Cause for concern????

[DB junkie]

Is this considered lateral line erosion? Is there anything I can do aside from keep water as clean as possible?

"Lucy" came from a 120. She's in a 750 now. Seems happy for the most part, but these marks don't seem to be getting any better.

I can't help but wonder what's going on with these white crater looking marks. She has a few on the other side too, but this is the worst one.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance!!!

 

[Aquanero]

What were the previous conditions like. How long has she been in the 750? Can you psot water parameters Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, Ph, hardness? Do you have a hospital tank to treat her if if necessary?

 

[DB junkie]

Previous conditions were a 120 and some canister filters. I did test conductivity before I took her home. Was up around 900 microsiemens. Could have been better.

She's been here a couple months now I think. I could probably come up with a hospital tank, but have no idea what/if I would treat for?

She's now in water that's around 380 microsiemens, 7.8 PH. Is the filter working tests are good - 0,0, less then 10. There's also 220 watts of UV on the current tank. 150 gallons of RO going in daily.

 

[Aquanero]

Yes 900 ms is getting up there. 750 gallons is a lot of water to treat $$$. You could use Meth Blue and apply it directly to the afected area and place the fish back into the main tank. With the way your system is set up once the topical treatment is applied I would just keep it in clean water and see how it reacts to this treatment. It should start to heal.

 

[DB junkie]

Yes 900 ms is getting up there. 750 gallons is a lot of water to treat $$$. You could use Meth Blue and apply it directly to the afected area and place the fish back into the main tank. With the way your system is set up once the topical treatment is applied I would just keep it in clean water and see how it reacts to this treatment. It should start to heal.

Tom, thank you for the advice......

Can you elaborate on exactly what I'm treating? I could move to a hospital tank and run a course of Meth blue if this is something that isn't going to heal on it's own. 750 is just the display tank. The system is probably closer to 1.3K gallons, but there's a 180 tied to this system that has it's own filters. I can just cut the pump to that tank, move her into there and treat. I also have a Dat from the same home. Should I be treating that fish as well? Is this something that could spread to the rest of the system?

 

[Aquanero]

Head & Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE) affects saltwater fish however in fresh water Hex is the usual cause (HITH). In a hospital tank treat with meth blue at half strength with Metro or API General cure. The water may also be salted at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water. You should also soak some food in the meds (metro or GC) and feed to the fish directly. You don't necessarly need the MB if you use metro or API GC but the fins look a little beat up and it wouln't hurt to use it. If you are going to use a hospital you also do not need to treat with MB topically but again you could with no ill effect if you choose to. You should aslo treat the Dat too if it came from the same place.

 

[DB junkie]

Pretty random that a guy might just have a KG of Metro sitting in the cupboard......lol

Any recommendations on how often and how long to carry out treatment?

The fins have been like that for a while now, at first I thought it might just be from scrapping with tank mates, but usually that stuff heals pretty fast, this doesn't really seem to be. I even moved a few of the fish I thought might be harassing her (Dorado and CK) and no change in the healing. There's an Aimara in the same tank and it's flawless compared to "Lucy".

Could this be cause for a few of the other fish to be "flashing" or trying to itch their sides on the sand?

 

[Aquanero]

I didn't think you had that much metro laying around, you said you could move them into the 180 and treat so I gave an option for that. How is that random? If you are going to use the Metro or GC I would treat for 5 days following the instructions on the package. If you are going to use the topical treatment do it once and see how it responds in three days. I realize treating fish in large systems is expensive. Yes the fish could be flashing from the same thing. Have you checked for any possibile stray currents in the tank? Hope this helps.

 

[DB junkie]

Random as in how many people keep KGs of meds on hand at all times..... lol.

It does help, thank you very much Tom.

I don't test for stray voltage. It's such a controversial subject that it's hard to trust one side or the other. Do you do more damage then good by adding a ground probe? I don't understand the whole concept. Just cause the voltage is there doesn't mean it's actually traveling or flowing does it? Wouldn't you need to measure amperage or voltage drop?

 

[Aquanero]

I would check Amperage. Sometimes a bad heater can cause stray current and while it odesn't directly affect the fish it can stress or irratate the fish. Over time low levels of stress can waeken the immune system. I only mention this as somthing to check, you never know. In this case I would suspect Hex from the previous tank and treat accordingly. Metro or GC should handel this for you.