Well, I thought I would post this as a followup to a thread "sick midas.." I had a few weeks ago. Unfortunately we lost the fish (as did another person on a separate board with very similar problems) but we put up a heck of a fight and I was hoping that, if someone else ever ran into this, they would have somewhere to start from.
Around christmas my friend's female full grown 12 year old Midas developed a small lump just beneath the dorsal fin to the right side of her body. It was raised 1/4" and 1" long at the start and it slowly grew in height and width. The scales never raised/protruded from the skin. The fish was lethargic, didnt eat well and started wasting about two weeks ago. I have some pics.. http://home.comcast.net/~slardizabal/swit.html. The swelling seemed inflamed a few weeks into its appearance and eventually showed red veination through the site. No secondary infections ever seemed apparent. Tank was pristine with no other inhabitants and no additions/changes to her tank in at least a year.
Treatment started with Melafix/Pimafix for one week. When this showed no improvement we suspected a strong bacterial infection and dosed Kanamycin sulfate into the water at 150mg/ml. After one round of this we moved on to Tetracycline and Neomycin combination. A week later we decided that she still showed no major improvement and called a vet. I looked at several skin scrapes and fecal samples and ruled out worm infections, protozoan infections and monogenean parasites. The vet suggested injections with Baytril, an antibiotic often used in koi for serious bacterial infections. We were on her last day of 15 days of 0.2ml injections intramuscularly when she started to stay at the surface, gulping air. The next morning she was dead.
During all the antibiotic treatments and courses we used Amquel+ and heavy water changes to keep n-products manageable. The fish never appeared stressed, but she also never resumed her usual behaviors or appetite. In the interest of science I had really wanted to do a necropsy, especially to rule out a cancerous tumor, but I felt so bad for my friend I couldnt even ask. So, we're bummed and I'm just hoping our failure will give someone else the information to attack a similar infection just based on what doesn't seem to work. I still believe this was simply a serious systemic bacterial infection that the fish couldnt fight off, even with our advanced help.
>Sarah
Around christmas my friend's female full grown 12 year old Midas developed a small lump just beneath the dorsal fin to the right side of her body. It was raised 1/4" and 1" long at the start and it slowly grew in height and width. The scales never raised/protruded from the skin. The fish was lethargic, didnt eat well and started wasting about two weeks ago. I have some pics.. http://home.comcast.net/~slardizabal/swit.html. The swelling seemed inflamed a few weeks into its appearance and eventually showed red veination through the site. No secondary infections ever seemed apparent. Tank was pristine with no other inhabitants and no additions/changes to her tank in at least a year.
Treatment started with Melafix/Pimafix for one week. When this showed no improvement we suspected a strong bacterial infection and dosed Kanamycin sulfate into the water at 150mg/ml. After one round of this we moved on to Tetracycline and Neomycin combination. A week later we decided that she still showed no major improvement and called a vet. I looked at several skin scrapes and fecal samples and ruled out worm infections, protozoan infections and monogenean parasites. The vet suggested injections with Baytril, an antibiotic often used in koi for serious bacterial infections. We were on her last day of 15 days of 0.2ml injections intramuscularly when she started to stay at the surface, gulping air. The next morning she was dead.
During all the antibiotic treatments and courses we used Amquel+ and heavy water changes to keep n-products manageable. The fish never appeared stressed, but she also never resumed her usual behaviors or appetite. In the interest of science I had really wanted to do a necropsy, especially to rule out a cancerous tumor, but I felt so bad for my friend I couldnt even ask. So, we're bummed and I'm just hoping our failure will give someone else the information to attack a similar infection just based on what doesn't seem to work. I still believe this was simply a serious systemic bacterial infection that the fish couldnt fight off, even with our advanced help.
>Sarah
