and put in the first dose. Here’s hoping...

 

[Big G]

How's the dwarf angel eating? They are algae grazers and can just wear themselves out in a barren QT looking for food pecking away.

 

[omajehal]

How's the dwarf angel eating? They are algae grazers and can just wear themselves out in a barren QT looking for food pecking away.

Thus far it seems like it has been eating the brine shrimp the LFS said would be okay with it. They didn’t tell me to feed it anything else when I asked. There’s some algae that has bloomed for sure in the QT since treating and having to remove the filter media. So I think there should be something to eat either way.

 

[Big G]

Try some of the Formula 2 (for algae grazers) or the Hikari for Algae grazers frozen fish cubes mixed with Masstick. You can stick a small blob of it on the glass or PVC, etc.

 

[omajehal]

Unfortunately it lost the battle and died last night. To boot, a clownfish I had in QT with it is now showing some odd signs also. I called my LFS to see if they would do some sort of health guarantee on the CB since I called them and reported the trouble within a couple of days of getting the fish. They told me they don’t guarantee saltwater stock because they don’t know what it may or may not have coming into the store. They don’t quarantine most fish and just sell them as is. Sounds super sketchy to me... not sure I trust their practices going forward.

 

[Brien]

I have yet to go to a LFS that guarantees saltwater fish.

 

[omajehal]

I have yet to go to a LFS that guarantees saltwater fish.

I spoke with another LFS in town today about what happened and they seemed much more open to working with people. They said they don’t have a defined period. But, if you let them know within a few days of getting the fish, they would look at the situation and work something out as long as your parameters weren’t way off. Between that and the fact that they said they vetted their supplier, QT fish and hold them as long as needed before selling them, I’m probably going to be purchasing from them going forward.

 

[Big G]

The only QT you can truly trust is your own.

 

[Brien]

I'm not going to get into full quarantine procedures but here are a couple basics.

Don't add a new fish to a QT if you already have fish in it. By doing so you're going to stress out those fish and you're starting the QT procedure all over again.

When I start the QT process I wait until they start eating before treating. Unless something is evident then I start off with copper, usually within a day or two.

 

[omajehal]

The only QT you can truly trust is your own.

Totally understand that... I’m glad I took the advice and at least have a QT. At a minimum, it prevented anything from impacting my display tank. Only a few fish and shrimp in it, but I can imagine the nightmare of treating a full tank.

 

[FindingPonyo]

Hello!
I’m hoping I can get some advice on a fish I purchased at my LFS. I brought it home and put it into quarantine with a couple of other fish. I noticed after a day or so that it had a spot on its side, and someone said it looked like Flukes. I picked up Prazipro and dosed the QT tank Saturday afternoon. Today the fish seems to have gotten way worse. The LFS isn’t much help and don’t offer any kind of health guarantee. Is there anything I can do to save it? TIA

I’m really sorry to hear this! I’m not sure how late in the process this is, but I would recommend a freshwater dip. Put your fish into an appropriate temperature bowl with freshwater, and leave it in for one minute. Next day do it again for 2 minutes. And next day for 3 min. I wouldn’t go any farther than 4 minutes. Though I havnt used it, my friend says that he used APIs Super Ick Cure
Try those! Good luck!

 

[omajehal]

I’m really sorry to hear this! I’m not sure how late in the process this is, but I would recommend a freshwater dip. Put your fish into an appropriate temperature bowl with freshwater, and leave it in for one minute. Next day do it again for 2 minutes. And next day for 3 min. I wouldn’t go any farther than 4 minutes. Though I havnt used it, my friend says that he used APIs Super Ick Cure
Try those! Good luck!

Thank you for the advice. I wish my LFS had recommended that. I specifically asked if I should try a freshwater dip and was told no. They had me do Prazi and then Furan... lost two of the three fish I've bought from them now. Needless to say, I'm going to a different LFS in town now.