Please help my Parrot

[Michael]

Hi all, I have a Parrott Fish in my 180 gallon tank. I've had him for 2 years this September. When I got him he was the largest of a group of small Parrots and he was 50% larger than the rest so my guess is he is almost 3 years old.

He is in a 180 gallon unplanted tank with:
2 Tinfoil Barbs
9 Rosy Barbs
8 Congo Tetras
2 Australian Rainbows
7 Giant Danios
4 SAE's
a pair of Kribs
50 - 70 baby Kribs (3 months old)

The most recent addition was the 4 SAE's that I took from another tank. I've had them for 1 1/2 years and they out grew the 40 gallon tank they were in. I put them in 3 weeks ago and they are going great

The only fish purchase I have made was 5 Congo Tetras and that was 5 months ago. Other than that these fish have been together since September '03.

Of this group of fish, in the almost 2 years I have not had any deaths or illnesses, this is the first "problem" I have encountered with this tank.

The problem is that the Parrot seems to have a sinus infection.
His right nostril is white, inflamed and appears to be clogged.
This could be an injury, but I don't think so. He does hit the glass top when feeding trying to get the flakes to fall. NOTE: He is still eating.

Tank water is kept at 76 degrees. There is no ammonia or nitrites. I have one canister filter, an Ehiem 2250 used for bio only. I have a pre-filter on the intake and clean it once a week. I have three HOB filters. A AC500, Penguin 330 and a Emperor 400. I am waiting for the new Ehiem Pro 3 to be available to replace all the HOB's. I do two 25% water changes weekly, every Tuesday & Friday.

I have included pictures, hope they help. I included a tank shot so you can see his size.

Here you can see his nostril clogged & white around the nostril

Again showing the clog, also some redness in between the nostils

Bad pic but it shows swelling

Better pic showing all the signs

See the white in the nostril?

Tank shot

Hope someone can help.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Michael, sounds like you are doing most things right. I can recall no illness attributed to a "sinus infection" or nasal area infection like that.

The only thing I can advise is to keep an eye out for it, and see if it progresses or goes away. My first inkling is that it could be the start of a "tumor" or just unexpected growth on the fish, that is often times unexplained and attributed to a genetic mishap in the fish. If this is the case, there is usually nothing at all you can do about it, sadly.

Here is a link. Scroll down to the 'Viral Infections' section towards the bottom for pictures.

http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html

Just my opinion, maybe someone else will come along with a prescription for you. Welcome to AA 8)

 

[Toirtis]

Could well be a growth (could be bacterial in origin, but I suspect not)...it does not appear to be a fungal infection. Personally, I would wait and see for a few days/weeks.

 

[Michael]

He seems worse today. The white inside he nostril is now oozing out. He has lost some color, looks dull and when I fed him he took the food in then spit it out so now he is not eating.

 

[greenmaji]

Im thinking a salt dip might help.. anyone else able to back this up?

 

[Devilishturtles]

What would a salt bath do?

Michael, any change you can get another picutre? Nothing turning fuzzy or white anywhere else on the face or body, is there?

 

[Toirtis]

I would suggest quarantine, slightly elevated temps (about 5ºF), and a broad-spec antibiotic.

 

[Michael]

No other fuzzies or white anywhere else. I did start with Kanamycin. I will bring up the temp. unfortunately my q-tank is 10 gallons and he wont fit so I am treating the whole tank. Plus if it is an infection I want to protect the other fish if it is spread in the tank. I know that this is not ideal but I have no choice. The Kanamycin I have is 375 mg per tablet so I only need to put 7 tablets in each treatment.

My brother-in-law is a Vetinarian and he wants me to take an eye dropper and suck out the nostril, then with another eye dropper, administer the Kanamycin at 10 X normal dosage directly into the nostril. Every day for 5 days. I don't think I can do it. I'll give the Parrot a day or two on the regular treatment of Kanamycin and warmer water and see if he get's better, if no progress is made then I'll have to do the crazy treatment.

Thank you for you help, please, if you have any other suggestions don't hesitate to advise. I'll up-date.

 

[Michael]

I bought a 20 gallon Tall for a Q-tank today.

 

[Michael]

Up-date time,

When I first posted I was not sure at all what was happening to my Parrot. He is one of the friendliest fish I have seen. He is like a Betta.

I was panicking a bit cause I had no idea of what this was and what to do.

Also, he is very large and my q-tank is 10 gallons, that would be cruel, IMO, to put him in there.

I have only had success with Kanimyacin as far as antibiotics go, and I had some real strong tablets, 375mg each.

So, I dosed the tank with 7 tablets, 180 gallon tank.
That was Sunday morning.

On Monday my Parrot was much worse, no color and his face was so swollen that his mouth was pushed to one side, not eating. On Monday night I went and bought a 20 gallon tall for a q-tank for him.

Today, Tuesday I went to work, this is were the tank is, in my office. To my surprise his nostril was clear, swollen face was normal except for a little bump where the nostril is and he had full color!!! I fed him and he couldn't get enough food, hungry like normal. I did a 20% water change and dosed with Kanamycin
again. It seems to be working. My plan is, and please give opinions, is to do another water change on Thursday and dose with meds again. and repeat this every other day for three more treatments. That would be six treatments over all.

Any thoughts on this are welcome and encouraged, I am so happy that he seems to be beating this, oh yes, I also raised the temp to 80, from 74.5. I did originally post the temp at 76 buy I have 9 tanks and I was so distraught that I got the tank temps confused.

Thank you for the advise, it really did help.

 

[mr86mister]

i would continue to treat the water to make sure you have completely gotten rid of this problem

awesome, i'm happy he's doing better

 

[Toirtis]

Good to hear the treatment worked and he is recovering....that was a very interesting and unique case...thanks for posting it and your results.