A.cacatuoides problem

[beleg]

A friend of mine gave me a pair of Orange flash A.cacatuoides because he cant take care of them anymore. The fish breathe rapidly and especially the female shows a dark color, almost brownish. According to my knowledge this happens when the fish are badly stressed and ammonia poisoning. I dosed their tank with Sera Aqutan in triple dosage to reduce their stress last night but this morning the heavy breathing continued. I didnt have much time to observe the fish to see if there are signs of other problems.

Any thoughts?

 

[fishgeek]

water temperature? and parameters? increase the surface movement in the tank or add some aeration in the short term

what do the gills look like? colour pale or brwon?


potential respiratory toxins nclude chlorine, ozone,certain volatile organics ,malachite green andammonia as you had mentioned


andrew

 

[beleg]

Temp was ok. I dont think he tested the parameters. The fish were in an over crowded tank for quite sometime. Hopefully its not too late.

 

[tjudy]

gill flukes?

 

[beleg]

Maybe. I will check the gills tonight..

 

[beleg]

The females gills look ok. The male has already recovered without any medicine. Female got very yellow, but stomach is sunken and still breathes fast. Should i do metro?

 

[fishgeek]

have you a microscope?
do her gills look a bit pale?
could she have nematode infection casuing anaemia?

feacal float and sediment would tell which treatment is most apporpriate

 

[beleg]

No worms seen from anus. I plan to dose metro.. Its sold a Flagyl here for human consumption. 500mg each tablet. I smash and melt in water. Then dose the tank. I still haven't got time to make medicated food.

 

[fishgeek]

protozoa often casue some bloating rather than just sunken tummy, that why i wondered about worms

they are only seen from anus in later stages and with camallanus, there are other species
can you do feacal examination
did you treat with both levamisol and metro simaltaneously before?

andrew

 

[beleg]

Hmm..You will make me get a microscope one day . Will a microscope for kids (10X,50X) work ? Most of the apistogramma that are imported here have serious internal problems. I will apply Levamisole too..

 

[beleg]

Andrew a question.
How long will that medicated food with metronidazole last in the freezer with out loosing its effect? I think i will make it asap.

And is there a similar one for using Levamisole? How many mg Levamisole HCl per gr food?

 

[fishgeek]

i am not aware of an oral dose of levamisol and it does cause anaorexia at higher levels so may not be the most effective method of administration?

though i guess when the fish stop eating you know they have been dosed enough!?!

i dont believ any of antibiotics are particularly stable in feed preparations
certainly higher heats will degrade them and prolonged contact with moisture is likely to aswell

my texts are relatively vague on this

sorry andrew

 

[fishgeek]

magnification may be adequate on a childs scope though i think the lens quality may be a hinderance

there is also a steep learning curve adn an objective lens that can take a basic camera mount allows multiple opinions on what you are seeing