Calling a SOS need HELP with Sick baby BN Pleco

[MollyMomma]

Colu, her white patches look much better, ill take a photo when I'm home from work.

The last time I added meds was ICH-X 7ml on the night the corydora died. I have not added anymore since. But The Otto s have endured a lot of meds, it's been a rough ride.

[MollyMomma]

Here is a pleco today, sorry she's hanging out behind sponge intake right now & was hard to photo. But she looks much cleaner;

I know she had holes in her dorsal fin too but I can't see her well enough to see if it's healing.

[Colu]

She looks a lot better the white patch looks like it's reduced @MollyMomma

[MollyMomma]

She does! Thankfully!

She's been hiding in back since removing driftwood.

The driftwood was her "to go" hiding spot, and her belly is not as round with it missing, but if the fungus was colonizing on the wood then im worried to put it back in. After boiling the wood, I put it out in the sun and you can still see all kinds of white moldy areas on it. Almost like dried spider webs. Maybe I need to boil it longer?

May need to go back to rocks & resin based decorations, driftwood been a struggle.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/11/2021 at 10:27 PM, MollyMomma said:

She does! Thankfully!

She's been hiding in back since removing driftwood.

The driftwood was her "to go" hiding spot, and her belly is not as round with it missing, but if the fungus was colonizing on the wood then im worried to put it back in. After boiling the wood, I put it out in the sun and you can still see all kinds of white moldy areas on it. Almost like dried spider webs. Maybe I need to boil it longer?

May need to go back to rocks & resin based decorations, driftwood been a struggle.

Driftwood helps pleco digestion.  If that piece is questionable and makes you uncomfortable try a piece of spiderwood or manzanita.  I don’t recall what type you said it was but those two in my experience grow the least biofilm 

[MollyMomma]

 It is Manzanita wood. I purchased them on Chewy.com for $40 piece! 4 large pieces, I had to soak them in a big tub for 2 months, before adding to tank because the tannins were so bad, and to also waterlogged them. I originally purchased them for the pleco(s)  & to attach plants in different tanks. Everyone suggests Manzanita has less tannins than cholla and some other wood, but every day I soaked them I had black tea looking water, maybe because they were large heavy pieces?

Any bio film on it gets eaten quickly, but then there is black tufts that grow, black tiny dots, white fuzzy areas, and white moldy areas. 

When I started re-boiling them last week, they smelt like sewage, I had to take them outside because my family was commenting on the smell 👃. Probably been in the tanks for 6 months.

On 10/12/2021 at 6:00 AM, Guppysnail said:

Driftwood helps pleco digestion.  If that piece is questionable and makes you uncomfortable try a piece of spiderwood or manzanita.  I don’t recall what type you said it was but those two in my experience grow the least biofilm 

[Hobbit]

Maybe you could try a small chunk of regular old driftwood. I have some long driftwood a friend found in my 55g and two super red bristlenose plecos keep the entire thing clean. No idea what wood it is, but something more substantial that’s been soaking for a while might stay cleaner and be easier for them to eat? Not sure.

[MollyMomma]

Any particular brand or type of driftwood to try? I have Cholla pieces- I had some really poor luck with cholla. Because I purchased super fresh pieces, I had to soak them in a pale of water for about 90 days before they sunk! Haha. 

 

So I just read this article about water mold. It stated it was "Impossible" for water mold to transfer from driftwood to fish.. BUT that mold & fungus spores are virtually present in ALL aquariums, and having driftwood increases the spores. So if you have a sick fish, with a weakened immune system, and an open wound or damaged fin, the water mold will then become opportunistic and attach on the dead or damaged tissue.

So if that's true, then am I okay to clean my driftwood, boil it some more, and add it back in? 

Driftwood is fairly NEW to me, I purchased my first 4 large pieces of Manzanita in March, probably added to tank in April-May. So 6-7 months. And it's been very problematic, lots of scrubbing, almost once a month this summer I had to remove it and let it "bake" in the sun because it kept growing gross black fluffy stuff, along with other colors. And Algae. The plecos always keep it pretty clean of biofilm, but what's left behind looks pretty moldy. Lots of brown water, turns all my filter floss & sponges yellowy brown. I removed it from all 3 my tanks the 20g, the new 29g and the 15g QT. They all look so bare without it. 

I wish there was a way to cure it better or paint it to preserve it or something.

[MollyMomma]

Pleco is looking amazing! I've stopped all meds now, did a very large water change & added a small carbon insert to help remove all medication residue. The holes in her dorsal fin look great! I can't believe how much improvement there's been!

Here's new photo of her & 2 photos of the driftwood mold areas I was talking about:

[Colu]

Looks a lot better hopefully you won't have to medicate him again

[MollyMomma]

Well it's been 21 days since I last posted an update. It's also been 3 weeks of the tank being medication free. 

The pleco's Dorsal fin; it's healing & looking better. But she still looks funny. There are these tiny pin-point white spots that look similar to a human pimple except white. They keep popping up on her head & backside, they go away, then pop back up. She also has a greyish "film" on her back still, and in some areas she looks like she has black freckles.-  I'm not sure if it's just her coloration forming she does have black patches on her tail.

Photos below I tried to capture it.

(I am referring to her as "SHE" because I purchased her in Feb/March & still no bristles, she has a similar body shape to my older female BN in another tank too.)

The 1 remaining Cory looks good. The 3 remaining ottocinculus seem okay, but they are staying together in the upper right hand corner on top of the heater all day, they seem to only move during the night. And 2/3 are fin clamping a lot. I cannot see any physical problems though.

There are 3 molly fry in here... They were put in my 29g to grow out & when the other fish became ill, I figured since they were in the same tank I should probably treat them too.... Well they are getting very large now!!!   & since the other fish still have off/on symptoms idk if it's safe to move the mollies. But in a 15g QT, I know it's getting cramped!! I feel bad, I don't know how much longer to keep them all together. 

[Colu]

 don't think that a natural colour change your describing I would keep a very close eye on her for now  as for your Molly's I would air on the side of caution if you do decide to move them I would keep them on their own for now

[MollyMomma]

On 11/5/2021 at 2:56 AM, Colu said:

 don't think that a natural colour change your describing I would keep a very close eye on her for now  as for your Molly's I would air on the side of caution if you do decide to move them I would keep them on their own for now

I know, her color just looks off, I tried to take a few more photos & zoom in. It's like a very light Grey patch with these white "pimple" areas. Best I can describe it.

& The 3 mollies, I have a tank I can move then too, it has 2 mollies in it & 1 older BN. I have a 29g with just fry in it too.. but I'm worried they may spread germs from this QT so I don't know what to do with them just yet. 

 

[Colu]

On 11/7/2021 at 3:25 PM, MollyMomma said:

I know, her color just looks off, I tried to take a few more photos & zoom in. It's like a very light Grey patch with these white "pimple" areas. Best I can describe it.

& The 3 mollies, I have a tank I can move then too, it has 2 mollies in it & 1 older BN. I have a 29g with just fry in it too.. but I'm worried they may spread germs from this QT so I don't know what to do with them just yet. 

 

Looks like some form of tissue damage it could have been caused by the bacterial infection I would monitor it for now if it's getting worse and you need to treat I would use Sera baktopur direct tables active ingredient is nifurpirinol 

[Hobbit]

It kind of reminds me of human warts, which I believe are viruses. Hopefully it’s just tissue damage and isn’t anything that will affect her quality of life. (Or spread to other fish!)

[MollyMomma]

Well this is how it started. When she was very small she had these 3 tiny clear bumps on her head. Then a month or so later they turned white, another month later they formed together and created a hole in her head. We treated, the large hole healed up but left a few white bumps behind. Then a white area on her back and the whole mess we just treated. It seems these little white bumps just keep coming back. I was looking at this post, if we go back and look at her photos pages 1-4 it's like these bumps just keep on forming. Could it be a type of bug or parasite? 

[Colu]

It possible or it could be a viral infection that why it keeps reoccurring most fish would have succumbed to parasites by now given the length of time your bristlenose has been sick 

Edited November 13, 2021 by Colu

[MollyMomma]

On 11/12/2021 at 2:50 PM, Colu said:

It possible or it could be a viral infection that why it keeps reoccurring most fish would have succumbed to parasites by now given the length of time your bristlenose has been sick 

I think I need to add meds again. There were 4 Ottos in here that seemed okay. My bigger older one died with no symptoms. A few days ago.. 2cd one died. Today a 3rd one died.

So the stocking is now: 1 BN ,1 otto, 1 cory, 3 mollies.

The Ottos have no fungus or outer issues I can see on The surface. Parameters are good.

The pleco has a white patch about the size of a quarter and her dorsal fin is now split right in TWO.  The mollies are in the corner hiding. 

This is becoming so bizarre. They look better then all of a sudden shut down, get really sick & start dying.

[Colu]

What you could try is treating them with Fritz expel p active ingredient is levamisole just in case its a parasitic infection even no it's unlikely at this point I would try  it  as it only requires a 24 hr treatment follow by a repeat in 2 weeks I would also get holed of some aquatics foods premium flake containing oxytetracycline   and Sera baktopur direct tables active ingredient is nifurpirinol the different active ingredient might give the desired effect

Edited November 13, 2021 by Colu

[MollyMomma]

Thanks Colu!

I just searched them both up. The oxytetracycline fish flakes & I can order those. The Sera ones are not available in my area, only ones I could find were $40-60 USD + shipping.

[Colu]

If you can't get Sera baktopur direct I would get some you can get it of aqua bid @MollyMomma

Edited November 14, 2021 by Colu

[Casual aquatics]

On 5/16/2021 at 12:19 AM, MollyMomma said:

Thank you for responding! The cories has small bits of fungus on them first. I tried Maracyn with no results. 30 days later treated the cories (the whole tank) with API-Furan2 & kanaplex and it cleared them all up. But then the pleco started getting that spot on her head. I was hoping if it was fungus those meds would have cleaned the pleco up too. I added driftwood & haven't seen her much, then she came out tonight & looked terribly bad.

(I DO have a QT.... It's currently occupied with a new batch of ottos I purchased a 1.5 weeks ago , one of the new ottos was carrying ICH and that QT is being treated with ICH-X right now. ) so im stuck in a bad predicament right now. 

I dont have the meds you mentioned above. I do have some kanaplex and jungle fungus fizz tabs. I may have to order the API fungus cure then.

Where are you located 

[MollyMomma]

So I wanted your opinions, I've been researching medications for the past few days. I ordered the API fungus cure months ago- when it arrived it was incorrect box, I sent it back hoping to receive the right one, they said it was out of stock. I've been all over searching for the Serobaktopur & cannot find it for a reasonable price. I found the medicated fish flakes- but they are on ETSY as "homemade," so I was a bit hesitant, also the pleco only eats wafers.

So now I've narrowed it down to a couple cycline medications. The pleco's dorsal fin is very ragged. Price & shipping quickly are also  concerns.

-API fin & Body cure = Doxycycline treats gram POS & neg bacteria. I can find it for a reasonable price.

or:

-Maracin 2: MINOCYCLINE treats gram pos. It says it treats Gram positive & negotive but if you search the active ingredient it states that Monocycline is used to treat gram positive mostly.

I've crossed out: Gram positive medications. E.R Erothermycin. Maracyn/API general cure. Jungle fungus Tabs. Nitrofurazone/Victoria green combo. API Furan 2. ICH-X for anti-bacterial properties. And kanaplex because we've used all these medications multiple times from March-Now on/off.

The pleco still just doesn't look healthy. The fungus on her back is gone, but it looks like scar tissue or something and patchy still. And her dorsal fin is shredded. 

[Colu]

  API fin and body cure  the active ingredient Doxycycline is very affective against external bacterial infection or aqua-cipro 500mg I have seen for 37 dollars with free shipping treats gram negative and some gram positive bacterial it works to stop the bacterial from replicating or repairing it's DNA so  it may work  against pathogens that dont respond to other antibiotic treatments if I was going to treat I would use the aqua-cipro you could go with fin and body cure still a very affective treatment

Edited November 29, 2021 by Colu

[MollyMomma]

Thank you, I went ahead and ordered the Fin & body cure from Chewy.com

Starting to wonder if this fish may just fall under the special needs/care category. She's literally been sick since purchasing. 

I also ordered some Boyd Vita Chem. Figured it couldn't hurt to add to her tank.