Sick Green Terror. Need help and advice

[sharkbite5]

Hey guys I'm having an issue with my GT. At first he looked like he had bumped his head because he had a small hole in the center between his eyes, but as he developed small white blisters I realized that it must be hole in the head disease. Yesterday he also developed popeye. I'm doing my second parasite guard treatment today and I've added salt and melafix to the tank. I've also increased the temp and been doing frequent water changes. The eye is still clear. I just need advice because he is my favorite fish.

here are pictures

Before:

photobucket isn't letting me upload so ill post updates later when it's working.


He also appeared to be bleeding from the blister which was like a weird red white oozing.


one last question that might be stupid. Can I catch anything from the tank? I have a cut or two on my hands and I also use my mouth to prime my hose in water changes. I feel really stupid about doing that.

It's been a tough few days. All 8 of my 4"-6" filament barbs and a random left over tiger barb that were perfectly healthy died overnight with the addition of melafix and I'm not sure my GT will make it. Although it's been 7 years times like these make me want to give up the hobby.

 

[Aquanero]

No need to give up the hobby everyone goes through this stuff at some point during keeping fish. Unless it's fish TB or some other viral infection that can be transmitted to humans chances of you catching somthing is very slim so don't worry too much about it.

If you post your water perameters, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, Ph and temp it would be very helpful. As far as Pimafix and Melafix I'm not a big fan of either, but they smell good. Why do you think the fish has Popeye? Can you post a head on picture?

 

[sharkbite5]

Thanks for the encouragement! The ammonia is/was 0 and since I've been doing daily 30% changes I doubt it's gone up. I also have a fourth of the previous stock and a Rena xp-3 and aquaclear 70 on the tank. Ph is 7.2. temp is normally 78, but I raised it to 82-84. I agree that the melafix does smell good. I haven't measured nitrates or nitrites in awhile. The tank has been running for 5 years and I do two weekly 25% water changes so I've been a bit ignorant of their levels since I've had no illnesses in this tank.

sorry about the lack of pics before, photobucket wasn't letting me upload

As an aside he has been oozing pus out of his "nose" holes 20 minutes after this next treatment. Hopefully that's a good sign.

thank you so much

 

[sharkbite5]

He's laying with his belly on the bottom of the tank now and there is a hitch in his "breathing" every once in a while

 

[Aquanero]

If it's not too late there is a way to treat this. If you have a hospital tank fill it with 50% tank water and 50% clean water. Place a seeded HOB or sponge filter & heater in the tank. Treat the tank (as per instructions on the package) with Erythromycin or Maracyn (which is Erythromycin) not Maracyn 2. In a seperate 5 gallon bucket of tank water add 1 teaspoon of Methylene blue and one tablespoon of aquarium salt. Place the fish in the bucket for 30 mins. Then place in the tank treated with the Erythromycin. If you can't get the Meth blue just treat with the Erythromycin although the Meth blue bath would be very benificial. Both of these products are hard on nitrifying bacteria so when you do a water change the addition of some Seachem stability (or similar produce) will prevent ammonia build up. I am suggesting to treat this as a primarly gram positive infection. If while at the LFS you see Kanamycin get it too. If this doesn't respond to the Erytromycin the Kana can either be added in conjunction with or we can switch to this. We can cross this bridge if we come to it. The Erythromycin and Meth blue sould get this if it's not too far advanced. Keep me posted and if you have any questions regarding treatment ask.

 

[sharkbite5]

Thank you so much! I followed your advice to the t minus the methyl blue which I couldn't find. I'll keep you updated. I really appreciate the help.

 

[sharkbite5]

Update. He's doing well. Wounds are almost completely healed. His eye is also 1/3 the size it was and he is definitely able to see out of it.

 

[Aquanero]

Good to hear the fish is doing better. Post a pic if you get a chance it would be cool to see the progress.

 

[sharkbite5]

Sorry it's been a busy weekend. Here he is as of tonight. The big sore is a little bigger than yesterday so I'm not sure what the problem is, but he seems healthy.

 

[Aquanero]

The eye definatly looks better. Keep an eye on the sore in the head. I dodesn't look as inflamed as it did the other day so I like that, however it is possibile this fish has both a Streptococcus (gram positive infection) & Hex (a protozoan infestation). The issue is I do not want you to mix Metronidazole with Erythromycin. I eye seems to be responding to the Erythromycin which would indacate it is the correct med but if the sore is continuig to get larger or looks red and inflamed you may have to finish treating with the Erythromycin and then treat with Metronidazole or API General Cure (Metro/Prazi). It is not often the fish will have two issuses at the same time but it's not unheard of either, so we will monitor the progress closly and treat according to the symptoms from most to least sever one at a time if we have to. The best case sceanario is the erythromycin resolves the issue by itself. Please stay intouch and let me know if you see any problems or the symptoms get worse.