One of my beautiful fish is sick, I'm guessing aeromonas. This fish dropsied last June and was saved with the rapid heating method.

She's now got some red veins in her tail, and some fin rot, and is bottom sitting a bit. I can't get medicated food in Australia, but I've got an amoxil pill, which I have checked will be effective against aeromonas.

Now, anyone got any ideas of how to do this?? I've done a websearch around but have not found much. I can get tri-sulpa tank treatment, which I know is also used for feed, so maybe soaking pellets in this would work? I've got no idea how to properly dose this. Do you??

Thanks

Hi Suzie - I've made medicated food several times using Metronidazole so can give you my recipe for this. But first, how is your water?

Also, what other symptoms can you see?

If you're sure your water is perfect (ie. ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates <20) then you can do the following:

(This is just how I made it):

- some crushed garlic
- some tinned tuna in springwater (well drained)
- some peas
- some beans
- some zuchini
- and if you have any you can add some fish food. I only added spirulina because it contains vitamins

I ended up blending the lot together and measured out 200ml and then dissolved 1 tablet. I made sure I added a drop of Prime to the mixing water to make sure no chlorine or chloramines remained.

Then I dissolved about 2 tablespoons of gelatin in hot water (again with a drop of dechlorinator) and the reason I added more then the recommend amount is so the food wouldn't dissolve in the water leeching out the meds. 2 tbs ensured its solidity and was readily ingested by my fish.

I've not made it using amoxil so strengthwise, i'm not sure of the dosage. My vet helped me work out 1 tablet per 200ml of food as a good dosage to be fed twice daily

Thanks Jen. I will retest the water again to make sure everything is still ok when I get home from work today.
I do have promethesul in the tank, but I haven't heard if this effects any of the tests. Even though it's blue tinted en mass, in the small vials for testing the water is still clear.

I salted the tank to .2% over the weekend as well.

The symptoms I've seen are the red veins in the tail, which started a month ago, then faded away, and now have come back since the tail rot.

She is still eating, she is always eating. This morning she did have a poop longer than one of my other fish though, I'd say it was about 3 inches long and not stringy at all (7.5cm).


I always have bad luck with these fish going into Spring.

I might just keep up with the daily water changes and see how she goes. Btw, are the water treatments to remove chlorine instant? It doesn't say on the bottle how long you have to let it sit for. I usually put it in and wait a day, but I'm not sure if I need to wait that long before using the water.

Thanks for the help, will check parameters again. If her condition gets worse I will try the delicious sounding recipe you have suggested.

Thanks for the help

Hi there, I've retested the water.

Amonia=nil
nitrate=10
nitrite=nil
pH=6.9

I have been doing frequent water changes for almost a week now.

The tail rot has spread to the other side of her tail, definitely getting worse.

The tail veins are not worse though, maybe even a slight improvement. She's still eating almost all the time, but doing a bit of resting on the bottom in between feeding. Very thick and long poop as well.

I'm a bit nervous about making the medicated food. Do you think I should go for it or try a mercurachrome application to the tail? Maybe the infection inside is subsiding? Oh I 've got no idea, I just wish they could tell me what's wrong!

Thanks

Hi Suzie, most good water conditioners remove the chloring immediately especially if you put the drops in first then fill with water (should mix well).

Your water stats are excellent which is a big plus.... just on the finrot, would you be able to give a bit more of a description? Did the fins shred? Or did they start to corrode around the edges? Was there any whitening/greying around the edges?

Finrot's a good indication that something's not right but the challenge is trying to work out what exactly is the cause. For example, it can be caused by poor water, high toxins in the water, parasites and bacteria - basically anything that stresses them although how the fin rots can give a good indication of what's caused it.

If it were me, I would go with something like triple sulfa especially as I don't know what affect Amoxil has on fish or, if you have a vet nearby, you can ask for metronidazole to make a food out of. I've found this med excellent for finrot on 2 occassions which is why i'm such an advocate.

If you're unable to find a vet who can help you, let me know and I can express post 2 tablets to you then you'll be able to make up some medicated food. You would only need to use 1 tablet:200mls of wet food and keep one on hand if ever you need it again

Ha ha, express posting antibiotics for fish I'm so glad I found this website, there really are other people out there who love their fish like me!!

Well, if you happen to live in or near Surry Hills I could pick up said tablet, saving you a trip to the post office, but it is a pretty big city... so I'd have to be a very lucky fish mummy.

Her tail went from clear to white on one side, on the edge. This white edge retreated further up, and has left the tail jagged. The white part is not stringy or hanging off, although the edge is now uneven. It has not shredded, but the infection is gobbling the tail as it moves up, and has now moved to the other side of the tail.

I've got promethusul in there now, but I might stop by the fish store in Randwick tomorrow to get some tri-sulpha. If I put carbon in my filter will it remove the promethusul? I run my filter carbonless, but have some I can use.

Where is the vet you have found that is happy to deal with fishy issues? Do they write presciptions you have to get from the chemist? Is it expensive? I have never been to a vet before, so please pardon my ignorance.


She's just sitting there on the bottom, staring out of the tank. Sad.


Thanks for your help

I should add, she's got a really long beautiful tail like the fish in your signature pics who is on the bottom row, middle photo.

You have some very attractive fish in those photos!

Her tail is now very blood shot, and while the fin rot appears to have slowed down, the tail is very jagged, and the prominent red veins through the tail are now making it from her body to the end of her long tail.

I can't find a vet to go to here, and for some reason everyone seems to laugh when you tell them you have a sick fish

I have found a similar drug called tinadazole in the cupboard from my time working in East Timor.

I've reviewed some of the data out there regarding both tinadazole and metronidazole, and they look to do the same thing. Never had so much fun looking through "Microbiology Today."

I've sent a message to a surgeon friend of mine to check the drugs are as similar as they appear.

So tonight I'm going to make the batch of food as you described and will keep you posted as to how it goes.

Thanks for your help Jen.

Jen
Sorry, forgot to ask, what strength are the metronidazole pills you have and how many milligrams?

Hi suzie, if you get stuck, email me your addy at jwgoldfish@hotmail.com and i can get the 2 tablets in the post for you. Promethyasul is a broad spectrum antibiotic - not as strong as metronidazole but a good blanket bacterial med...

(I'm on the northern beaches but it's easy for me to post them to you )

It sounds like bacterial finrot which the promethyasul tabs should help with - so keep me posted on the progress. I've never used it so would be interested to know how it works.

I have 2 dogs and 4 birds also which is why I know my vet fairly well I'm always down there for some reason or other and he knows I have 30+ fish so trusts me to do what's right with the meds. It's illegal to supply these meds without seeing the patient so if he needs me to, i'll email him pics... it hasn't come to that thank gawd

Hang in there and let me know if you want me to post them - if I send them tomorrow, they'll get to you by Friday :

PS. The metro meds are 200mg - so quite strong...

I don't have promethusul tabs, I have Tinidazole, sold under the name Fasigyn by Pfizer. It's an antibacterial and antiparasitic which is used in humans for the same uses as the metronidazole (giardia, trich etc) generally for protozoal diseases. The studies I read showed similar effects in human trials although the Tinadazole lasted longer in the blood stream.

I have 4 tablets which are 500mg each which when all taken at once treat giardia (in people of course)

In case this is useful to anyone else trying to do the same...
Human dosage for the Tinadazole is similar to that of the Metronidazole, although some clinical trials use slightly less Tinadazole, so I will use a third of the 500gm tablet.

Now I hope I don't get giardia in East Timor when I'm there next, or I'll need you to express post me 1 of your pills to make up for the one I removed from the pack.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated

Let me know how it goes with the tinidazole A friend of mine took these for a bacteria in her bowel - she was prescribed with 3 she had to take at once. It made her feel nasty apparently but worked a treat on the problems she was having

East Timor?