Calling a SOS need HELP with Sick baby BN Pleco

[MollyMomma]

On 9/24/2021 at 7:29 PM, Colu said:

It could be an opportunistic fungal infection that affected him because of his compromise immune system  as your still treating with jungal fungus clear I would add a dose of ick x in as well  and see how he does 

I used 1st dose, waited 4 days, did a WC. Pleco still looked bad, so I used a 2cd dose waited 4 days did the WC, pleco looked better but still had white areas so now I'm on a 3rd dose. 

Is it okay to use ICH-X in conjunction with Fungus tabs? Or should I do a partial WC?

I'm wondering if I should remove the small piece of driftwood, It is growing some funky stuff, I added it for the pleco to hide on since the QT is pretty bare except a few plants (and the plants are shedding a little from meds) she lived on a Large piece of wood in the 29g before moving.

[Colu]

You can use ick x with nitrofurazone based medication you could take the wood out clean it with boiling hot water and then put it back in 

Edited September 25, 2021 by Colu

[MollyMomma]

On 9/24/2021 at 8:01 PM, Colu said:

You can use ick x with nitrofurazone based medication you could take the wood out clean it with boiling hot water and then put it back in 

Thanks Colu, this has been really hard to treat, and you've been very helpful & insightful. 

I added 7.5ml of ICH-X, for 15g. watched them for a few minutes, and then put all the tanks to bed. Hopefully the combo helps. 

I don't know why this will not go away, it seems to just keep lingering around!

I've taken the driftwood out numerous times & "Baked" it in the sun, I've never used boiling water though, not a big enough pot, maybe I could dump boiling water into a pale & let the wood soak? The driftwood has the normal white/Grey biofilm, but it also has black/Grey tufts & furry areas, and white fuzzy areas, and tiny black dots. I posted it on a separate forum & was told it was normal & that it wouldn't hurt the fish, just to scrub it with a toothbrush every so often, so I left it alone.

[Colu]

It shouldn't hurt your fish what I would do is pour boiling hot water from your kettle on the wood I have never come a cross something like this before every  time they start show some improvement they come down with something else they have had symptoms of multiple disease it's very strange hopefully  ick x and fungus cure help 

[MollyMomma]

Well I removed the driftwood a few days ago, today I boiled it & also boiled the larger piece that was in the 29g.

Today was last day of THIRD round of fungus tabs. Still no improvement on Cory. Her poor fin looks like it's wrapped in an arm cast. So I cleaned the tank really well, removed Browning plant leaves, rinsed sponges, and replaced 10g of water (cuz there's been a lot of meds in & out) 

Then I added back in 1 dose of ICH-X

Should I keep trying the fungus tabs? This is stubborn.

[Colu]

If you not seeing any improvement with the fungus clear tabs I would stop using them theirs a couple treatment options you could keep treating with ick x and add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons or you could treat with api fungus cure  or you could do dip treatment of  Methylene blue 12mg for 10 minutes

[MollyMomma]

Tomorrow will mark the end of the FOURTH round of jungle fungus tabs. I've also been using the ICH-X.

Cory is not getting better. Pleco still looks rough. She now has 3 holes in her dorsal fin - right above where the fin connects to her body.

So frustrating. I just read an article that talked about Saprolegnia "fungus" and said ICH-X and other products that contain malachite green & Formalin are the best meds to treat. But that there's usually a bacterial infection underneath & that it's harder to treat.

I've been using the medication for so long now that Everything in this tank is stained blue, even the sand & some plants. I have no idea why it's not going away!

[Guppysnail]

I’m so sorry I know you have been doing everything you can. You may at this point need an aquatic veterinarian.  

[MollyMomma]

On 10/1/2021 at 2:37 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’m so sorry I know you have been doing everything you can. You may at this point need an aquatic veterinarian.  

I wouldn't even know where to start! I have a Guinea pig, last year she had a yeast infection when we first adopted her, it was so hard to find an Exotic pet vet that we had to drive 1 hour 15 minutes. (I'm in New England, bordering Canada way up North here!)

I'm dumbfounded! I really am! Is this some sort of super bacteria that will not die?!

[Hobbit]

You may very well have a super bacteria. It can happen. What different antibiotics have you tried? I’ve found quite the variety at my local farm store. It may be worth trying some of the less commonly used ones.

[MollyMomma]

On 10/1/2021 at 8:17 PM, Hobbit said:

You may very well have a super bacteria. It can happen. What different antibiotics have you tried? I’ve found quite the variety at my local farm store. It may be worth trying some of the less commonly used ones.

I've used so Far:

Maracyn, API Furan-2, Kanaplex, ICH-X, Jungle Fungus Tabs, I think that's it.

I also tried Salt here & there in minor doses, in the beginning I tried Indian Almond Leaves, and Herbtana but it didn't do anything.

I also tried running GKM clip on UV sterilizer for about 5 weeks. I had to remove it though because I needed to redose meds.

Edited October 2, 2021 by MollyMomma

[Torrey]

On 10/1/2021 at 12:41 PM, MollyMomma said:

I wouldn't even know where to start! I have a Guinea pig, last year she had a yeast infection when we first adopted her, it was so hard to find an Exotic pet vet that we had to drive 1 hour 15 minutes. (I'm in New England, bordering Canada way up North here!)

I'm dumbfounded! I really am! Is this some sort of super bacteria that will not die?!

Dr. Diana Walstad uses the North Carolina State University veterinarian school. There's also an aquatic vet that @Zenzo and Cory have on the Aquarium Co-op upcoming talks (I don't remember the date).

I have called NCSU before, to help me find a vet even when I lived in another state.

The other 2 vet schools are Tufts school of veterinarian medicine, and the Oregon Veterinarian Medicine University (mighty ducks, I believe OSU?) for helping you find an aquarium vet specialist. 

[Hobbit]

You could try amoxicillin, cephalexin, or ciprofloxacin. Those all exist in fish med forms.

https://www.chewy.com/s?query=Antibiotic&rh=c%3A885

[quikv6]

You can also try a sulfa med, such as API Triple Sulfa or SulfaPlex. These are usually pretty mild meds. I have had luck with Triple Sulfa working against Columnaris when Furan2/Kanaplex combo didn't.

If I posted this earlier in the thread, my apologies. Just throwing it out there as a possibility.

[MollyMomma]

Thank you all for the feedback! I will look into finding an aquatic vet tomorrow on my day off. 

I have Cipro antibiotics here at home in my medicine cabinet! (I suffer from reoccurring kidney infections and Cipro is what I am prescribed) can I use that? In a minute dose? Or have to buy a specific brand? The ones I have are 500mg I believe.

In the meantime, what is best treatment for holes in fish fins? Pleco is looking better! But now has holes, I'm assuming it's from the bacteria & it ate away at her?

My old female cory still has fungus puff. I was wondering if I could remove her from tank somehow & maybe put her in a small container & DAB the fungus with a Q-Tip with ICH-X on it? I think I watched a video of someone showing that technique.

Rest of tank inhabitants are well. I'm just down to fixing up these last 2 fish.

I will also check online for the triple sulfa, I have not tried that one yet! 

Photos below were taken just now 10 minutes ago;

[Colu]

There's aqua-cipro that has 500mg of ciprofloxacin and you can DAB ick x or Methylene blue directly on the fungus 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Colu
Ment 500mg

[Hobbit]

Foo the Flowerhorn has dabbed super strength hydrogen peroxide on his betta’s fin rot. I tried that one time but chickened out because my betta was thrashing and I didn’t want to get the peroxide in his eyes 😣 But now that I’m more experienced in think I would try it again. I would just have to wait for the fish to get tired enough to stop thrashing. And maybe use a tiny bit of clove oil to make it sleepy.

I’ve had two fish get fuzzy fins in the past, but both were in tanks with lots of hiding spots, and by the time I decided to do something about it, I either couldn’t find them or they had healed on their own.

Poor little cory. She’s hanging in there though!

Chewy’s page has a picture of the instructions for the aqua-cipro they sell:

https://www.chewy.com/midland-vet-services-aqua-cipro-forte/dp/344725

 

 

[MollyMomma]

I think Aquatic Vet is out of the question. When I googled it the very first one to pop up was in Nevada! I'm in Maine, the closest I could find one was a Doctor in Boston, Massachusetts. So I'll have to just keep trying other solutions.

[MollyMomma]

Just a quick update, came home from work last night & the older Cory was not doing well, the fungus had grown larger & literally looked like a huge spikey cotton ball. She kept swimming to the top for air every few minutes & she looked exhausted, then she started to roll over & was upside down, poor thing. 

She passed away a little bit after. I had her for over 1.5 years, I adopted the last 3 of these cories from my LPS as tiny babies, 8 month later they started spawning. None of the eggs ever hatched though, she was a good girl, and she put up a very long fight, I wish I could have saved her, or done more. Thank you all for trying to help me with her!

Pleco is looking a bit better, hopefully she'll improve, she is now the last sick fish in tank.

[Torrey]

On 10/7/2021 at 8:11 AM, MollyMomma said:

Just a quick update, came home from work last night & the older Cory was not doing well, the fungus had grown larger & literally looked like a huge spikey cotton ball. She kept swimming to the top for air every few minutes & she looked exhausted, then she started to roll over & was upside down, poor thing. 

She passed away a little bit after. I had her for over 1.5 years, I adopted the last 3 of these cories from my LPS as tiny babies, 8 month later they started spawning. None of the eggs ever hatched though, she was a good girl, and she put up a very long fight, I wish I could have saved her, or done more. Thank you all for trying to help me with her!

Pleco is looking a bit better, hopefully she'll improve, she is now the last sick fish in tank.

I am so sorry, and I think you did everything you could. 

Hope you can give yourself some grace today, and may memories of her spunk bring you joy.

[MollyMomma]

On 10/7/2021 at 11:24 AM, Torrey said:

I am so sorry, and I think you did everything you could. 

Hope you can give yourself some grace today, and may memories of her spunk bring you joy.

Thank you!

On another note;

There's only one false Julii left in there now, she's lost her companion. Will she be okay by herself? I have 4 Green Cories in another tank, I could possibly add her with them later down the road. Once the disease clears.

Petco & Petsmart have been banned from selling the false julii in my area so I cannot adopt anymore unless I fly them in.

[Torrey]

On 10/7/2021 at 4:02 PM, MollyMomma said:

Thank you!

On another note;

There's only one false Julii left in there now, she's lost her companion. Will she be okay by herself? I have 4 Green Cories in another tank, I could possibly add her with them later down the road. Once the disease clears.

Petco & Petsmart have been banned from selling the false julii in my area so I cannot adopt anymore unless I fly them in.

My understanding is they need multiples of the same species?

Flying them in sounds cost prohibitive. Are there (possibly) any local breeders? 

Otherwise, it's probably a matter of observe, and wait.

[Hobbit]

So sorry about your cory. She was quite the fighter and you went above and beyond for her. ❤️ 

I’d be very hesitant to add anything from this tank to another tank since we don’t know what’s causing all these problems. It’s certainly something out of the ordinary, and just because you don’t see symptoms, doesn’t mean it’s not there. For instance, what if there’s an underlying viral infection that’s taking out the fishes’ immune systems (like AIDS does for humans) and that’s why they keep getting sick with weird things? That’s just a shot in the dark, but the point is: there’s something going on that we don’t understand, and you don’t want to inadvertently spread it.

See how your last Julii does on her own. If she looks like she needs some friends, I’d try to get a similar species for her to shoal with.

[MollyMomma]

Yeah, for some reason it's really hard to find corydoras in my area. I only see green, bronze, albino or panda, even those are far & few in between.

I had an ottocinculus pass away last night out of this tank who had no symptoms, he looked fine, I was a little surprised. It was a very large Otto that I've also had for almost 2 years. 

Hobbit, maybe it is a virus or something internal that just keeps bothering them. 

[Colu]

On 10/11/2021 at 3:42 PM, MollyMomma said:

had an ottocinculus pass away last night out of this tank who had no symptoms, he looked fine, I was a little surprised. It was a very large Otto that I've also had for almost 2 years. 

The constant use of medication could have effected the Otto  it difficult if there still showing symptoms and they need meds how's the white patch on your bristlenose

Edited October 11, 2021 by Colu