Mystery Disease

[blue2fyre]

Well the lfs said I'm doing everything they would have done. They also recommended I up the dose of the antibiotics. I was treating for 40 gallons since I was worried about my catfish.

The lights went out tonight and while some look worse, there were no deaths today!

 

[THE V]

My heart goes out to you! It really does look bacterial. Whether gram positive or negative, who knows. I would be treating for both as well as your other tank just in case.

This is a common misconception. Gram positive antibiotics generally do not work on Gram negative bacteria. However Gram negative antibiotics generally work on gram positive bacteria as well as Gram negative.

The has to do with the structure of the bacterial cell wall that the Gram Stain test is used to determine. The gram positive bacteria generally have a cell wall that is easier for the antibiotic to breach.

If you do not think the marycin is working you can pick up another Gram-negative antibiotic like tetracycline or erythromycin.

 

[excuzzzeme]

Kanamycinis your best bet as Cerianthus stated. You may need to treat the tank for about 30 days.

Sorry for your loss and hope you can save the rest.

 

[blue2fyre]

I think I've had a small success. One of the acei looks better this morning and is swimming around! The same cannot be said for my poor Goat I think one way or another I'm making progress. I really don't want to change medicines until I'm done treating with the one I have, which will be 2 more days.

 

[myswtsins]

This is heartbreaking! I'm so sorry for everything you are going through & hope that you are making head way now.

It is always suggested to wait a couple weeks after fish come into a LFS to make sure any weak ones died off and that there is no disease present, there's a lot of stress getting to the store. Unfortunately you have seen first hand what happens but hopefully this will help others steer clear of this situation.

QT is also essential, I HATE it but I have recently learned the hard way too. I use a QT tank now even from reliable sources! I will admit that when no signs of disease are present though I don't keep them in there for the full 4+ weeks.

I am not trying to be a jerk, just pointing out some stuff for others to learn from. Stay strong, I know I cried like a little baby when I had to put down one of my fish. :cry:

 

[RDTigger]

I think all of us that didn't heed the QT philosophy have a story that made us respect the idea. Mine was a simple ick outbreak, simply showed me what 'could' happen and it's unusual for me to put anything directly into my main tank.

So happy to hear positives this morning blue.. If they are taking food some good frozen brine or other protein/mineral rish food is in order!

 

[blue2fyre]

Well my lfs could not guarantee they would still be there if I had waited. They were only willing to hold them for a couple days. This disease didn't show up until a week later.

Also I have had no luck keeping mbuna in QT. Keeping that many aggressive fish in a small tank has always led to deaths. I still stand by not QTing them. It's a risk I was fully aware of. It just sucks this is how it turned out.

 

[blue2fyre]

SUCCESS!

Kind of.

The fish that had minor wounds have not gotten any worse. One of the snow whites looks completely better. There is an acei and 2 snow whites that might be too far gone. I have a female hara with a very messed up face but she is still pretty active.

 

[blue2fyre]

Just one more update on this horrid disease.

Today I noticed healing in the fish that had minor sores. The hara with the messed up face is the qorst but she's healing too. All are eating. If this is truly over then my loses have been 8 snow whites and 2 acei. That's close to half the stocking in my tank.

Today was the 5th day of treatment. Tomorrow I'm doing a large water change and repeating a 5 day treatment again. No new fish are going in this tank for a month. I'm really worried the understocking will cause aggression problems but I will have to cross that bridge when I get there.

 

[mel_20_20]

I'm so sorry for your losses, but it's good news to hear that the survivors seem to be healing and getting better. Keep up the good work.