Lesions/Ulcers on Oscar

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Kivstev said:
Very interesting. Nice job! Maybe that is what it will take. I don't give up easily and I'm down to give it a shot. Kill the bug or kill the fish. lol Yeah it may come to that.

I forgot to mention I gave the fish 3 30 minute baths in potassium permanganate solution the past 5 days as well.

So as of now my plan is:

1)Finish out the neomycin and oxy treatment
2)Give the fish 48 hours of clean water
3)Treat with the Chloramphenical for ? days
4)Give the fish time in unmedicated water
5)Depending on the Chloramphenocol results, would potentially treat the fish for ~30 days with Kanamycin or possibly Kana/Nitro combo again. Though an antibiotic that would last longer in the water would be much easier - so may not go with Kanamycin. Minocycline didn't seem to be effective with this, but is tough to tell as the ulcers heal slowly.
6) Get some Baytril/Enrofloxacin and inject the fish with that.
7) Find another hobby. :)
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haha that's a great plan! hopefully you don't make it to 6 and definitely not 7! The bad part with medication is determining what you are even dealing with half the time...it seems with fish most bacterial infections lead to the same symptoms...then secondary infections set in leading you on yet another chase for a cure. keep at it, eventually somethings going to give in to the meds lol.
 
predatorkeeper87 said:
haha that's a great plan! hopefully you don't make it to 6 and definitely not 7! The bad part with medication is determining what you are even dealing with half the time...it seems with fish most bacterial infections lead to the same symptoms...then secondary infections set in leading you on yet another chase for a cure. keep at it, eventually somethings going to give in to the meds lol.
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Yes, and hopefully not the fish! I'll update any results here. It may be a year long thread...

Any info on Chloramphenicol dosing that anyone has is appreciated. Seems the drug can do some damage to the fish if treated too long or too high a dose.
 
Treat for five days rest 2 and treat another 5 days. You can asses the progress along the way.
 
Just wanted to post an update on this. I've concluded all treatment and Water Pig has been in a 55G by herself since May 20th. I used Nitrofurazone and Chloramphenicol concurrently for 10 days as the final treatment. The ulcers seem to have healed, but they have returned before so I can't be completely sure of any success at this point.

The areas where the ulcers were are a still a little 'puffy' as the image shows. She is eating well and is acting normally. Time will tell if treatment was successful or not. Keeping the water very clean and have dosed 1 TBS salt per 10G. Thanks to all that helped with this.

mB8Q1YT.jpg
 
I am not an expert but considering you've tried most antibacterial meds under the sun why not consider some anti parasitic/ani protozoa meds?

Ulcers can be a primary bacterial infection as suggested earlier like aeromonas but can also be secondary infection to an ongoing parasitic infection. Maybe all you've been doing is treating the complications but not the initial cause. If you have a microscope, even better. Get a swab from the wound itself.

I am thinking some protozoa rather than worms as protozoan infections can be systematic and asymptomatic for most of the time.
 
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Coryloach said:
I am not an expert but considering you've tried most antibacterial meds under the sun why not consider some anti parasitic/ani protozoa meds?

Ulcers can be a primary bacterial infection as suggested earlier like aeromonas but can also be secondary infection to an ongoing parasitic infection. Maybe all you've been doing is treating the complications but not the initial cause. If you have a microscope, even better. Get a swab from the wound itself.

I am thinking some protozoa rather than worms as protozoan infections can be systematic and asymptomatic for most of the time.
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Good point. I should probably invest and learn how to use a microscope I suppose.

I have treated the fish with prazi and metro in the water, as well as fed metro laced pellets for 5 days a couple months ago while in the hospital tank. I have also treated the fish with Seachem Paraguard for 5 days while in the hospital tank a few months back in March. The current tank she is in has been free of parasites, so any further issue should not be related to a parasitic issue unless I'm missing something?

It is possible that in the past the fish was reinfected with some protozoa/parasite when returned to the display tank which once again brought on these symptoms. I have since treated the display tank with a double dose of prazi in two treatments 6 days apart.

I have also stopped feeding the fish nightcrawlers as I'm not 100% positive that these worms do not carry some type of pathogen and want to remove that possibility.
 
The fact that it's the only fish suffering from it and that it has not killed the fish, slow progressing, etc...And occurs no matter in which tank the fish is....leads me to think some sort of parasite/protozoa.

Prazi is no good against stuff like that. It's only good against flat worms. Metro, if it's hex but it doesn't seem to have the typical hex symptoms and sometimes a persistent infection is not easily treated anyway, even if treated.
Paraguard, I can't remember. It's been years since I used it and I remember about 3 weeks treatment with it when I did but it didn't help. I treated for hexamita that time when I didn't know it was hex.

Kivstev said:
The current tank she is in has been free of parasites
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How do you know that? I don't think any tank is free of parasites.
But yes, reinfection is possible. Cichlids are prone to this sort of stuff as far as I know.

Also, you seem to have been taking good care of the fish, water changes and all. Bacterial infections unless one of the few highly contagious types introduced with new fish, are a problem of systematic bad water quality and bad care or secondary to parasitic infections. I am thinking in your case it's the latter.
 
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Can you get where you are from Kusuri Wormer plus? It can be ordered from the UK.
It's a flUbendazole based antiparasitic treatment. It's very broad spectrum(for internal and external parasites), a one off treatment or a second dose if a persistent infection. It's pretty safe with any fish but kills snails and possibly shrimp.
I'd try that. Also, look into the diet as well.
 
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