Kurt_Nelson
Aquarium Advice Addict
Sorry... no picture - it just won't show up.
I'm stocking a new setup and have my 2nd fish in my QT tank now - a Royal Gramma. It has what appears to be maybe 6-12 little tiny tiny "bugs" on its "forehead"... the area on top of it's head between it's eyes. I can actually see them moving around. Hard to tell what color the "bugs" are with the purple color of the Gramma, but they're not white. It's not ich - I've seen that before. Any ideas? There's a bunch of background below that might make more sense of it. For a "low maintenance" fish, this Royal Gramma has been anything but...
After having the fish a week in the QT, I noticed an eye bulging, a lesion/spot/ulcer on the tail, and some white stringy stuff on the side of the fish near the bulging eye. The fish hadn't stopped eating, but seemed to be not as hungry as before. Water parameters were 0 ammonia/0 nitrite/less than 10 nitrate. Temp about 76-77, SG 1.024, pH 8.4. I assumed bacterial infection and treated with Maracyn and Maracyn-2 for 5 days as directed on the box.
After the 5 day antibiotic treatment, I did a 30% water change (10g QT) and added new activated carbon. Next day I did another 30% water change. The fish's eye is looking normal and the spot on the tail is gone. There is somewhat of a discoloration near where the tail joins the body, but I'm assuming that's just something that needs to heal up from the original infection and just needs time. (Maybe I'm wrong?)
So just when it seems like the fish is on the road to recovery, I forget to replug in the heater after that last 30% water change. I find the tank the next day at 68 degrees instead of it's normal 76 degrees. I plug back in the heater and after about 6 hours the tank is back to normal temp.
That's where I'm at now - fish seems like it's rid of the bacterial infection. It's eating well again, like before it was sick. But I noticed it was twitching somewhat (more than normal as these fish seem pretty jerky/twitchy to start with) and occasionally flashing against the PVC pipe or even the heater. Upon having a stare down with it tonight while I was observing it I noticed the little critters crawling around on it's forehead. I also noticed a bunch of little white things swimming around in the QT and on the glass. Suppose they're pods of some sort that must've hitchiked in on the fish, but found it odd that I hadn't noticed them before tonight when I noticed the bugs on the Gramma.
Water parameters right now are a trace of ammonia (less than 0.25ppm), 0 nitrites, and about 10ppm nitrates. Guessing the little burp of ammonia was from the antibiotics messing with the good bacteria, or the fish putting out more waste than normal, but either way I'm watching it like a hawk. PWC in store for Tuesday night for sure. I'm thinking the bacterial filtration wasn't nuked by the drugs since I am getting some nitrates in there. (Supposedly Maracyn/Maracyn-2 doesn't effect the nitrate conversion process?)
Anyway... sorry for the long thesis but I figured the more background I give, maybe it'd trigger an idea from someone.
I was about to do a freshwater dip tonight, but was afraid it'd push an already iffy immune system over the edge.
Any thoughts?
I'm stocking a new setup and have my 2nd fish in my QT tank now - a Royal Gramma. It has what appears to be maybe 6-12 little tiny tiny "bugs" on its "forehead"... the area on top of it's head between it's eyes. I can actually see them moving around. Hard to tell what color the "bugs" are with the purple color of the Gramma, but they're not white. It's not ich - I've seen that before. Any ideas? There's a bunch of background below that might make more sense of it. For a "low maintenance" fish, this Royal Gramma has been anything but...
After having the fish a week in the QT, I noticed an eye bulging, a lesion/spot/ulcer on the tail, and some white stringy stuff on the side of the fish near the bulging eye. The fish hadn't stopped eating, but seemed to be not as hungry as before. Water parameters were 0 ammonia/0 nitrite/less than 10 nitrate. Temp about 76-77, SG 1.024, pH 8.4. I assumed bacterial infection and treated with Maracyn and Maracyn-2 for 5 days as directed on the box.
After the 5 day antibiotic treatment, I did a 30% water change (10g QT) and added new activated carbon. Next day I did another 30% water change. The fish's eye is looking normal and the spot on the tail is gone. There is somewhat of a discoloration near where the tail joins the body, but I'm assuming that's just something that needs to heal up from the original infection and just needs time. (Maybe I'm wrong?)
So just when it seems like the fish is on the road to recovery, I forget to replug in the heater after that last 30% water change. I find the tank the next day at 68 degrees instead of it's normal 76 degrees. I plug back in the heater and after about 6 hours the tank is back to normal temp.
That's where I'm at now - fish seems like it's rid of the bacterial infection. It's eating well again, like before it was sick. But I noticed it was twitching somewhat (more than normal as these fish seem pretty jerky/twitchy to start with) and occasionally flashing against the PVC pipe or even the heater. Upon having a stare down with it tonight while I was observing it I noticed the little critters crawling around on it's forehead. I also noticed a bunch of little white things swimming around in the QT and on the glass. Suppose they're pods of some sort that must've hitchiked in on the fish, but found it odd that I hadn't noticed them before tonight when I noticed the bugs on the Gramma.
Water parameters right now are a trace of ammonia (less than 0.25ppm), 0 nitrites, and about 10ppm nitrates. Guessing the little burp of ammonia was from the antibiotics messing with the good bacteria, or the fish putting out more waste than normal, but either way I'm watching it like a hawk. PWC in store for Tuesday night for sure. I'm thinking the bacterial filtration wasn't nuked by the drugs since I am getting some nitrates in there. (Supposedly Maracyn/Maracyn-2 doesn't effect the nitrate conversion process?)
Anyway... sorry for the long thesis but I figured the more background I give, maybe it'd trigger an idea from someone.
I was about to do a freshwater dip tonight, but was afraid it'd push an already iffy immune system over the edge.
Any thoughts?
