Blotchy Anthias viral nodules? Losing?

[Jay Hemdal]

Very helpful information to know. Alright I will continue the full course of kana/metro and order some neomycin to add to my arsenal.

The fish is on day 4-5 without swimming or eating, so not sure how much longer it will last.

Sorry, that must be very frustrating! So often, fish will just up and die with few symptoms or really any real time to react. In this case, there has been time enough, but no clear treatment to use.

I went back and reread this thread, and nothing jumped out at me; this fish has had 30 days of copper and at least one prazi treatment?

Tell me again, what was the span of time between degassing the fish and the onset of these symptoms? It was still eating and not breathing fast BEFORE the surgery?

Jay

 

[Reefer Dan]

Sorry, that must be very frustrating! So often, fish will just up and die with few symptoms or really any real time to react. In this case, there has been time enough, but no clear treatment to use.

I went back and reread this thread, and nothing jumped out at me; this fish has had 30 days of copper and at least one prazi treatment?

Tell me again, what was the span of time between degassing the fish and the onset of these symptoms? It was still eating and not breathing fast BEFORE the surgery?

Jay

It is very perplexing and frustrating.

I personally haven’t done copper on the fish, but the place I bought it from did cupramine for 30 days. So technically could be ich, but nothing with the 3 separate times I did a skin scrape. And it hasn’t seemed to get any falling off. Here is the rough course:

Weeks 1-2: When I got the fish I did 2 rounds of general cure.
Weeks2-4: Then it had the bacterial issue so I did kana+metro for 10-12 days that resolved.
Week 6ish (day 29 of observation after bacterial issue resolved):It started getting these whitish clear spots, I thought perhaps flukes, so I treated with 1 dose of prazipro and nothing fell off/improved.
Week 7:Then it ended up having the swim bladder problem (at its worst it was floating on top of the water taking a breather), somewhat eating due to difficulty swimming.
Week 8-9: degassed the fish, did 2 doses of metro/kana and the fish was back to doing well and eating, then perhaps 3-4 days later it stopped eating and has been in the same spot (now for about 4-5 days).
The whiteish clear spots have continued to get worse.

It wasn’t breathing heavy until after I degassed it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It is very perplexing and frustrating.

I personally haven’t done copper on the fish, but the place I bought it from did cupramine for 30 days. So technically could be ich, but nothing with the 3 separate times I did a skin scrape. And it hasn’t seemed to get any falling off. Here is the rough course:

Weeks 1-2: When I got the fish I did 2 rounds of general cure.
Weeks2-4: Then it had the bacterial issue so I did kana+metro for 10-12 days that resolved.
Week 6ish (day 29 of observation after bacterial issue resolved):It started getting these whitish clear spots, I thought perhaps flukes, so I treated with 1 dose of prazipro and nothing fell off/improved.
Week 7:Then it ended up having the swim bladder problem (at its worst it was floating on top of the water taking a breather), somewhat eating due to difficulty swimming.
Week 8-9: degassed the fish, did 2 doses of metro/kana and the fish was back to doing well and eating, then perhaps 3-4 days later it stopped eating and has been in the same spot (now for about 4-5 days).
The whiteish clear spots have continued to get worse.

It wasn’t breathing heavy until after I degassed it.

Given the time frame, I still can't rule out an internal infection from the degassing surgery.....

 

[Reefer Dan]

Given the time frame, I still can't rule out an internal infection from the degassing surgery.....

Oh absolutely, my best guess so far is an internal infection from the degassing surgery (acute). And chronic stress leading to the nodules.

Not saying that’s what it is, but my working theory. If I can get it eating again, I think it has a chance…. But so far that isn’t looking promising.

 

[Reefer Dan]

Update: this morning I caught it in a different spot and it swam for a tiny bit; I tried feeding it and it still ignored the food. It’s been back in its spot all day. Round 2 of kana/metro dosed. Slightly promising. Hopefully it eats soon.

Better pic for the nodules?

@Jay Hemdal - I came across sulfaplex online. I haven’t heard much on that in the fish world. Much harder to find, but what are your thoughts on this one? Is it worth adding to the arsenal?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Update: this morning I caught it in a different spot and it swam for a tiny bit; I tried feeding it and it still ignored the food. It’s been back in its spot all day. Round 2 of kana/metro dosed. Slightly promising. Hopefully it eats soon.

Better pic for the nodules?

@Jay Hemdal - I came across sulfaplex online. I haven’t heard much on that in the fish world. Much harder to find, but what are your thoughts on this one? Is it worth adding to the arsenal?

Those mucus threads look worse maybe? They can be of no real consequence though, just mucus producing cells working overtime.
I don’t have much experience with sulfa drugs, sorry.

 

[Reefer Dan]

Those mucus threads look worse maybe? They can be of no real consequence though, just mucus producing cells working overtime.
I don’t have much experience with sulfa drugs, sorry.

Update… fish is still hanging in there, yesterday was the third round of metro/kana. Still not swimming around regularly or eating. I tried to drop a softened pellet in its mouth And it looked like it wanted it but didn’t have the energy.

I started looking into tube feeds, but can’t figure out tube that would work…surprisingly I tried to aim a softened crushed up pellet in its mouth and it freaked out and swam a bunch, gotta love adrenaline.

Any more ideas here?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Update… fish is still hanging in there, yesterday was the third round of metro/kana. Still not swimming around regularly or eating. I tried to drop a softened pellet in its mouth And it looked like it wanted it but didn’t have the energy.

I started looking into tube feeds, but can’t figure out tube that would work…surprisingly I tried to aim a softened crushed up pellet in its mouth and it freaked out and swam a bunch, gotta love adrenaline.

Any more ideas here?

Tube feeding is tough to do unless you have an anesthetic. Here is an article I wrote on that:

Tube / Force Feeding Fish

This article describes methods of tube-feeding and force-feeding fish

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Reefer Dan]

Tube feeding is tough to do unless you have an anesthetic. Here is an article I wrote on that:

Tube / Force Feeding Fish

This article describes methods of tube-feeding and force-feeding fish

www.reef2reef.com

Yeah I was trying to piece together all the stuff, but it seems challenging to get the meds for anesthesia…. So I will start a second round of metro/kana and see what happens. I’m not sure the fish can make a comeback at this point…

 

[Reefer Dan]

Well this morning I woke up to it swimming again… so that’s a surprising turn of events. Everytime I think it’s a goner it surprises me.

It didn’t go after any pellets, so I will try frozen later today. Questioning with the way it’s swimming if the swim bladder is still an issue… if it is obviously lower priority right now.

Swimming again

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Well this morning I woke up to it swimming again… so that’s a surprising turn of events. Everytime I think it’s a goner it surprises me.

It didn’t go after any pellets, so I will try frozen later today. Questioning with the way it’s swimming if the swim bladder is still an issue… if it is obviously lower priority right now.

Swimming again

Breathing a bit fast, but its general demeanor looks better. The tank has good aeration, right?

 

[Reefer Dan]

Breathing a bit fast, but its general demeanor looks better. The tank has good aeration, right?

It is a 10 gallon tank with an Aquaclear 30 filter on it, I have an air pump I can add if you think that will help?? I turned the filter off for the video because I wanted to see how he was swimming without any “current”.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It is a 10 gallon tank with an Aquaclear 30 filter on it, I have an air pump I can add if you think that will help?? I turned the filter off for the video because I wanted to see how he was swimming without any “current”.

It depends on how much surface agitation the Aquaclear is producing. I'd add an air stone with an air pump...it can't hurt, can only help.

I've had people lose fish due to relying on a HOB filter for aeration - the scenario is, the filter makes decent surface agitation when first set up, due to the water dropping a few inches back into the tank - not great, but good enough. Then, one day, the aquarist tops the tank up an inch more than normal and the bubbles stop, and the fish dies from lack of oxygen and/or high carbon dioxide - ugh!

 

[Reefer Dan]

It depends on how much surface agitation the Aquaclear is producing. I'd add an air stone with an air pump...it can't hurt, can only help.

I've had people lose fish due to relying on a HOB filter for aeration - the scenario is, the filter makes decent surface agitation when first set up, due to the water dropping a few inches back into the tank - not great, but good enough. Then, one day, the aquarist tops the tank up an inch more than normal and the bubbles stop, and the fish dies from lack of oxygen and/or high carbon dioxide - ugh!

I’ve been considering adding oxygen, just was concerned about flow with the fish “trying to rest”. Will add it and see what happens, but I agree. Shouldn’t hurt anything, especially with all the antibiotics….

 

[Reefer Dan]

Well unfortunately it’s vertical & hardly breathing this morning, but still alive, so I think its time to euthanize it.
I was really hoping for a happy ending. 78 days in quarantine.

 

[Reefer Dan]

thank you everyone for all the help as we tried to figure this out.