Emergency with Gulf Toadfish

ThatFishEnjoyer · Aug 20, 2024

Hello, about a week ago my lionfish had cloudy eyes and looked a stressed, so I went to my LFS and asked for their help. They said it looked like a fungal infection and recommended me Melafix and told me to dose it daily for 6 days and do a 25% water change on the 7th. it is the sixth day and now everyone in the tank looks pretty bad. Especially my Gulf Toad Fish. My stocking list is a maroon clown, volitan lionfish, and gulf toad fish. any help, ideas, or advice would be appreciated. I just tested my levels before I do the water change and they are, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, Phosphate 0.25, ph 7.6, temp 80, and salinity 1.025.

Jay Hemdal · Aug 20, 2024

ThatFishEnjoyer said:
Hello, about a week ago my lionfish had cloudy eyes and looked a stressed, so I went to my LFS and asked for their help. They said it looked like a fungal infection and recommended me Melafix and told me to dose it daily for 6 days and do a 25% water change on the 7th. it is the sixth day and now everyone in the tank looks pretty bad. Especially my Gulf Toad Fish. My stocking list is a maroon clown, volitan lionfish, and gulf toad fish. any help, ideas, or advice would be appreciated. I just tested my levels before I do the water change and they are, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, Phosphate 0.25, ph 7.6, temp 80, and salinity 1.025.

External fungal infections are virtually unheard of in marine fish (common in freshwater fish though). Melafix is a plant based tonic, not really a full medication.

Can you post a video of the lionfish? I want to see its breathing rate. This could be flukes, or it could be a protozoan infection. It might be bacterial, but that is pretty rare.

I presume the toadfish isn’t eating?
How about the other fish?

ThatFishEnjoyer · Aug 20, 2024

Jay Hemdal said:
External fungal infections are virtually unheard of in marine fish (common in freshwater fish though). Melafix is a plant based tonic, not really a full medication.

Can you post a video of the lionfish? I want to see its breathing rate. This could be flukes, or it could be a protozoan infection. It might be bacterial, but that is pretty rare.

I presume the toadfish isn’t eating?
How about the other fish?

I am currently working, but I will take a video when I can in a couple hours. Surprisingly everyone ate last night.

ThatFishEnjoyer · Aug 20, 2024

Jay Hemdal said:
External fungal infections are virtually unheard of in marine fish (common in freshwater fish though). Melafix is a plant based tonic, not really a full medication.

Can you post a video of the lionfish? I want to see its breathing rate. This could be flukes, or it could be a protozoan infection. It might be bacterial, but that is pretty rare.

I presume the toadfish isn’t eating?
How about the other fish?

The lion is sitting right in front of the jet.
And the Toadfish looks really bad

Jay Hemdal · Aug 21, 2024

ThatFishEnjoyer said:
The lion is sitting right in front of the jet.
And the Toadfish looks really bad

Sorry, I just woke up. I’m at our camper and your video won’t play on my phone. Hopefully somebody else can view it and chime in….

Jay Hemdal · Aug 21, 2024

ThatFishEnjoyer said:
The lion is sitting right in front of the jet.
And the Toadfish looks really bad

O.K., I'm at a computer now.

Both fish are breathing a bit deeply, but not too bad. Here is the thing about cloudy eyes: if a fish's skin is generally a bit cloudy, you may only see it on the eyes. There can also be eye infections that ONLY cause cloudy eyes. In this case, I'm leaning towards the former being the issue - the fish have an overall cloudiness issue that is only clearly visible on the fish's clear eyes.

I'm thinking this could be flukes. Have you ever done a freshwater dip on a fish? I can walk you through the process if you want to try. If this is Neobendenia flukes, you'll see them at the bottom of the dip container. Then, you can treat appropriately....

ThatFishEnjoyer · Aug 22, 2024

Jay Hemdal said:
O.K., I'm at a computer now.

Both fish are breathing a bit deeply, but not too bad. Here is the thing about cloudy eyes: if a fish's skin is generally a bit cloudy, you may only see it on the eyes. There can also be eye infections that ONLY cause cloudy eyes. In this case, I'm leaning towards the former being the issue - the fish have an overall cloudiness issue that is only clearly visible on the fish's clear eyes.

I'm thinking this could be flukes. Have you ever done a freshwater dip on a fish? I can walk you through the process if you want to try. If this is Neobendenia flukes, you'll see them at the bottom of the dip container. Then, you can treat appropriately....

I've done a freshwater dip before, I'll give it a shot with them