400 gallon project

[untamed]

Very sad news, I'm afraid.

Freckles (vlamingi tang) is not doing well. About 3 days ago, I first noticed a white-grey-ish area on his lower right side. At the time, he seemed to be his usual hungry self.

However, over the next two days the area spread in all directions and now covers a significant part of his lower right. A 2nd lesion has now appeared on the upper right, now a third on his upper left. In each case, the lesion seems to have a starting point spreading outward from there. The smaller lesions have a distinct fan shape as a result.

By Day 3, the largest affected area is now showing three very reddish areas along his bend lines. Since this characteristic developed later, I don't think that any physical injury is to blame..athough it looks like he has been scratched by some three-toed beast.


He is now hiding most of the time. When he is tempted out with food, he seems prone to sudden outbursts of very violent and dangerous swimming.

Most concerning is the fact that this looks VERY similar to whatever killed my gold-rim tang nearly 2 years ago. That was a horrible, decaying death which I don't want to see on the scale of Freckles!

He is still eating, so I've been able to get a good bit of Seachem Kanamycin into him.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/sc...+-+5+Gram.html

I have no idea if this is a proper medication for this particular problem. As I read the instructions for differing medications, none really seem to recommend feeding the medication directly to the fish. As of now, there is still no chance of removing Freckles from the tank for external treatment.

I have some Maracyn as well....but the instructions don't say to feed to the fish.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/md...16+Packet.html The ingredients say it is Erythromycin, so that could be effective internally...but I have no idea what might be a safe or unsafe dose.

Any suggestions?

[MitchM]

Any chance of getting him into a quarantine tank with UV while you treat with antibiotics?
Are the 3 slash marks a result of scratching the affected area, or is the white patch a result of something spreading from them? Is he rubbing against objects?
Not nice to see.

[untamed]

No... No rubbing. I get the impression that any touch is painful and that is causing the panic swimming. The white patch is first...as it got larger, the red lines appeared.

It is very unlikely that I could get him out of the tank at this point.

[MitchM]

Each antibiotic has a spectrum of bacteria which are susceptible to it, and under-dosing may result in the creation of a bacterial population resistant to the antibiotic that you were using.
I guess if it was my tank I would try to section the tank off using some egg crate and try to catch him. Remove him so the infection and treatment doesn't affect the other aquarium inhabitants.

[MitchM]

Erythromycin dosage is recommended at 250 - 500 mg per 20 gallons every 24 hours with a 25% water change before each treatment. Treat for 10 days.

[untamed]

Originally Posted by MitchM

Erythromycin dosage is recommended at 250 - 500 mg per 20 gallons every 24 hours with a 25% water change before each treatment. Treat for 10 days.

What if I fed it to him? Wouldn't it be more effective than trying to dose the whole tank?

[MitchM]

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.

[untamed]

Originally Posted by untamed

What if I fed it to him? Wouldn't it be more effective than trying to dose the whole tank?

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.