Help, Possible Internal Bacterial Infection, Maybe Septicemia?

[Saedcantas]

Hiya everyone,

Over the last two days my ram has been gasping at the surface and has developed a slightly reddish patch on it's nose aswell as keeping the front end of it's dorsal fin clamped, it hasnt fed since Sunday night when I gave live daphnia. In the last hour or two it also appears to have gotten red streaks under it's skin along it's lateral line
She certainly looks lethargic, listless and sorry for herself, she is "wagging" rather than swimming but with no apparent problems with buoyancy. She also has occaisional moments of rapid movement but more like a bit of a wild fit than anything else

I have tested my water religiously pretty much every other day since I got the ram last Sunday (12th) I wanted to be certain that nothing went amiss. I have pH 6.0 and 0 Ammonia & Nitrites, with a reading of 0 Nitrates which is probably trace due to thriving plants and algae. There has been no change in the water over the last week end a half.

The other fish are all behaving totally normally with no problems, all feeding well, breathing and swimming normally.

I have stopped injecting CO2 for the plants and turned the airpump on continuously, I have also changed the angle of the filter outlet to cause more surface movement, this seems to have allowed her to move from the surface a little. I have a temperature of 28C and I decided that since there are no obvious physical problems leading to a cause that it would probably be some sort of internal bacterial infection I have begun treating with Octozin... Errr hopefully this was the right thing to do

I'm really pretty worried, I waited a long while to get this fish and picked the healthiest specimen from a tank that had been in stock for over 4 weeks already, I would hate to fail her even after all this

Any opinions or offers?

 

[tttnjfttt]

are the edges around the sore white? It is hard to tell from that pix. It also looks like there might be a little bit of columnaris (commonly called fungus) growning off of the wound.

If this is the case, it is definately bacterial. I am not from the UK, so i don't know much about Octozin, however i do know that the interpet meds are pretty popular.

 

[WILDER]

Sadly you are dealing with septicemia, blood poisoning, hard to cure if it has progressed, can you issolate the fish.

 

[WILDER]

If the septicemia has really progressed i doubt the internal bacteria by interpet will do much good, but you could give it try.

 

[Saedcantas]

Although I can certainly see what you mean in that picture TTTN, It doesnt appear that way in the other pics or when I look at her now? So I think it might just be a photographic relic really.

Octozin treats a wide range of flagellated protozoans, Septicemia in fish is usually caused by Aeromonas sp which are flagellated bacteria, hence why I chose that treatment, I would always favour the waterlife treatments over the interpet ones any day.

Unfortunately I cannot isolate the fish, although I have another container I do not have the necessary equipment to make it habitable and no means of aeration, so I feel that I would do much more harm than good by moving her in this case.

Oddly, Although her physical appearance is no different today, she is off the surface and swimming about chasing the flame tetras off and she even ate a short while ago, not getting my hopes up obviously... I'll continue with treatment as best as I can