Flesh eating disease?

[IceH2O]

One of my dwarf gouramis had something on his lip. Looked closer and it looks as if his top lip is being eaten away. I have lost 2 Gourami in the past 2 months, but they had ulcers near the tail fin. I tried treating for bacteria and parasites using GelTek. I'm now using Jungle Parasite Clear, as the waste is a stringy white and the bellies look a little full, no coning though.

I check my paramters weekly and do 50% pwcs weekly.

am 0 ni 0 na 20 pH 6.8 temp 80 ( before pwc this morning )

I've never seen this before. What is it and what can I do? I can't find anything that resembles this except maybe hexamita?

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Have you tried melafix and pimafix? Maybe some hefty antibiotics too.

 

[Zagz]

Is the sore white and fuzzy at all? It could be a fungal infection if there is any fuzzy whiteness on it. Any chance of a pic?

 

[IceH2O]

I've heard pimafix and melafix aren't goos with labryth fish. Besides thats just a wound fix, I need to stop whats causing the wounds.

As for antibiotics.

I know they can destroy a biofilter. Having a heavily planted tank would this compensate for any bacterial loss? I know plants take in ammonia and nitrates, would I just need to watch for a nitrite spike?

Seems like when I overdosed Excel and killed my bacteria I had a small ammonia spike, about .25, but my nitrites shot up to 1. I didn't have near the plants I do now.

But back to the point, I can find a med, I need to know what I'm treating though.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sounds like you are treating either columnaris or a fungal infection. Answering Zagz' question will help. Columnaris needs to be treated with an antibiotic as soon as possible. Maracyn-Two or Tetracycline should work. A fungus can be treated with Jungles Fungus Clear.

 

[IceH2O]

I'll try when I feed them, for the most part he hangs in the wisteria in the corner of the tank.

Looking around I found this

http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Common-Freshwater-Fish-Diseases/13/

Open sores on Gouramis or other anabantids. Bacterial Infection (Furunculosis) Aeromonas salmonicida bacteria.

Flesh eaten away around mouth. Mouth Rot Saprolegnia fungus with Pseudomonas or Aeromonas bacteria.

Flesh decays at the mouth or tail. Rot, Fungus Saprolegnia fungus with Pseudomonas or Aeromonas bacteria.

I'm going to start researching these, if anyone has any opinions on what med covers these I'd appreciate it.

 

[frenchpea2002]

Pseudomonas and Aeromonas are both gram negative bacteria and maracyn is actually erythromycin, which predominantly treats gram positive bacteria, however it has been shown to work on both, and the description actually lists Columnaris as something it treats. Maracyn II is a gram negative antibiotic, so you could try both at the same time and get the effect of a broad spectrum antibiotic, and the label says that it does not effect the biological filter if used as directed.

if you are sure it's Furunculosis, the treatment of choice seems to be florfenicol, which is a broad spectrum antibiotic: " Florfenicol is a broad spectrum antibiotic which is active against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria isolated from domestic animals. Florfenicol is both a bacteriostatic and a bactericidal antibiotic. Its activity is due to the inhibition of protein synthesis and results from the binding of bacterial ribosomes in such a way as to prevent ongoing translation of mRNA into protein. In vitro studies have shown florfenicol to have a broad spectrum of activity which includes aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, which are either Gram-positive or Gram-negative"

I think you may need to actually get a vet to give you a prescription for that, but a brand name is Aquaflor.

 

[IceH2O]

Well I went out to see what the local stores had and came home with Jungle Fungus Eliminator.

It covers columnaris,furunculosis,costiasis,dropsy,mouth rot and a few other things.

It contains

sodium chloride ( salt, which most sites i read did reccomend some salt )
nitrofurazone
furazolidone
potassium dichromate

 

[Devilishturtles]

If the fungus eliminator doesn't work, I'd grab Maracyn-Two asap. Sometimes you need antibiotics to kick it. The fungus eliminator looks like it has a small amount of antibacterial meds in it...

Good luck.