I don't think you listed your ph before, what is it? Earlier you mentioned 7, but if it's steady that's OK.
This illness has been confoundingly persistant.
This is a conundrum. The fins say water quality issues, but you're taking good care of that. You're tap water has ammonia but you nuke it with Prime and do daily water changes so additional ammonia from the fish are kept in check.
He's been through a full 10 days of Maracyn/Maracyn II, a day or two break, then Jungle labs FUNGUS CLEAR, then a break, then 10 days of Furan 2/Kanacyn, he's once again on a break with pristine water and now he's got the white cottony stuff on his fins.... again.
OK... I think this is what I'd do. Get a sterilite tub at WalMart, 5 or 10 gallon, set it up with filter and heater. Get cat into it, acclimate appropriately.
Strip down the 20 gallon and sanitize it. Remove substrate, plants, decor. Sanitize any decor or wood. Sanitize the heater, filter, tubing, all implements. Set it back up with fresh water. New filter material.
Re-seed the filter with healthy bacteria, from where? I don't know. You could order Dr. Tim's Original Nitrifying supplement, or get this substrate that already has beneficial bacteria in it:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=21412
(right now shipping is only $5.99)
Or just plan on cycling it over a period of a time; I'd go fishless cycling.
Ask your pharmacist for some Chloramphenicol... I think this must be a resistant bacteria we're dealing with, it's in your tank and I'd nuke it out of him and sanitize it out of your 20 gallon tank.
He can live in the hospital tank for as long as needed, even when the antibiotic treatment course is completed, even until you get the 20 gallon clean and cycled.
This sounds like a lot of work, and it is. I don't know if you have the energy and strength to do all this, and the money after all you've spent so far, but I think this last big gun antibiotic is his best chance to nuke what seems to be a resistant baterial inection.
I wish I lived nearby... I'd help with all the labor involved, but get whatever help you can from your mate and/or anyone else.
We could keep throwing antibiotics at him, but we've been through so many treatment protocols with him.
I wish I knew a more simple way to proceed, but I think nothing else is going to work in the absence of being able to culture the offending bacteria and test for antibiotic sensitivity.
I wish we knew what your water is like in regards to minerals, general hardness and carbonate hardness. I wonder if we supplemented his water with electrolytes, calcium, and magnesium which are essential for good health and redox...
Are you up for testing your water for those things and supplementing if needed. If you can't buy the tests, then maybe Big Al's could test the water for you.
You might try to get some good spring water with good mineral content to use in the hospital tank while treating him.
This illness has been confoundingly persistant.
This is a conundrum. The fins say water quality issues, but you're taking good care of that. You're tap water has ammonia but you nuke it with Prime and do daily water changes so additional ammonia from the fish are kept in check.
He's been through a full 10 days of Maracyn/Maracyn II, a day or two break, then Jungle labs FUNGUS CLEAR, then a break, then 10 days of Furan 2/Kanacyn, he's once again on a break with pristine water and now he's got the white cottony stuff on his fins.... again.
OK... I think this is what I'd do. Get a sterilite tub at WalMart, 5 or 10 gallon, set it up with filter and heater. Get cat into it, acclimate appropriately.
Strip down the 20 gallon and sanitize it. Remove substrate, plants, decor. Sanitize any decor or wood. Sanitize the heater, filter, tubing, all implements. Set it back up with fresh water. New filter material.
Re-seed the filter with healthy bacteria, from where? I don't know. You could order Dr. Tim's Original Nitrifying supplement, or get this substrate that already has beneficial bacteria in it:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=21412
(right now shipping is only $5.99)
Or just plan on cycling it over a period of a time; I'd go fishless cycling.
Ask your pharmacist for some Chloramphenicol... I think this must be a resistant bacteria we're dealing with, it's in your tank and I'd nuke it out of him and sanitize it out of your 20 gallon tank.
He can live in the hospital tank for as long as needed, even when the antibiotic treatment course is completed, even until you get the 20 gallon clean and cycled.
This sounds like a lot of work, and it is. I don't know if you have the energy and strength to do all this, and the money after all you've spent so far, but I think this last big gun antibiotic is his best chance to nuke what seems to be a resistant baterial inection.
I wish I lived nearby... I'd help with all the labor involved, but get whatever help you can from your mate and/or anyone else.
We could keep throwing antibiotics at him, but we've been through so many treatment protocols with him.
I wish I knew a more simple way to proceed, but I think nothing else is going to work in the absence of being able to culture the offending bacteria and test for antibiotic sensitivity.
I wish we knew what your water is like in regards to minerals, general hardness and carbonate hardness. I wonder if we supplemented his water with electrolytes, calcium, and magnesium which are essential for good health and redox...
Are you up for testing your water for those things and supplementing if needed. If you can't buy the tests, then maybe Big Al's could test the water for you.
You might try to get some good spring water with good mineral content to use in the hospital tank while treating him.
