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Old 09-06-2003, 05:56 AM
Tom La Bron
 
Posts: n/a
Default SOS! SICK FISH!/do all dead fish float?/Melafix?/Furanase

Jo,

Sorry for not being here sooner, but Saturdays were storms and I don't turn
on the computer and today was church, lunch and then take the kids to the
new swimming hole, so I just saw your email.

I agree with Gregory, that antibiotics in the whole pond is foolish and
costly. It seems to be a moot treatment beings you can't catch your fish,
but it you could you could set up a dip for your fish equaling 100mg of
oxytetracycline/1 liter of water and dip the fish for one hour. You could
also get the newer Romet medicated food that has oxytetracycline in it.

About non-floaters in dead fish, this is a yes. I experienced it this
winter, lost two fish and never knew they were gone until I couldn't find
this spring when I went to put them outside; all I found, literally, were
their skeletons at the bottom of the barrel.

Melafix works, but you need to follow the instructions and put it in every
day or at least every other day for a week. I was forced to try it when my
thoughtful daughters won some fish at Wally-World and put them in Daddy's
ponds because daddy didn't have any like these. Two days later I had 2 dead
fish floating. I introduced Melafix as directed and lost one more fish and
after the 6 days all was right with the world.

Your pH problem is a hard one. Like Gregory said I would use the baking
soda to add KH and keep trying to lower the pH. Muriatic acid is supposedly
the quickest way, but I really don't know if is the best. There are a lot
of products out there that say they will lower pH, but this is one avenue
that I have never had to travel, because my ponds only decrease from 8.2 is
if I get 5 inches of rain in an afternoon or overnight. It certainly never
goes above 8.5.

I certainly would not be too quick to add the Fruanase until I see the
results of the Melafix or if the fish are getting any better with the
Melafix.

Be careful with the PP. Make sure you have plenty of H2O2 handy just in
case.

Injectable would be best, but this depends on your expertise and if you can
get the meds and syringes.

HTH

Tom L.L.
----------------------------------------
"Jo Bohannon-Grant MD" wrote in message
...
I've been waiting for a 'floater' so I can swab the skin and look at it
under my scope.
I know I'll have no trouble differentiating fungal hyphae from bacteria
and parasites.
I thought for sure at least two of my fishies have died, but I haven't
seen a carcass.
I have a gate separating my two ponds to contain the fish in the larger
pond and prevent the bodies from entering the skimmers, but no bodies to
be found.

Which leads my to a stupid question: do all dead fish float?

This morning I think I see two gray mutt koi/goldfish progeny with white
milk mustaches.

So- white sores on the sides and white milk mustaches- combo
fungal/bacterial infection?

I have a 10 gal hospital aquarium ready for fish, but I can't catch them;
they're fast little suckers!

I'm feeding antibiotic fish food, have salt concentration at 0.16%,
waiting for KMnO4 to arrive (this will be my last resort treatment),
added a bottle of Melafix (quackery or does it really work?),
ph still 9 (do I keep adding muriatic acid?), and I bought some
Furanase, which supposedly treats fungus and bacteria. Bottle states
"Treats: Mouth Fungus (Chondrococcus Columnaris) Bacteria (causing Fin
and Tail Rot), Cotton Wool Fungus.

Do I add the Furanase?

Thanks for everyone's help.

Jo Bohannon
Richmond, Va



Gregory Young wrote:

Greeting JO.
I'm BC in EM and IM, practicing mostly the former.
1) isolate involved fish in tank/pool, etc. Perform a gill/skin scraping

and
look for parasites under a scope (which I know you can do based on your
training. You may need help identifying the parasites initially. I would
recommend you go to either www.akca.org or www.koivet.com which can help

you
with that part.


Greg