Does he still have that "dusting" on him that you mentioned before?
No, i cant see any. In my opinion the skin looks clean. This "dusting" disappeared quickly after addition of metronidazole (or before kanaplex).
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Does he still have that "dusting" on him that you mentioned before?
The bump on the head... does it protrude outward? (It looks protruded to me from the pic.) Or does it look sunken, like something is eating away at his scales/skin?
Do you happen to have a microscope?

Hi Humblefish, good to have you on that one!
The bump is protruded outwards approx 3-5 mm, also the fish is bothered by it and tries to rub it off on the PVC tubes. Im having a fairly good microscope around...
What would you suggest?

Sounds like a growth of some kind or an abscess. Not something we normally encounter on here.
Do you think you could take a small culture of it and scope ID (post pics)? So, we can at least establish whether it's bacterial, viral (or something else) in nature.
What do you think regarding the breathing rate from the video?
I know, its totally guessing into the blue, but would you dose Kanaplex again?
Since the fish showed improvement with Kanaplex, I would dose that again in conjunction with Metroplex. But for 10-14 continuous days this time around. Treating for only 6 days might have knocked the infection back, but didn't allow enough time for the fish's natural immune system to eliminate it 100%.
The heavy breathing I can only assume is distress from the infection, assuming no parasites/worms are present inside the gills.
I was a bit frighthened also by the statements from SeaChem, that exposure with Kanamycin that exceeds 6 days can lead to kidney problems.

)And would you say that adding the Kanaplex to food is equally effective as dosing it in the water column?
Its a 200l QT, so i would need quite large amounts for dosing into water.
Unfortunately Focus is not available here, do you know any alternative that could be used to bind the medication to food?
And would you say that adding the Kanaplex to food is equally effective as dosing it in the water column?
Its a 200l QT, so i would need quite large amounts for dosing into water.
Unfortunately Focus is not available here, do you know any alternative that could be used to bind the medication to food?
Best,
Christoph
At a guess I would agree with abscess for the bump on the head. I agree with doing kanaplex again with metroplex for the full 10-14 days.
I don't know if anybody else mentioned it, but the hippo tang also seems to have the beginnings of HLLE. I'm not sure if the abscess is related to the HLLE at all or not.
Hi Christoph,
Humblefish is correct I did bind powdered medication with fish oil to pellet food and that works well if your fish is eating well and fast.
I tried the same as ngoodermuth, using gel type food but unfortunalty with the same results. after this experience I did try to feed my rabbit fish some gel type food, of course without meds, but not even this guy was willing to eat it and this guy usually eats everthing and a lot of it, I guess that speaks for the taste of this gel type food.
recently I spoke to a guy who is in his 60' now and was in the ornamental fish industry since his boyhood. They used and use medications over the counter, grind them with mortar and pestle, dissolve the fine powder in water (RO), soak fish food in this mixture and then, to make it tasty, coat it with liquid garlic. His preference is to use freeze dried brine shrimp as the brine shrimps are bone dry and do absorb the medicated water well. On the other hand this is mostly done for internal infections and external should be treated with medicated water.
I had a maroon clowfish with a mild fin rot which turned out to be a little nightmare and it took me 3 weeks to stop the fin rot. Which indicates and confirms that some bacteria are nasty and or the antibiotics are just working slow.
cheers
Soren
Also in my hands, kanaplex always turns the water turbid within ~10 hours after addition? Can you confirm that? I was getting my Kanaplex from a Vendor on Amazon, hopping its the original product.

