In the last 24hrs, my little celestial's fins have become blood streaked and her underbelly is now red.

I've removed her to the 10gal qt where her water quality if perfect (ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0) and she has 2 fully cycled filters running with an airstone.

She's still active and eats well and the blood is mainly on her pectoral and ventral pelvic fins and the skin around the area of these fins. There's also red streaking on the right side of her gill plate

I have her in the qt with antibacterial meds (just the broadspectrum from Science Products) and have fed her pellets soaked in the meds....

I'm just wondering if there's anything that can help cure this in Australia?

I wish I was able to get my hands on some Maracyn II - which I believe is one of the only meds that's shown some success but wondered if any of my Aussie friends have heard of anything available?

Many thanks

I'm so sorry to hear about your little fish. I wish I can offer more than just best wishes. Annette has some success with triple sulfa. I know, it is an oldie but could be a goodie.

I happen to have some triple sulpha in my hands - maybe worth a try (a longshot I know)

Fingers crossed and thanks captk

I'm in the same boat, Jen. Bumpy has redness behind one of his pectoral fins and I'm trying Tri-Sulfa myself. I've treated his tank with salt as well. If neither of those work, there's really only Aquaricyclene left to use.

Gee, I'm sorry, AW. Didn't know you have a sick fish as well. All the best, my friend.

I'm so sorry you're going through this aw - it's horrible isn't it? I feel sad just looking at her.

Have you noticed any improvement in Bumpy with the Tri Sulpha?

Is Aquaricyclene readily available do you know?

I will do a ring around tomorrow and check my usual haunts but i'm praying the Tri Sulpha will help some.

My fingers are crossed for Bumpy also - how long has the redness been there?

oh jen, so sorry to hear this.... i lost my flick to septicimia last xmas... hope you can pull her thru...

I'm so sorry Jen I hope all goes well with the treatment....will be praying for your fish's fast recovery Good Luck!

Hi Jen, Aquari-cycline tabs are the brand name for a company called Aqua-Master. These tabs are tetracycline, but there are a few companies that produce it. If you go to your regular haunts and ask for tetracycline tabs they should have it, they're readily available from most big aquariums. These are the only proper antibiotics that are available to us in Australia (bummer huh?). You can't get Maracyn or medicated foods here, it's restricted, I think it's an environmental concern, probably to stop killer antibiotic resistant bugs from forming in the wild. I kind of agree it's a good thing, but it's horrible watching a beloved pet die because these life-saving products are not available.

I'm having troubles in one of my tanks too, I'm currently trying TS tabs, but after a couple of rounds I'm moving onto the Tetracycline... I'm gonna beat this thing if it kills me....

Thanks so much Loz and Cathy I hope she pulls through

A big thanks to you too Madeleine - I will do the ring around and try to locate some Tetracycline. I'm so sorry you're having problems - and I feel the same, I want to try and beat this thing if I can.

What's up with your guys? Is it bacterial?

Unfortunately, a lot of bugs are tetracycline resistant now. Give it a go anyway. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Fingers and toes X'ed.

Thanks captk

It's worth a try if the Tri Sulpha doesn't work but I know the success rate for curing septicemia is quite low. If it gets to a point where the redness increases and Maddison becomes lethargic - then I'll do what's best for her. My hope is I caught it early enough but I know fighting internal bacteria's a tough one

Anyhoo - I'm up for the fight if Maddie is

Good on ya!

Just wanted to give a quick update

I medicated with Triple Sulpha for 1 day and now am medicating with tetracycline (last 24 hours) and while she's not out of the woods yet, the redness has diminished by about 80%.

Oh the relief

I'm trying to work out if it was the TS or the Tetracycline - or maybe a combination of both? This time yesterday, the redness was still extremely bad and it was after I removed all the TS and medicated with Tetracycline that the redness started to go.

Not sure which it is but wanted to thank you captk, aw and madeleine for your suggestions - they helped enormously

What about making a gel food from it also? Sort of a double whammy... inside & out.

That's a sterling idea Kathy - will give that a go

I think it's the tetracycline that's working so will make up a batch of tetrabites (yuk)

That sounds positively delicious! Yum!

Have you eaten? I can whip you up a batch

I have eaten, thank you very much but tetra(aeroplane) jelly might go down a treat as dessert.

Hey Jenn,Sorry to hear that you're having such problems.I guess we Americans don't always realize how lucky we are when it comes to availability of drugs.That would be really hard watching your fish become ill,and not having the Meds that you need. I wish you all the best with helping your little guy,(The rest of you too) Finger's/Toes crossed here too.

Thanks Sharon

It's always a case of hit and miss here I'm afraid and truth to tell, everytime I've had to treat one of my guys, it's been on a wing and a prayer. This little celestial is a fighter - she came to me half dead, lost half an eye (after lfs guy dropped her on the floor) - has fought through eye bacteria, but nothing like this.

Just looking at her now, it seems she may just fight off this thing - even the skin near her gill plates, which were so badly blood streaked and her belly, which was almost neon in its redness has faded.

I also hope AW and Madeleine's guys fight the good fight and come out healthy and happy

I think this can be moved out of 911 now - my girl seems to be on the mend

Hi Jen,
Sounds like improvement! And your welcome! I thought about it as Ambar had to crush some baytril tabs to make gel food medication for her fish over at kv. I just thought it might work for any antibiotic in regards.

Devs is right, its easy to get most of the medications here, with the exception of the baytril and a few others. But I remember seeing a small lfs in the mall that has antibiotics in capsules. Something I'll keep in mind for myself though in future. Medicated gel food......

Oh, now there you go, grow your own penicillan.... ala bread slice!

Thanks Jen. Glad to hear your celestial is doing okay! Fingers crossedshe recovers fully.

Bumpy has just been struggling since June. He was one of the first to get sick, but the tough little guy's hung in there all this time and outlived them all, bar the three who didn't actually get sick (too much). But his condition just goes up and down like a yoyo. One day he looks almost totally fine, then within a week he's almost dying again. I've literally hit him with everything imaginable several times over the past 5 months. Paracide, Tri-sulfa, tetracyclene, salt treatments, Myxazin... I think maybe all the problems he's having are just side issues from the severe gill damage he suffered back at the beginning, so he's not in the best condition to fight off even small infections. Poor little guy. I'll keep trying though.

Thanks again.