Firemouth: Prolonged Hole In The Head

[duanes]

I seldom use any medications, so I can't recommend any.
And I find unless I know whether a bacteria is gram neg, or gram pos makes a big difference in what to use so for treatment, so if a fish becomes seriously compromised, and I can't determine what species of bacteria, I simply euthanize it.
For me its all about prevention, which means what some may call "excessive" water changes, and long quarantine periods.
If I get a new fish, I quarantine for at minimum 4 months.
I have had fish came back that looked pretty bad when I first got them using only frequent large water changes.
I had a group of breidhori arrive, and the stress of shipping brought on lymphocistus, which is viral (no medication would be effective) it disappeared with only water changes.
Some things like injuries nd true scars, don't come back though, scars (just like on humans) may be permanent, some heavy HITH holes may belong in that category.
If fins are ripped all the way into the body, they don't repair.
In received the Paratilapia below, where the fin was damaged into the flesh, it never returned to normal.

 

[duanes]

I seldom use any medications, so I can't recommend any.
And I find unless I know whether a bacteria is gram neg, or gram pos makes a big difference in what to use so for treatment, so if a fish becomes seriously compromised, and I can't determine what species of bacteria, I simply euthanize it.
For me its all about prevention, which means what some may call "excessive" water changes, and long quarantine periods.
If I get a new fish, I quarantine for at minimum 4 months.
I have had fish came back that looked pretty bad when I first got them using only frequent large water changes.
I had a group of breidhori arrive, and the stress of shipping brought on lymphocistus, which is viral (no medication would be effective) it disappeared with only water changes.
Some things like injuries nd true scars, don't come back though, scars (just like on humans) may be permanent, some heavy HITH holes may belong in that category.
If fins are ripped all the way into the body, they don't repair.
In received the Paratilapia below, where the fin was damaged into the flesh, it never returned to normal.

 

[jeep07]

References

• (1) Camargo, Julio A., 2004, Nitrate Toxicity to aquatic animals: a Review with new data for freshwater invertebrates, Chemosphere 58 (2005) 1255-1267
• (2) Colt, J., Tchobanoglous, G., 1976. Evaluation of the short-term toxicity of nitrogenous compounds to channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus. Aquaculture 8, 209–221
• (3) Edwards. Thea M., 2006, Water Quality Influences Reproduction In Female Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrookie) from Eight Florida Springs, Environment Health Perspectives, Vol 114, Supplement 1
• (4) Hrubec, Terry C., Nitrate Toxicity: A Problem of Recirculating System, Aquatic Medicine Laboratiry, Virginia-Maryland Regional College Of Veterinary Medicine.
• (5) Kincheloe, J.W., Wedemeyer, G.A., Koch, D.L., 1979. Toler- ance of developing salmonid eggs and fry to nitrate exposure. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 23, 575–578
• (6) Scott, G., Crunkilton, R.L., 2000. Acute and chronic toxicity of nitrate to fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas), Cerio- daphnia dubia and Daphnia magna. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 19, 2918–2922
• (7) Shimura, Ryuji, 2004, Nitrate Toxicity on Visceral Organs of Medaka Fish, Oryzias latipes : Aiming to Raise Fish From Egg To Egg in Space, Biological Sciences in Space, Vol. 18 No1 (2004):7-12
• (8) DELLAMANO-OLIVEIRA, Maria José, SENNA, Pedro Américo Cabral and TANIGUCHI, Glória Massae. Limnological characteristics and seasonal changes in density and diversity of the phytoplanktonic community at the Caçó pond, Maranhão State, Brazil. Braz. arch. biol. technol. [online]. 2003, vol. 46, no. 4 [cited 2006-11-03], pp. 641-651.
• (9) Mayorga, Emilio, 2002, Processing of Bioactive Elements in the Amazon River System, The Ecohydrology of South American Rivers and Wetlands. IAHS Special Publication no. 6, 2002
• (10) Lewis, William M., 2006, Concentration and transport of dissolved and suspended substances in the Orinoco River, Biodegradation Volume 7, Number 3 / May, 1989, 0923-9820 (Print) 1572-9729 (Online)

Summary by hobbyist
http://oscarfish.com/water/79-is-nitrate-toxic-a-study-of-nitrate-toxicity.html

Thank you for the references!

 

[jeep07]

I seldom use any medications, so I can't recommend any.
And I find unless I know whether a bacteria is gram neg, or gram pos makes a big difference in what to use so for treatment, so if a fish becomes seriously compromised, and I can't determine what species of bacteria, I simply euthanize it.
For me its all about prevention, which means what some may call "excessive" water changes, and long quarantine periods.
If I get a new fish, I quarantine for at minimum 4 months.
I have had fish came back that looked pretty bad when I first got them using only frequent large water changes.
I had a group of breidhori arrive, and the stress of shipping brought on lymphocistus, which is viral (no medication would be effective) it disappeared with only water changes.
Some things like injuries nd true scars, don't come back though, scars (just like on humans) may be permanent, some heavy HITH holes may belong in that category.
If fins are ripped all the way into the body, they don't repair.
In received the Paratilapia below, where the fin was damaged into the flesh, it never returned to normal.

I do not have a microscope nor an aquatic vet so I cannot know for sure what is causing the necrotic tissue. I will he has gained new holes between his eyes and that hole has only got deeper. The fins on my fish are all fine. The affected areas are his head and both sides of his body. Once my test kit comes in, I will test the water. I understand the damage has been done, but I will be able to monitor the water much more closer now. I will post the test results as well. I am going to continue feeding and medicating a little by syringe.

 

[jeep07]

As I have said, here are the water parameters: 0 NH3, 0 NO2, 5-10 NO3, PH 7.4. He has returned to his usual behavior of being a bully and flaring his gills. He is not hiding nearly as much and is eating a very small amount I believe. I have been mixing NLF Hexshield ( crushing the food into pieces as small as I can get them), Boyd's Vitachem, and a little bit of Seachem Metroplex. Going to do a water change today and see if I can fit more Seachem Matrix in. I will say I wanted to try out Matrix regardless of those who reported lower NO3 levels and those who saw no difference. I can say, I definitely have seen a statistically significant (used SPSS stats program in stats class) drop in my NO3 and Matrix has been in for 3-4 weeks. I will be keeping an eye on the water parameters, continue feeding him by syringe, and am curious if NO3 will continue to drop as time progresses.

 

[duanes]

Keeping Up with Nitrate - Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine
one of the nitrate reference articles.
sorry if this redundant part of Rocksors lineup

 

[Rocksor]

As I have said, here are the water parameters: 0 NH3, 0 NO2, 5-10 NO3, PH 7.4. He has returned to his usual behavior of being a bully and flaring his gills. He is not hiding nearly as much and is eating a very small amount I believe. I have been mixing NLF Hexshield ( crushing the food into pieces as small as I can get them), Boyd's Vitachem, and a little bit of Seachem Metroplex. Going to do a water change today and see if I can fit more Seachem Matrix in. I will say I wanted to try out Matrix regardless of those who reported lower NO3 levels and those who saw no difference. I can say, I definitely have seen a statistically significant (used SPSS stats program in stats class) drop in my NO3 and Matrix has been in for 3-4 weeks. I will be keeping an eye on the water parameters, continue feeding him by syringe, and am curious if NO3 will continue to drop as time progresses.

What could be happening is that the matrix itself ends up with an anaerobic area over time, allowing for denitrification to happen, hence a reduction in the amount of nitrates produced. So if you rinse the matrix, you may see an uptick in nitrate.