Unknown (to me) disease - Geophagus altifrons

[hovmoller]

Hi there,

First forum entry EVER!

Anyway what brought me to this wonderful site is the fact the one of my altifrons has a or a few diseases I'm having trouble identifying.

I am mostly concerned with the white growth and the bulging over her eye (see picture). I think there is a bit of HITH going on as well but this is now on the return.

This is the female of a beautiful pair I have in a 300 liter tank with lots and lots of filtration, regular water changes and a balanced diet of granular dry food and various frozen foods. Temp 28c, pH 7.2, medium soft water.

I wanted to start a treatment for the HITH but I live in New Zealand and so any products containing Metronidazole are not allowed to be sold here.

This might be some obvious disease that I just haven't seen before but in any case I would love some help with identification and treatment of this disease.

Thanks a lot!

 

[jgentry]

Looks like HITH to me. What are your water params? Hardness, PH, nitrates, etc?

As for the white stuff it is most likely some sort of fungal infection. Probably something secondary due to the HITH infected spot. Treat with salt and raise the temp.

 

[Aquanero]

Looks like it could be Pop-eye to me.

Pop-eye in itself is not a disease but is more a symptom of an underlying infection. The eye bulges out because of fluid build up, either behind the eye or in the eye itself. The first signs you will notice is that one or even both eyes are starting to bulge. The bulging eye may have a thin layer of 'skin' around it, this is a tough tissue that covers the eye keeping it in the socket and as the eye bulges it stretches the 'skin' with it. The fish may also get less active and show no interest in food. Fungus infections can show up afterwards.

Treat in a hospital tank if possable, doing 25% water changes daly for a week. Use Epsom salt 1 Tbs per 5 gals for three days to draw out fulid. Get some Maracyn 2 and treat according to directions if a bacterial infection is the cause.