Sick Shovel head

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johnnyberotten

johnnyberotten

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 8, 2012
84
2
8
Manitoba,Canada
My Shovel head is not doing well.
I got him 2 mth ago at 1 inch. He is now 4.5" and was health up to 4 days ago.
I was feeding him talapia, shrimp, bloodworms.

He started having trouble swimming and decreased activity.
I checked the water and the ammonia had spiked.
I've done three, 50% water changes since and put him in a small breeder tank within the same tank.
I've also salted the water but he's getting worse.

He now has a sharp bend in his body that he doesn't straiten out and flips onto his back.

Does anyone know what is going on with him and what else I could do?

Thanks,
 
NH3 spike means that either your bio-filter got kicked back or the bio-load abruptly increased (waste and/or food got trapped/accumulated somewhere, for instance). How has the ammonia been after that spike?

The fish's immune system is shocked and the secondary bacterial or parasitic deseases set in. I can only speak in general at this point. It sounds real bad. IDK if salt is needed. It may or may not be. I'd probably just stick with making sure it gets the best water quality possible and hope it will pull through. If interested in a guess at a diagnosis, a good photo and more info is needed.

Make sure it has access to water surface.
 
I did a 50% water change in the morning and tonight it's zero.
Other fish in the same tanks don't show any effects.
Are these more susceptible to water conditions?

The body bend in the picture has been there all day.

Thanks for the education.

Photo on 13-03-03 at 10.07 PM.jpg

Photo on 13-03-03 at 10.07 PM.jpg
 
Are there tank mates in there and do they not show any discomfort/problems?

What was the NH3 spike in ppm? I hope you are using a liquid test kit.

The times I have had fish with similar symptoms - trouble swimming, fipping over, body bends, etc. - were only a few but I never could find a med that would help them. I think these symptoms indicate that the brain and/or the central nervous system/spinal nerve are being affected by a bacterial infection or an internal parasite. I tried praziquantel, a nice, safe and very general de-wormer, metronidazole, a good general antiparasitic, Malachite Green, a mix of nitrofurazone and furazolidone, aka bi-furan gram-positive antibiotic, and oxytetracycline, a gram-negative antibiotic. Only the last one helped them some but after a few rounds of the treatment the fish (having started eating again and behaving more normally) would relapse and eventually pass away anyway. I bleached the tanks after that.

The same desease affected different tankmates with much different speed, some fell ill in the first week, others in 1-2 months.
 
Up date:
For the first time in my fish keeping hobby it looks like I have cured a very sick fish.

For the last few days I have been treating my shovel nose with water changes and Erythromycin.
I've been giving him the prescribed dose and also been pushing the powder in into it's food.

His body now straightened back out and looks healthy.
He is my first shovel and at the top of my cool fish list.

Thebiggerthebetter, thanks for your feedback.

Cheers
 
Thanks for the update. I will remember to try Erythromycin or a similar antibiotic from penicillin family next time.

How have you come up with this med?

A bit of info from Wiki:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Erythromycin is a macrolide antibiotic that has an antimicrobial spectrum similar to or slightly wider than that of penicillin, and is often prescribed for people who have an allergy to penicillins. For respiratory tract infections, it has better coverage of atypical organisms, including Mycoplasma and legionellosis. It was first marketed by Eli Lilly and Company, and it is today commonly known as EES (erythromycin ethylsuccinate, an ester prodrug that is commonly administered). Erythromycin is produced from a strain of the actinomycete Saccharopolyspora erythraea.

BTW, IME I have not observed deleterious effects of salt on catfish... as long as I was cautious.
 
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