Need some advice on what to try next...

About a week ago I noticed a couple of fish developing what I diagnosed as hemmorrhagic septicemia. There were blood marks in their fins and their fins would start to become ragged and frayed and dissolve somewhat from the outer edge inward. In addition there would usually be some form of damage to the mouth which made the fish look like they had been fighting even though they had not. The fish for the most part have continued to eat until they are a day or so from dying. So far I have lost two jakes, a rostratus, an ngara, a mylochromis, a baenschi, a red empress, a BN pleco, and a lethrinops albus. I have a buccochromis, makonde, maleri, and 2 moori that show symptoms that I do not expect to make it if things do not turn around. I am treating with tetra fungus guard (supposed to treat against bacterial infection) and have made 3 treatments staggered about 2-3 days apart with a 25-30% water change at the same time. I am also adding melafix to the tank once a day to try and help them survive their wounds. The fish deteriorate rapidly when the disease gets to the later stages and their body/fins seem to rot in a matter or an hour or so (I check for dead fish in the morning and when I come home for lunch and at the end of the day). I have never seen anything take a fish down this rapidly and at this point, do not seem to be winning the battle. There are other fish in there which for the most part seem to be fine but the ones with the symptoms do not seem to be getting better or staying status quo. I have probably already lost $150 worth of fish and really would like to save as many as I can. My only resources locally for meds are petco/petsmart and one LFS which did not seem to have anything other than clout which I already had on hand and was trying to refrain from every using in this tank since it stains the silicone so bad. I am thinking of trying API triple sulfa.

Try Maracyn-Two and API fungus cure. It could be Columnaris. I have been fighting this problem myself. The API fungus works good but make sure you have carbon, it makes the water look like straight up antifreeze.

yikes. somehow I don't think a fungus guard helps with bacteria, but it was worth a shot. how are your water parameters? IDK why for some reason I thought of high levels of nitrite or something that's causing the inflammation(gills, fins, mouth) and poisoning your fish off.

flippercon: i never heard of columnaris before, that's some nasty stuff, gram negative bacteria.

pappasmurf: are you also seeing cottony legions on the bodies as well as the mouth? you may want to google columnaris and see if the symptoms fit, if so, I don't think a fungicide is going to work. an article i read suggested Copper sulfate, Acriflavine, Furan, and Terramycin

papasmurf: from what i read clout isn't going to work if you have columnaris, it's for parasites mostly. the triple sulfa may be your best bet. I'm thinking if it's hemmoragic septicemia(i love how the api product treats the condition, not the causes of the condition lol) you are covered, and the sulfur products in it would be close to copper sulfate.

Flipper's right about maracyn-two if you have columnaris though, it's for gram negative bacteria. Maracyn is for gram positive bacteria.

I learned all of this just now. yay

Oh when using gram Negative Meds treat with lights out, They degrade in light.

fishface30 wrote:

Flipper's right about maracyn-two if you have columnaris though, it's for gram negative bacteria. Maracyn is for gram positive bacteria.

I learned all of this just now. yay

We learn something new everyday, I love that part of the day!

I really think Maracyn 2 is your best bet, I looked up hemmorrhagic septicemia and it was recommended to use Maracyn 2.

I have been leaving the lights off...the tetra fungus guard I am using says it clears fungus and bacteria and list hemmorraghic septicemia as one of the things it cures. It has nitrofurazone as the active ingredient. I am running carbon in a HOT magnum to pull the meds out of the water right now and am going to do another water change before switching to the API triple sulfa. I am probably going to lower the water level in the tank to half or so....it may be risky but the meds are $15 a box and it specifies four treatments...one box would come close to treating the tank once (125...figure 110-115g water) so I figure if I lower the water level some I might get close to two treatments out of one box before having to stock up again. I do not think it is columnaris. The first symptoms seem to be blood streaks in the fins. Then the mouth and head region starts to rot away while the fins disolve at the same time. I have had some fish have nothing but dorsal spines after a day of showing symptoms....it can take them really really fast...some have been having symptoms for a week and are still alive while others go from no symptoms to death in 24-48 hrs. I checked ammonia when everything started and there was none. With as many water changes as I have done in the past two weeks I do not think nitrites could be that high. I routinely do two water changes a week of about 15g each time and the tank is over filtered for the most part. I had a fish I aquired about two weeks ago die 24hrs later with the same symptoms so I suspect that is where it came from. This is going to suck hard if I lose everything but I am starting to prepare for that possible outcome.

If drained half of my 125, stopped the sump and hooked a spray bar to my canister. Kept the intake under the water and treated for half when times were tight. Its just super loud. From what i have read on hemmorrhagic septicemia,tetracyclines is the med of choice. Triple sulfa is on that list. From reviews Maracyn 2 seems to be the choice of most , but Triple sulfa should do the trick if your diagnosis is correct. Good luck and keep up posted.

we had that show up in our 150 once , we treated it with Maracyn 2 , and it stopped the die offs and a couple that were just starting to show signs , healed and are still alive today. Good Luck !!

is metafix good for fungus..i have and issue in my mbuna tank the black spotted zebra i found white things on its lips there beginning to look like dinner plates also on the kenyi nose but it seams to be going away

i was blaming it on the coral rock i had inside the tank but i removed it and the zebra does not look any better

melafix is mainly for healing wounds, damaged fins and possibly cloudy eyes assuming it is not disease related. It is kind of like aloe vera for fish. They market it as being treatment for various illnesses but it is all natural and is more of something to use in addition to a medication rather than as a medication on it's own.

ty papa

Melafix ime is good for wounds, torn fins. Getting rid of an infected wound? It depends on how severe.

melafix does work really good though, especially if used at the same time as pimafix

depending on what the problem is

update....just started the second treatment with the triple sulfa. Fish for the most part are maintaining though I have lost pretty much all of them that showed significant symptoms before the treatment and one that got sucked up into the canister intake. I had to run the canister without the skimmer and did not have a screen for the intake and eventually one got close enough to get sucked up in there and die...sometimes it seems you just can't win.