HELP fish sick

[fergo]

Help

Woke up this morning and my lion fish is not looking good, he has cloudy eye's, heavey breathing, not moving much, mouth open all the time, and some white mucus stuff around gills and along sides of him (not alot of it).

I did a big water change immediatly and gave him a fresh water bath.

Any ideas guys.

[leebca]

It seems from your description that both eyes are cloudy. This is not a good sign. A single cloudy eye is usually nothing to get worried about, but two is problematic. Two cloudy eyes is usually a sign of a serious disease or of a bacterial infection. It's not possible to tell which is which from the description. However, the symptom of mucous implies there is an irritation to the fish it is trying to ward off. The water change was a good idea; the FW dip probably wasn't a good choice until it is shown what the problem is.

Tell us more about the fish. Any other symptoms you see? What have you been feeding this fish? How big is this fish? How long have you had this fish? How old is the aquarium? What is the size of the aquarium?

Tell us your water parameters (pH, temp, salinity) and chemistries (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, etc.)

[fergo]

Ok ill do my best

There are no other visable symptoms i can see, the mucus is very little about the size of 3 or 4 pin heads.

The eyes are cloudy but not that bad either they are just a bit whiter then normal.

I have been feeding this fish live mullet babies that i catch in the mangroves. (this is probably where it has come from, i realise that). i have fed him on these as long as i have had him.

I have had this fish for 6 months and the tank has been set up for 7 months its 103 Gallons. He is approxamatly 12 cms

the water paramaters are all good with the exception of phosphate which is high and i have just added a buffer to counter it recently. Salt was a little low but in acceptable range, amonia, nitrate, nitrite were very low. PH is 8.2.

temp is about 30 C which is a bit warm.

not sure about the other water paramters you asked about.

[leebca]

As you pointed out, the mullet may be the source of an unusual bacteria or parasite.

Not knowing what if any parasite is involved, I would at least treat the fish immediately for a bacterial infection. The fish would be moved to a hospital tank and treated with antibiotic. I don't know what fish antibiotics are available to you.

The mullet should not be a routine diet, but maybe you can find other saltwater fishes to add variety, as well as some crustaceans. To be conservative, you setup up quarantine tanks for the wild-caught prey fish and hold them there to be sure they are healthy before feeding them.

Every other prey fish should be injected with a small amount of vitamins just before feeding to the Lionfish.

. . .amonia, nitrate, nitrite were very low

is not comforting. The measurements for ammonia and nitrites should be zero.

[fergo]

i noticed last night that both my copper banded butterfly and the lion fish both have some fin deteriation. not sure if its fin rott or something else. i have isolated them and will get something as soon as possible to treat them.

as for the bad communication with the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, they are zero i was just not sure at that moment as it had been 12 hours since i last tested but when i tested last night they were all still zero.

are their any ideas how i can tell what the fin deteriation is from? they appear jaggered on the fins. I have not seen them rubbing but my room mate said he has seen them a bit? but the lion fish has only sort of got this in the last 6 hours and he is not moving alot so i dont think he could be rubbing?

Any ideas guys im trying desperately to save them

[leebca]

The added observation of fin deterioration indicates a greater chance of this being a bacterial infection.

Treatment with an antibiotic is the way forward. If you were in the USA I would recommend using either Spectrogram or Maracyn Two for Saltwater Fishes. Each of these contain antibiotics that penetrate into the skin of the fish and kill bacteria that are on the fish, in the fish, or both.

The active antibiotic in Spectrogram is Nitrofurazone. This antibiotic is also found in the product Furacyn found here in the USA. Maracyn Two for Saltwater Fish contains the antibiotic Minocycline.

If you have access to the product Furan-2, it has in it Nitrofurazone in addition to other drugs that help kill bacteria.

No matter what you choose to treat the fish, you need to determine where the bacteria are coming from, why the fish can't heal themselves from these bacteria, and how to cut down the bacteria population. Things like poor water quality (not all the time, just now and then), introducing foreign salt water into the aquarium, organics (detritus) decay, poor fish nutrition, etc. can all contribute to a fish becoming susceptible to a bacterial attack.

[fergo]

ok thanks for the tips, i have obtained some stuff and we will see hoe it goes.

I will keep you all posted, it recommends a 5 day treatment.

cross your fingers for me guys.

[leebca]

Our thoughts and hopes are with you and your fishes.

BTW, for any fish still eating, please help them fight off this infection by supplementing their food with immune boosters, as described here: Fish Immune Boosters

Good luck!

[fergo]

thank you for your kind thoughts,

But alas, the two fish my lion fish (and pride and joy) and the copperbanded butterfly died this morning.

So think i will take a break to get the tank back to good health and start again.

thanks for your tips hopefully i dont need them again, but they were useful.

[wozza]

sorry for your loss.
they are some real nice fish!