heathermoor
Community Member
Hi, I'm looking for any advice.
I'm a newbie and have a nano set up of about 35 litres (UK). I have two blue legged hermit crabs and just one fish in it - one diadem dottyback which I have had for about 4 months, which I got once I was sure the tank was cycled. They have all been doing great together until over Christmas - 26 December I noticed it - the fish developed pine cone scales and was swollen. I test the water regularly and it has pH 8.2, trace ammonia, zero Nitrates and Nitrites. The temperature is set at 80F and the salinity - I check with red sea refractometer - is kept at 1.026.
I used some stuff called eSHa OODINEX which is available in the UK as a wide range marine fish and invert safe treatment. It has active ingredients ethacridine lactate 4.8mg, proflavine 0.7mg Malachite green 3.45mg and methylene blue 0.14mg in water. The swollenness has gradually decreased over the three day treatment the pack recommends. He just has a little swollenness over a smaller area and the scales stick out much less now. So I was hopeful he was recovering. I put him on a diet of frozen brine shrimp in case he was constipated as his preferred food is Hikari marine pellets and I thought maybe he had had too much of them - I feed a lot - perhaps too much - so that the crabs get some too. Just the odd pellet now and the brine shrimp which he tells me are rubbish compared to his pellets.
He is lively like before he became ill and has been eating throughout although he clearly doesnt like the frozen food as much as the pellets. He will snap up 3 pellets in a nano second given the chance, but much less enthusiasm for the brine shrimp, but that tells me the reluctance is about the food not a lack of appetite. He was looking much better but today I have noticed that although the swelling is better, he has what looks like redness - darker colouration - in two small patches, one each side, under his gill covers. I wish I'd photographed him before as I keep wondering if it is just me and did he always look like that, but I think not. I think he has some kind of gill irritation or infection. He isnt flashing or breathing especially quickly - he's a lively fast fish and seems to do everything at speed - and he is himself again in his behaviour, asking for food when he sees me etc, which he wasnt on the 26th - he was hiding a lot more.
It says on the eSHa packet that you can continue the dosing for 7 days if you need to, as long as you keep an eye out for any distress. So I gave some more today as directed, because I am worried about the dark patches.
Its hard for me to access the drugs most people talk about on here as the UK has concerns about antibiotics. However, I would be grateful for any advice like what might be the trouble with my fish and what things I could go in search of and try to obtain to treat him, even if I have to persuade a vet to let me have them, especially if the nature of his illness and the cure is shoutingly obvious to you who have a lot of experience in these matters. I'm sorry not to post a photo, but I'm an oldie and a bit challenged by how to do that!
In any case, thanks for reading this.
I'm a newbie and have a nano set up of about 35 litres (UK). I have two blue legged hermit crabs and just one fish in it - one diadem dottyback which I have had for about 4 months, which I got once I was sure the tank was cycled. They have all been doing great together until over Christmas - 26 December I noticed it - the fish developed pine cone scales and was swollen. I test the water regularly and it has pH 8.2, trace ammonia, zero Nitrates and Nitrites. The temperature is set at 80F and the salinity - I check with red sea refractometer - is kept at 1.026.
I used some stuff called eSHa OODINEX which is available in the UK as a wide range marine fish and invert safe treatment. It has active ingredients ethacridine lactate 4.8mg, proflavine 0.7mg Malachite green 3.45mg and methylene blue 0.14mg in water. The swollenness has gradually decreased over the three day treatment the pack recommends. He just has a little swollenness over a smaller area and the scales stick out much less now. So I was hopeful he was recovering. I put him on a diet of frozen brine shrimp in case he was constipated as his preferred food is Hikari marine pellets and I thought maybe he had had too much of them - I feed a lot - perhaps too much - so that the crabs get some too. Just the odd pellet now and the brine shrimp which he tells me are rubbish compared to his pellets.
He is lively like before he became ill and has been eating throughout although he clearly doesnt like the frozen food as much as the pellets. He will snap up 3 pellets in a nano second given the chance, but much less enthusiasm for the brine shrimp, but that tells me the reluctance is about the food not a lack of appetite. He was looking much better but today I have noticed that although the swelling is better, he has what looks like redness - darker colouration - in two small patches, one each side, under his gill covers. I wish I'd photographed him before as I keep wondering if it is just me and did he always look like that, but I think not. I think he has some kind of gill irritation or infection. He isnt flashing or breathing especially quickly - he's a lively fast fish and seems to do everything at speed - and he is himself again in his behaviour, asking for food when he sees me etc, which he wasnt on the 26th - he was hiding a lot more.
It says on the eSHa packet that you can continue the dosing for 7 days if you need to, as long as you keep an eye out for any distress. So I gave some more today as directed, because I am worried about the dark patches.
Its hard for me to access the drugs most people talk about on here as the UK has concerns about antibiotics. However, I would be grateful for any advice like what might be the trouble with my fish and what things I could go in search of and try to obtain to treat him, even if I have to persuade a vet to let me have them, especially if the nature of his illness and the cure is shoutingly obvious to you who have a lot of experience in these matters. I'm sorry not to post a photo, but I'm an oldie and a bit challenged by how to do that!
In any case, thanks for reading this.
