liam2317
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2014
- Messages
- 4
First off, thanks in advance for any advice you can offer, I am so happy to have found this forum. It looks like such a great community!
1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
Here's the problem, I've got a Betta fish named Raffi who isn't doing too well. He has an skin ulcer (open wound) on his face that just wont go away. Please see the end of this post after my answers to these questions for the details!
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: ~ <5ppm
Temp: 25.5C (78F) - Heated
PH: 6.6 - A PH of 7.2+ is recommended for [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin treatment but I think that tr[/FONT]ying to change the PH that much would likely cause more harm than good.
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
5 Gallons, it's been setup for about a year
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
No filter, tons of live plants though.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
Just the one betta and a few pond snails.
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
Approx 50% water change weekly.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
3+ years
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
No.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
Hikari Betta Bio-Gold Pellets - Some live mosquito larva in the summers .
Photos:
Click images for full size - they are very large
October:
This week - odd photo but it's just the front of his head sticking out of a cup he likes to rest in:
Details - Treatment so far:
First we waited about 2 weeks to see if the ulcer would just go away, it was quite small but then it got noticeably larger so we treated with 10 days of 1tsp/gal aquarium salt. At the end of 10 days the wound was just about entirely gone, just looked like a small hole, not white at all. A week later it was back and as large as it ever was. So we did some research and tried treating it with the antibiotic Kanaplex. I did the recommended dosage (I believe it was 3 treatments 2 days apart each) and he seemed to be doing better. The growth of the wound stopped and for a week or two it looked like it was actually getting a bit better/smaller in diameter. Raffi seemed more energetic too.
However in the last few days it seems to have switched and is now getting worse again. Raffi seems to be hiding a lot more than normal too and having some swim bladder issues with floating.
Today I bought some of the antibiotic [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin hoping that it would be the solution, my reasoning being that the Kanaplex treats namely gram negative bacteria and since it did not solve the problem it is best to try a broad spectrum gram positive antibiotic like [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin which on the package states it treats "Open red sores".
The problem & Questions:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin is known to kill or damage the biological filter and since we have no real filter I'm quite worried about using it in his home aquarium, I would much rather do it in a hospital tank. The issue is that the instructions on the [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin are to do a 25% water change every second day during treatment. In an uncycled hospital tank I am not sure that 25% every 2 days is going to be enough to keep ammonia and nitrates/ites down. Might it be better to do it in a hospital tank with a very large water volume to dilute any ammonia/nitrites? I do have an empty 20gal tank....
I am also wondering if it would be a good idea to try the Kanaplex again at the same time as the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin (this article says that is okay to do)? My understanding though, is that once you have used an antibiotic if it did not treat the problem the first time it will likely just be less effective the second time. That being said it seems like a one two punch of both gram positive and gram negative antibiotic could be a really good thing.
And lastly I'd like to try the aquarium salt again now as it's been at least a month since we did it originally. Would it be better to the the aquarium salt while doing the antibiotics or do the antibiotics and then immediately do the salt?
Thanks so much for any help you can provide!
[/FONT][/FONT]
1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
Here's the problem, I've got a Betta fish named Raffi who isn't doing too well. He has an skin ulcer (open wound) on his face that just wont go away. Please see the end of this post after my answers to these questions for the details!
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: ~ <5ppm
Temp: 25.5C (78F) - Heated
PH: 6.6 - A PH of 7.2+ is recommended for [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin treatment but I think that tr[/FONT]ying to change the PH that much would likely cause more harm than good.
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
5 Gallons, it's been setup for about a year
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
No filter, tons of live plants though.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
Just the one betta and a few pond snails.
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
Approx 50% water change weekly.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
3+ years
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
No.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
Hikari Betta Bio-Gold Pellets - Some live mosquito larva in the summers .
Photos:
Click images for full size - they are very large
October:
This week - odd photo but it's just the front of his head sticking out of a cup he likes to rest in:
Details - Treatment so far:
First we waited about 2 weeks to see if the ulcer would just go away, it was quite small but then it got noticeably larger so we treated with 10 days of 1tsp/gal aquarium salt. At the end of 10 days the wound was just about entirely gone, just looked like a small hole, not white at all. A week later it was back and as large as it ever was. So we did some research and tried treating it with the antibiotic Kanaplex. I did the recommended dosage (I believe it was 3 treatments 2 days apart each) and he seemed to be doing better. The growth of the wound stopped and for a week or two it looked like it was actually getting a bit better/smaller in diameter. Raffi seemed more energetic too.
However in the last few days it seems to have switched and is now getting worse again. Raffi seems to be hiding a lot more than normal too and having some swim bladder issues with floating.
Today I bought some of the antibiotic [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin hoping that it would be the solution, my reasoning being that the Kanaplex treats namely gram negative bacteria and since it did not solve the problem it is best to try a broad spectrum gram positive antibiotic like [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin which on the package states it treats "Open red sores".
The problem & Questions:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin is known to kill or damage the biological filter and since we have no real filter I'm quite worried about using it in his home aquarium, I would much rather do it in a hospital tank. The issue is that the instructions on the [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin are to do a 25% water change every second day during treatment. In an uncycled hospital tank I am not sure that 25% every 2 days is going to be enough to keep ammonia and nitrates/ites down. Might it be better to do it in a hospital tank with a very large water volume to dilute any ammonia/nitrites? I do have an empty 20gal tank....
I am also wondering if it would be a good idea to try the Kanaplex again at the same time as the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Erythromycin (this article says that is okay to do)? My understanding though, is that once you have used an antibiotic if it did not treat the problem the first time it will likely just be less effective the second time. That being said it seems like a one two punch of both gram positive and gram negative antibiotic could be a really good thing.
And lastly I'd like to try the aquarium salt again now as it's been at least a month since we did it originally. Would it be better to the the aquarium salt while doing the antibiotics or do the antibiotics and then immediately do the salt?
Thanks so much for any help you can provide!
[/FONT][/FONT]