A few unknowns:
Is the bacteria was coming from inside the fish? The medication won't be very effective if the bacteria originated from outside.
What will the liver do to the erythromycin as it passes through?
I have no idea what the dosage would be for taking it internally.
HAving said that, it could be worth a try.
What size tablets do you have? Maybe we could figure out a concentration from the recommended tank treatment.

Hmmm... It seems that Maracyn doesn't taste very good. Option to feed it to him probably won't work. I have the powdered packets.

I did come across this chart from Frank Greco
However, it states that both antibiotics that you have are ineffective when taken internally.

It show a dosage of 20 mg/kg of erythromycin and a similar dose for kanamycin.

Thanks. Interesting.

So... Assuming I could get him to quarantine... What would you treat with?

Hi Brad

Are any other fish showing any sighns?

I have some Proto Marin left from when I was fighting Ich and Velvet if you want to try it.

Tom R

As most marine bacterial infections are gram negative, I would go with Kanamycin.

No, all other fish seem fine. This is similar to my gold rim tang. It died horribly, while no other fish showed any sign whatsoever.

I'll keep treating with kanamycin...and try to get him out for treatment.

Oh that's a tough picture to look... freckles is the bomb afterall. I know nothing about fish treatments but you certainly have my sympathy man.

Not sure if you can find this locally, but maybe try looking this up?
http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Disease-D.../dp/081382558X

My GF works at a veterinary clinic, and she says that if anyone knows of a fish vet, Parkgate Animal Hospital would be the people to ask.
http://www.parkgate.ca/

She says maybe try asking the ichtyologists at SFU/UBC, or an aquaculture specialist, who may have experience with aquatic diseases.

Hope Freckles will be ok!

Freckles has been successfully captured!! I've placed him in my water change sump...medicated it...and we'll see.

Good luck!
I hope it works out.

Good to hear. Hopefully Freckles is on the mend.

Very odd, glad you were able to catch freckles here's hoping the med.'s work.

glad to hear you're able to treat freckles. i hope he is ok

Here's hoping it'll work. Pulling for you

Bad news gets worse
 

Today, my Xmas wrasse died. No symptoms..just dead.

However, my smaller Naso literatus now has a lesion that is identical to that on Freckles. So, whatever I'm dealing with has now spread to another fish...and I have one death that could be related.

Sigh... Others have gone through stuff like this, but in 20 years it has never happened to me...

:sad:

Oh Crap! Sorry to hear this Brad. I know it hasn't been long but has Freckles shown any signs of improving since treatment? Any idea yet what the lesions are?

Hi Brad....I have been trying to keep up on your thread. Could the lesions be from an attack from something in your tank? I see you say your Christmas wrasse died....(sorry).......no marks on the fish at all? Have a close look at everything....snails and other things in your tank.....does everything look ok?

Brad

Hi Brad

Your fish problems sound very simaler to what I went through last November.

Hopefully you will get to the bottom of it very quickly.

Tom R

It has only been 24 hrs in iso treatment. It is difficult to see for sure if he is improving or not...but he seems no worse than yesterday. He won't eat.

No, it is not a wound or injury. The wrasse didn't look too good in general when I found him, so I could not see any obvious cause of death. He didn't have any visible marks 24 hrs earlier. Everything else seems fine.

I don't know what to say or suggest other than I really hope for the best here.. Good luck.

Wow!! Awesome read on the build buddy!! All the ups and downs and and craziness! I laughed, i cried, it was an emotional rollercoaster!!
Alrighty, back to sick fishes. This is only my second post on here btw! Hi all im new around here and soon i will post pucs of my craziness!!
Brad are you giving your fishes vitamins? Ie garlic and vit b? I know there is a good product you can feed from zeovit. Its like cold fx butt for our fishies. I think there is something about tangs and copper that dont quite mix butt i would have to double check and the last i heard you have to fw dip for like 10 or so minutes to cure. They also say its harder on the owner then the fish when you do it!! Are you running uv on your system? It might be something to look into quickly before things start falling apart fast. Good luck with your fish, you have a few of my fav's and cant wait to share pictures with everyone!!

I don't add vitamins or anything to my feeding. I'll consider starting that.

I have a UV sterilizer, but it isn't tied into my system at the moment. I may FW dip Freckles this weekend.

So far, Freckles seems unchanged... But it is hard to say because I can't see him as well in the hospital tank. Meanwhile, my small Naso seems to have beaten it, because his lesion has almost disappeared. He did not receive any treatment and has remained in the main display. No other fish affected (so far).

Is Freckles still doing the panicked swimming action?

He is not able to swim much at all in his current situation. That sump is only 1/4 the area of his usual home!

Freckles makes a comeback?
 

Freckles was in the medicated sump for 5 days. In the sump, it was difficult to see if the affected areas of his skin where improving or not. I could reach into the sump and roll him onto his sides in order to see how things looked, but it wasn't easy and he didn't like the handling much. (I learned that the dorsal and ventral spines of Naso tangs are REALLY sharp!)

Today, he seemed interested in food for the first time in a week. So I decided to move him back into the main display tank. A few hours later, he ate pretty well during regular feeding time. (He's still not quite himself though...not as assertive with the food as he was previously)

One week ago photo...
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/101_0899.jpg

Here's how he looks now. Although this looks like some sort of injury, I assure you that it is not. I'm assuming that these marks will go away now with some more time and that he has beaten whatever that was.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/101_0901.jpg

So...the question is... Did I save him by medicating him in the sump? Or did he just naturally fight off whatever that was just as snaller Naso did in the main display? I suppose I don't really care, I'm just happy that he seems to have made it.

Good to hear. Hope the upward trend continues..

I think he looks better.
Without being able to identify if it even was a bacteria that was affecting him, you'll never know, but if it was, he had to be isolated in order for the antibiotic to work given the size of your tank.
I thought the antibiotic treatment was required for 10 days?

Good to see.

glad he is doing better :biggrin:

Great to hear he is doing better!

J

I'm glad he's better.
What did you treat him with Brad?

:thumb::thumb::thumb:

The instructions said "every other day, max 3 doses"...and the other said "every day for 5 days". Both said to run full treatment even if symptoms improved.

My opinion is that it was a fungal infection...but, of course, that is a guess.

Seachem Kanaplex
Seachem Para Guard
Mardel maracyn

So great to hear this Brad!!! :mrgreen:

Awesome news! Best of luck with the big guy.

Update on Freckles...
 

Steady recovery. As you can see, the damage has almost completely healed. His normal, voracious, appetite has also returned and he has resumed his position at the top of the pecking order. (Lance pushed him around for a few days there)

This photo isn't quite good enough to see...but he is also just starting to get his tail spines. I didn't think that vlamingi's ever got tail spines, but it seems that they start to come through around the age of 3.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/44833a72.png

:cheer2: Good to hear he's doing well :biggrin: