Pits On Fish's Body

[Angelphish]

Though I recently regained interest, over the past year I somewhat lost interest in the hobby and didn't keep up with maintenance like I should have, and during that time my Vieja Guttulatus got sick and started developing pits all over his body. Seeing him in that state is what made me realize that I needed to be taking better care of my fish, so since then, I've been doing 50-60% water changes 1-2 times a week, but after about 3 weeks, I'm still not seeing any improvements. I've also been running salt in the tank for about a week with no improvements. The Vieja has been behaving normally the entire time he's been like this. He hasn't been acting sick at all.

Does anyone have any idea what this is or how to treat it?

 

[pops]

looks like nasty HITH.

 

[Angelphish]

looks like nasty HITH.

I thought that at first too, but the fish is still very active and eating well, and it goes all the way to his tail.

 

[pops]

Fish well act fine as it rots until septicemia sets in. It looks pretty advanced and happened over time. have tried any meds and kept the water pristine?

 

[Angelphish]

Fish well act fine as it rots until septicemia sets in. It looks pretty advanced and happened over time. have tried any meds and kept the water pristine?

I forgot to add that. Nitrates have been around 20 ppm over the past month, I dosed metroplex for about a week, and I'm currently going on a week with salt.

Should I continue dosing metroplex?

 

[pops]

ok, so 20 ppm over the past month, what about before then? keep in mind crystal clear water is not good water. folks kill allot of fish because they think water is crystal and good when in fact it is poisoning the fish. Metroplex does not hurt your bio filter as used as directed. but I would not use long term, getting your Nitrates down to below 10 and holding them there as best coarse of action. Involves how ever many water changes it takes for your tank.

 

[Angelphish]

ok, so 20 ppm over the past month, what about before then? keep in mind crystal clear water is not good water. folks kill allot of fish because they think water is crystal and good when in fact it is poisoning the fish. Metroplex does not hurt your bio filter as used as directed. but I would not use long term, getting your Nitrates down to below 10 and holding them there as best coarse of action. Involves how ever many water changes it takes for your tank.

I never checked the nitrates before hand, but I'd guess that they were at least 60-80.

I'll try to do 60% water changes every 2-3 days for the next few weeks to keep the nitrates low.

 

[pops]

ya thats pretty high. do the tests and keep the nitrates down low. If was me I would do a fin level or 90% water change ever water change , see no reason and is no reason not to every water change, will not hurt the fish and you have pristine water. Using the test kit you will find what your water schedule needs to be. This will not heal fast, and I am sorry but this a bad case and may not, but as it developed over time it will heal over time. your looking at 1 to 3 months. afterwords will need to be kept at low nitrates level as well as will be apt to get it again if you fall down on the job.

 

[adamsfishes]

That looks awful. I'd be tempted to euthanize if it was my fish.

 

[Angelphish]

That looks awful. I'd be tempted to euthanize if it was my fish.

The only reason I haven't done that is because he hasn't been acting sick. If I knew he would die from it I probably would put him down.