Hole In The Head

[drfdisk]

I have a powder blue that I have just move to a larger tank with a community of other fish. He has been hiding behind some deco and rarely comes out and refused to eat. Due to his behavior when I brought him home I thought he was stressed from the move. After finally getting a good look at him when he finally came out I noticed small pin holes on the left side of his head.

After 10 minutes of Google I diagnosed the parasites and have found Fish-zole to be the cure. Has anyone else had success treating these parasite? I have 2 other dwarfs in the tank with him that dont seem to be affected yet. I know I need to treat the whole tank but should I pull all 3 Gouramis and quarantine them together for treatment? The pet stores are closed and I cant get meds untill tomorrow.

HELP!! These are my favorite fish in the tank!

 

[Tolak]

This is what I do for angels, you may want to look into the maximum temp your fish can handle. Metro was originally designed for humans, the closer you can get the tank to 98.6F the better.

Put the angel in a quar tank, I usually use a 10 gallon. Increase the temp over a day or so to 90-94F. Treat daily with 40 mg/gallon metronidazole, with 50% water changes daily. If the fish isn't eating, don't feed for the first 3 days. After 3 days, get some frozen brine shrimp. Take a portion about the size of a few match heads, and sprinkle on some metro. You have to eyeball this one, make the shrimp look kind of like a tiny powdered donut. Once it thaws, mix it in & feed. Sometimes they still don't eat for a few days, but once they start to mouth the food & spit it out, the meds seem to get in their system real good. Continue medicating the water & food for 7-10 days.

Metronidazole is sold as flagyl, het-a-mit, and a few other names I can't recall offhand, used to treat hexamita & hole in the head. They usually suggest 20mg/gallon, this often isn't enough. Metro deteriorates in 8 hours, so you could do twice daily water changes. I've done this on the weekends when I have time.

I've also added epsom salt while using metro, this helps with any constipation issues, cleans out the digestive tract. I start with 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water, increasing by 1 teaspoon daily for 2 more days to bring it up to 3 teaspoons per gallon. You will have to adjust how much you use when doing water changes. You may want to give this a try.

HTH, & good luck!

 

[drfdisk]

Thank you very much!

I will run down to the LFS when I get a chance and pick up some meds and salt. I just hope that he will recover from it, I will keep you posted.