Bacterial Infection during Hyposalinity!!!! Oh NO!!!!!!

[mess7777]

I am currently treating my fish in hyposalinity for ich. I had ammonia control problems at the beginning and nearly lost a yellow tang. I am now 3 weeks into the treatment and these problems are behind me.

However, this same fish developed a black spot a little over a week ago. It has since growth exponentially and now looks absolutely brutal(pic to follow). The water has become cloudy so I am currently doing 50% daily water changes which are helping to slowly clear it up. I understand that this cloudiness could be a bacterial outbreak of some kind which may or may not be due to my sponge filter going through a first nitrogen cycle(it was not cycled in advance).

I have the impression that this infection started from the inside and worked its way out. It appears to be eating the tissue of the fish. However, that could just be an impression of the spreading.

Question now, how the heck do I treat this in hyposalinity? Is this fish too far gone and I should put it out of its misery. It barely eats, although outside of that swimming appears fairly normal and it is not gasping for air.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

[leebca]

It has progressed significantly. A proper diagnosis is essential for a fast treatment. Do you have access to a vet college, university with a microbiology and/or vet section? You want a professional diagnosis to help this guy the fastest. With an accurate identification of the pathogen, the correct and optimal medication can be chosen.

Anything I would suggest would be like taking a shotgun approach with a limited ability to help the fish. But if you want to go that route, then you want to treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic that will work in hyposalinity.

The problem with treating a fish while in a hypo treatment is that the effects of the medication can be between a bit off to drastically different than anticipated. I know that Furan-2 should work in hyposalinity from having used it once myself -- that was ONCE and without a go-ahead from the manufacturer. That is however, the kind of medication I would use as fast as you can, if you're not going to get the pathogen identified.

Under the current circumstances, the fish may not make it and I would have a euthanasia plan ready. Euthanasia -- Putting a Marine Down

[mess7777]

unfortunately, i do not have these types of resources at my disposal. I am going to use paraguard broad spectrum, if it causes too much stress I will have to cut my loss and hope the others don't catch it as well. I will give the poor fella a couple of days to show signs of improvement, if not it will have to be put down. Bummer.

It has progressed significantly. A proper diagnosis is essential for a fast treatment. Do you have access to a vet college, university with a microbiology and/or vet section? You want a professional diagnosis to help this guy the fastest. With an accurate identification of the pathogen, the correct and optimal medication can be chosen.

Anything I would suggest would be like taking a shotgun approach with a limited ability to help the fish. But if you want to go that route, then you want to treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic that will work in hyposalinity.

The problem with treating a fish while in a hypo treatment is that the effects of the medication can be between a bit off to drastically different than anticipated. I know that Furan-2 should work in hyposalinity from having used it once myself -- that was ONCE and without a go-ahead from the manufacturer. That is however, the kind of medication I would use as fast as you can, if you're not going to get the pathogen identified.

Under the current circumstances, the fish may not make it and I would have a euthanasia plan ready. Euthanasia -- Putting a Marine Down

[mess7777]

Unfortunately, by yesterday it was too far gone and there was no improvement. I had some clove oil and put the poor thing to sleep and finally out of its misery. Sad for the loss, but there was no way around it.