I Have A Horrible Situation On My Hands, Help!

[missPenguin]

One of my panda corys has been ill for the last week or so with what I can only presume is an internal bacterial infection. My water stats have been spot on throughout this, ammonia nil, nitrite nil and nitrate 5 to 10 ppm.

I have been treating with myxazin by water life, for 5 days then yesterday I did a water change and put a fluval 1 plus with a carbon filter in to filter out the meds so I could re-start the treatment today, which I have done, adding melafix as well as I noticed the fish now has part of it's tail missing.

He's not getting any better, in fact he's getting worse. He 's now lying on his side quite a bit and then will zip round the tank in a very erratic manner. I remember seeing this behaviour in goldfish back when I kept them when I was a lot younger and it always resulted in death within a day or so.

Is there anything else I can do for him?

I really don't think there is, but I want to try every last thing I can. I think as hard as it is to say, he's a gonner. I know the best way is to euthanise is with clove oil but unfortunately I don't have any and I'm unlikely to be able to get any until tomorrow. I do have cloves though, would soaking him in a solution of these do the evil job ?


Could some of the more experienced members advise ?

 

[missPenguin]

No need the fish is now dead.

 

[steelhealr]

So Sorry....my only recommendations are that...in the future, if the fish seems to be progressing despite antibiotic therapy, it might be more dignified to euthanize it. I think you did your best to try and help it. Again, sorry. SH

 

[missPenguin]

So Sorry....my only recommendations are that...in the future, if the fish seems to be progressing despite antibiotic therapy, it might be more dignified to euthanize it. I think you did your best to try and help it. Again, sorry. SH

Thanks,

I was actually going to euthanise it, just wasn't sure the best way because I didn't have any clove oil.

The other 2 in there are not looking good either. I fear for them. What ever it is, it's fairly swift. Could I used the clove solution?

What do I do then? The tank is my quarentine tank [thank goodness I quarentined the fish first before adding them to my main tank] but how do I go about making it safe for my next batch of fish?

 

[steelhealr]

Great thing that you are using a quarantine tank. Keep your ill fish there and if the results are negative, I would disinfect the tank afterwards. You can use a 1 in 10 dilution of Chlorox. You can rinse well afterward, even add some dechlorinator to help remove any residual. Always quarantine new additions for a minimum of 2 weeks..even longer if possible before adding them to your main tank.

There are two active large threads on euthanizing. I don't like oil of cloves for the reasons in those two threads and personally, I prefer rapid deep cold immersion. Review those two threads. As for the present fish, you could try a tetracycline based drug if you feel the myxaxin is not working. SH

 

[missPenguin]

Thanks, I'll have a browse of those threads. Hopefully it won't come to that, the first loss is so horrible and it's made worse by the fact that there seems to be no apparent reason for loosing the fish. The tank was fully cycled when then they were added and apart from 1 day, when I had a very slight ammonia spike [no greater than 0.25ppm, possibly even less as it was barely o.25 on the api test card] I did an immeadiate 50% waterchange which seemed to resolve the problem and the fish were seemingly unaffected. The stats have been totally bang on ever since.

I'd changed the water frequently, kept the gravel clean and done everything right I thought. I'd had the fish just 2 weeks [incidently, I was planning on quarenting them for a month, I believe in being extra- cautious!]

I guess it's just one of those things I supose. I so hope I didn't do anything wrong.

 

[steelhealr]

Ammonia is toxic at any dose and fish, even within the same school, can react differently. SH

 

[WILDER]

Once bacterial infection have progressed sad to say there is no cure in the uk, as we do not have excess to stronger antibiotics, like tetracycline, only we can get these meds from a doctor or a vet.
Plus if a fish is not in good health ammonia will soon kill it as it is toxic to the fish as it burns it skin.

 

[missPenguin]

Once bacterial infection have progressed sad to say there is no cure in the uk, as we do not have excess to stronger antibiotics, like tetracycline, only we can get these meds from a doctor or a vet.
Plus if a fish is not in good health ammonia will soon kill it as it is toxic to the fish as it burns it skin.

It was only that one day as well, every other day the stats were at 0 for ammonia and nitrite. I had been so careful too.

Problem with getting tetracycline, like Wilder says is getting it from a vet. My vet is more of a country vet and I'm not sure he'd prescribe antibiotics for a fish but if he did, I know he would need to charge a fortune as he'd be shipping them in from elsewhere. [Cost me an fortune to get my cat my sorted out when she was ill]. He's the only one in the area too

On the plus side, the other guys seem fine this morning. They were playing games with the air bubbles from the pump last night so maybe they'll make it. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks everyine for the advice, I do appreciate it.

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.

 

[WILDER]

Or you could contact the maker of the med and ask them if you can double dose, as sometimes they recommend it.

 

[dthoffsett]

I know this probably doesn't help, but if you look in the cory section, you'll see numerous posts about pandas dying for no apparent reason. No one has really come up with an acceptable answer, it seems that some pandas just die, and some don't. Good luck with your others, and I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[missPenguin]

Thanks!

The other to pandas seem quite cheerful at the moment thankfully. I fed them earlier and they went nuts for their pellets. Snuffling away quite happily amoungst the gravel. I'm taking this as a good sign so hopefully I'll keep both of them.