Hey guys wanted to put this in the poly forum instead of general health...
Long story short - went a little overkill with the growout del, plus side he grew like a weed (like a full 1.5-2" in a matter of a couple weeks), downside - I believe a pellet may have caused a temporary internal blockage that caused an infection. One day I noticed he was starting to get a bit swollen with red streaks. Timeline:
Immediately went to water changes and epsom salts, fish did defecate - I had general cure on hand and read on the sticky metronidazole can help, so I ran a course of that and bumped the temp. In the meantime I ordered Maracyn 2. No notable improvement from the GC, in fact the fish started going went backwards with clamped fins the last morning of the course. Deep Redness persisted around the gills and butt.
Changed the water, started giving daily epsom salt dips and realized I had some kanaplex on hand - ran a course of that and the fish's energy seemed to return - but the swelling/pinecone effect was holding strong. Despite seeing some improvement the Maracyn came in the mail and seemed like the stronger medication so I hit a water change and started the course.
Today was day 6 of the Maracyn 2, I continued epsom salt dips throughout - The fish is in dramatically better shape and no longer has the "swollen" look - the redness is drastically reduced but there is still some bloody scales near the left gillplate and there is still a SLIGHT pinecone effect despite the fact that the fish's profile is back to normal. I changed out for clean water and I'm looking for advice on where to go from here.
Would you run a second course of Maracyn2 starting tomorrow - or would you keep the water clean and observe for a couple of days to see if the remainder of the infection clears up from the first course? The fish is acting normal, I did just feed for the first time in this process. Just a small silverside head, I didn't want to go with pellets just yet I figured the natural frozen food may be better on the fishes system. He went right for it without hesitation which is a good sign.
Thanks in advance... I can probably count on one hand the number of non-dither freshwater fish I've lost in over a decade in the hobby and this is my first experience with an internal infection so trying to do things as correctly as possible.
Long story short - went a little overkill with the growout del, plus side he grew like a weed (like a full 1.5-2" in a matter of a couple weeks), downside - I believe a pellet may have caused a temporary internal blockage that caused an infection. One day I noticed he was starting to get a bit swollen with red streaks. Timeline:
Immediately went to water changes and epsom salts, fish did defecate - I had general cure on hand and read on the sticky metronidazole can help, so I ran a course of that and bumped the temp. In the meantime I ordered Maracyn 2. No notable improvement from the GC, in fact the fish started going went backwards with clamped fins the last morning of the course. Deep Redness persisted around the gills and butt.
Changed the water, started giving daily epsom salt dips and realized I had some kanaplex on hand - ran a course of that and the fish's energy seemed to return - but the swelling/pinecone effect was holding strong. Despite seeing some improvement the Maracyn came in the mail and seemed like the stronger medication so I hit a water change and started the course.
Today was day 6 of the Maracyn 2, I continued epsom salt dips throughout - The fish is in dramatically better shape and no longer has the "swollen" look - the redness is drastically reduced but there is still some bloody scales near the left gillplate and there is still a SLIGHT pinecone effect despite the fact that the fish's profile is back to normal. I changed out for clean water and I'm looking for advice on where to go from here.
Would you run a second course of Maracyn2 starting tomorrow - or would you keep the water clean and observe for a couple of days to see if the remainder of the infection clears up from the first course? The fish is acting normal, I did just feed for the first time in this process. Just a small silverside head, I didn't want to go with pellets just yet I figured the natural frozen food may be better on the fishes system. He went right for it without hesitation which is a good sign.
Thanks in advance... I can probably count on one hand the number of non-dither freshwater fish I've lost in over a decade in the hobby and this is my first experience with an internal infection so trying to do things as correctly as possible.
