Now What?

[This Old Spouse]

So I'm dosing my 29g with tetracycline because of mouth fungus on a couple of my cories. This is Day 4 of the treatment, and I'd planned on doing one more day and then adding the carbon to the filter, then switching filters with an established one with mature media.

Now I discover one of the trilis has tail fungus. I noticed a small spot yesterday, and now it's a big spot and a chunk of his tail is missing. Also a bronze cory has mouth fungus.

Shouldn't this stuff be going AWAY???

I've been dosing daily, and also doing at least a 50% water change daily and redosing with the new water. Before I started dosing my stats were 0 Amm, 0 Nitrite and about 20 ppm nitrate. It's pointless to test now because of the tetracycline.

Does ANYONE have any clue what might be happening? Should I pull out the worst cases and put them in a 10g hospital tank and do something different? Again? I honestly don't understand what's going on with these fish. I've been battling this !@#$% mouth and fin rot for weeks! I only have 3 of my original 14 trilis left, and the one with the tail rot is not looking good.

pleeeeeeeeease help!!

 

[Tolak]

Dose for 10 to 14 days. Antibiotics work the same for fish, humans, and other animals. I'm assuming your pH is below 7.5, tetracycline is less effective at higher pH levels.

 

[CrazyCichlaMomma]

i don't think i've ever used tetracycline in an aquarium. my standard treatments are salt + increasing the temp, melafix or pimafix and furan2 if nothing else works.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Salt is NOT good for cories, and upon recommendation I lowered the temp in this tank to inhibit the growth of the bacteria.

I'm still curious about whether I should be dosing for 30g every day, or just the water I remove and replace. And at this point, I'm considering removing the fish with the worst condition to a 10g to treat them for the additional 5 days. The last antibiotic treatment I gave fish worked after 5 days, but that was a liquid form from my vet.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I wish I could find answers in time! The trili with the tail infection was put into a 5g q tank, but sadly passed away today.

I'm seriously getting close to never buying another fish, just let these die off one by one and give it up. It's just too sad.

 

[thisguyek]

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I mean... you know a little bit of what i've been going through... I've been in that situation so many times now since i started keeping fish. I thought i would have thrown this hobby away dozens of times now... but for some reason i havent. Maybe youll have to take my approach. start completely fresh...

I know it sucks so bad not knowing whats going on in your tank... but dont give up!

Really hope you figure this out!

 

[KISSfn]

I wish I could find answers in time! The trili with the tail infection was put into a 5g q tank, but sadly passed away today.

I'm seriously getting close to never buying another fish, just let these die off one by one and give it up. It's just too sad.

So sorry for your losses. I have felt and thought the same as you. Just yesterday my wife commented "We made it a week without losing any fish!" But, I will continue to try to keep fish alive because I am the type of person who loves their pets too much. I'm hoping that the water parameter monitor just released in the UK by Seneye works as advertised and becomes available to the US soon. It could be the answer we're looking for. But, as of now, it's neither proven to work IMO, nor available to us if it did.

 

[colleen0309]

So sorry for your troubles. I wish I had answers for you. I would have done just what you have been doing. Don't give up! I lost a tank of 8 discus in one night. I still don't know what caused it. That was 20 years ago. I just decided to try again. It is so frustrating to lose your fish when you have done all you can to save them. Keep your spirits up and keep plugging along. I know it sounds a bit cliche, but that's all you can do sometimes. You said the treatment from your vet worked after 5 days? Can you get any more of that medication? It seems like that is the only one that had any success. Please don't give up. The fishie world can't afford to lose good, responsible, fish keepers.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Thanks so much for the kind words. It's just so hard to watch these sweet creatures suffer and die. It just tears my heart out. I'm sure I'll keep at it, but I honestly don't want to get any more fish for a while.

However, on a bright note, the tiger barbs I got a few weeks ago are just wonderful! After the last disaster when I lost everything in my 55g including my beloved barbs, I was hesitant to get more, but I'm really glad I did! And I still have two trilis left. I'm pretty sure I'll get some more to bring the numbers back up, but not until I'm positive there's no more infection in the tank

And Colleen, I'm sure I could get some more of that medication but it was horribly expensive. Each dose was in a separate hypodermic needle!

 

[colleen0309]

I've been following your thread on your sick cories. I had the same thing happen a few years ago so I was curious if you would be able to save them. I was hoping you'd have better luck than I did. I lost all of them. Again, so sorry! As for the expensive meds, what was it? I can't remember what it was, but maybe we could find something with the same active ingredients, or close to it, since nothing else seems to help, it couldn't hurt.

 

[This Old Spouse]

The med is Baytril, 100mg/ml per 10g tank. I think it cost me $18 for the 5-day round. I'm down to the last 2 trilis from the original 14. It's weird because they were all in the same tank with my green, longfin pepper and peppered cories, and they don't seem to be affected. All the cories in the 28g tank seemed to have suffered some stress and loss of barbels, but the trilis were the ones that came down with cotton mouth.

 

[colleen0309]

The active ingredient in Baytril is enrofloxacin. It's comparable to ciprofloxacin. I'm not sure if this helps any. I did a quick search and found it at Drs. Foster and Smith. All they have is tablets. I haven't been able to find the injectable anywhere. They also have it in a liquid form as dog ear drops.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Thanks, Colleen! I don't think you'd be able to get the injectable anywhere over the counter. The tablets would probably do it, right? I'm going to check into it now, and if it looks good I'll order me up some! Never hurts to be prepared ...

 

[colleen0309]

The ear drops may be a better option. from what I have read, it is originally in a crystal form, but is not very water soluable. Good Luck!!!

 

[colleen0309]

If Foster and Smith needs a script for it, maybe your vet can give you one. My vet is pretty good about things like that, but I've known her since she was in vet school.