Unknown Disease - Pupils Eaten?

[jefra]

My CBB is clearly quite ill, but I have no idea what's wrong with him. His fins are tattered, but much more concerning is that one pupil appears to have been eaten from the inside.

I've had him for about a year and he eats frozen clams/mussels like a pig and the tank has plenty of pods for all day grazing. Pics of each side attached below. Please help.

I follow a 30 day quarantine procedure that starts with metronidazole, kanamycin, and praziquantel followed by a second dose aftr 5 days. Then slowly ramp up CopperPower and for a total of 30 days which is dosed according to manufacturer instructions and levels confirmed with a Hanna colorimeter.

Water Chemistry
SG: 1.026
Temp: 80°F
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20 ppm
Phosphate: 0.1 ppm
Alkalinity: 8 KH
Calcium: 400 ppm
Magnesium: 1300 ppm

 

[Cell]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Oh wow, yes that is a problem.

Just to rule this out - there aren't any tankmates that could have attacked it, right?

I know you ran a prazi treatment, but that fish shows every sign of having severe Neobenedenia flukes. The eggs from this are not affected by praziquantel, so it is pretty difficult to cure that way. What about giving the fish a 5 minute FW dip to screen for Neo? The risk is, in a severe fluke infection, the dip knocks off all of the flukes and the poor fish bleed out from all of the tiny holes left behind.

Finally, this *could* be a primary bacterial infection, but I don't think so.

Jay

 

[jefra]

Oh wow, yes that is a problem.

Just to rule this out - there aren't any tankmates that could have attacked it, right?

I know you ran a prazi treatment, but that fish shows every sign of having severe Neobenedenia flukes. The eggs from this are not affected by praziquantel, so it is pretty difficult to cure that way. What about giving the fish a 5 minute FW dip to screen for Neo? The risk is, in a severe fluke infection, the dip knocks off all of the flukes and the poor fish bleed out from all of the tiny holes left behind.

Finally, this *could* be a primary bacterial infection, but I don't think so.

Jay

No, there's beenn no aggression.

I did a 10 minute freshwater dip which is when I took those pictures and no flukes appeared to fall off.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

No, there's beenn no aggression.

I did a 10 minute freshwater dip which is when I took those pictures and no flukes appeared to fall off.

The fish handled a 10 minute dip ok? I’ve never gone longer than 7, so I’ve never tried that myself.

Really, the only other thing I can think of is a primary bacterial infection...but there really isn’t anything else that matches up.

Jay

 

[jefra]

He passed sometime in the night. I knew from the looks of him a recovery was unlikely but still wanted to try. Thanks @Jay Hemdal for your help.