Fish fin problem or disease

[NicoleC]

I'm not having any luck getting someone who can recommend a course of treatment for my male YWG. Any ideas on what this might be, or how to treat it? I managed to catch and relocate the female with a homemade trap, but the male is having none of it and I will be pulling the rock out of the tank tonight to catch him (Not looking forward to that!)

About the time my YWG pair laid their first nest, my male lost part of his fin. I chalked it up to mating aggression at the time, but it never grew back. Recently, he lost another portion of his fin, and this time I got a good picture. The pink dots were new when I took this pic several days ago -- I haven't seen them before and haven't gotten a good enough look since to see if they are still there.

Without a better idea of what it might be, I guess I can treat with antibiotics first (Maracyn 2, since I have it already) and then proceed from there, but I don't want to overmedicate and I don't want to use copper.

http://home.socal.rr.com/reef/ywg/badfin.jpg
(I swear he posed for this pic to get help -- he's normally very camera shy!)

[Anthony Calfo]

cheers, my friend

Hmm.. its tough to say from this pic alone, but I do believe I can see evidence well enough in the image to fear an infection (red hems).

If the fish were mine, I would remove it to a bare-bottomed QT tank and dose with a nitrofurazone-furazolidone cocktail (like the old Jungle brand "Fungus Eliminator" for example). Really though... any of the "furan" based meds are good here.

If you dont have a QT tank or if you dont want to dose the whole QT tank, you can catch the fish and give it a short medicated bath:

380 mg of Nitrofurazone per gallon of dip water for a 30 minute bath, as I recall. Do consult a good fish disease book to be safe though if not following a manufacturers recommended dose (Seek Nogas work for updated advice... Untergasser's Handbook of Fsh Diseases for dated but still very effective advice).

consider draining (and refilling) the tank with a fast water pump to quickly catch and move this/any fish.

kindly,

Anthony

[NicoleC]

Thanks, will do. It was a tough battle, but he and his mate are safely in their new breeding tank now, so medicating is no longer a problem. I plan to treat her as well, since they live in such close quarters, just in case it's contagious -- and besides, I don't know if an externded separation would break them up.

I have had this fish for a year, with no new un-QT'd additions, so I am not sure why he has become sick. The female used to kick the snot out of him (bloody streaks on the face, etc.), so maybe that's it.

[Anthony Calfo]

ahhh, good to hear. Very conservative and appropriate in this case IMO to seperate and medicate. Bacterial infections can be quite serious... you do want to nip it in the bud if so.

As to the cause, some pathogens like Vibrio simply flare up with something as mild as a water temperature increase. Indeed not a matter of an introduced pathogen, but instead something that is always/usually there in the fauna and flares under the right conditions.

The furan based drugs are still some of the very best broad-sprectrum meds to use/choose. They are an excellent first choice and effective against a majority of common ailments. Not too harsh on biological filters (compared to, say... the old/ancient erythromyacin).

best of luck!

Anthony

[NicoleC]

Update: I found a product called Furan-2 by Aquarium Pharm. 60 mg Nitrofurazone, 25 mg Furazolidone and 2 mg Methylene Blue Trihydrate per 10g capsule. (2 capsules for me, of course.) Of course, the tank now looks like I've got one of those funky green 80's fish tank bulbs over it :)

The instructions state 4 daily doses -- should I double it (to 8 days, not the drug amount) as seems often recommended? He has had this for quite some time; at least the missing fin portion.

[Anthony Calfo]

it is a judgement call here for you... but I must say that I often double the dose/duration of anti-biotics. It is a very common and successful habit with marine keepers using drugs matrketed for freshwater aquarists largely.

Anthony :)

[NicoleC]

Okay, thanks! :)