# NEED HELP PLZ



## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)

I now believe that my 9" GT is suffering from *Septicemia*. Symptoms include: reddening at the base of ventral fins; very dull, listless behaviour; lack of appetite; signs of finrot.

Tank is 60 gallon with an XP3 filter.
Current Water conditions - 
PH 7.6, Nitrates 40, Nitrites 0, Ammonia 0, Hardness 300, Alkalinity 120.
Tank mates: 5 zebra danios, 8 ghost shrimp, 2 goldfish, 1 CAE.

Recent History: Tank's nitrates rose to 200ppm on Aug 3. I have been doing 30% water changes every 4 days since then. As of Aug 20, the nitrates are down to 40ppm. On Aug 16, I began adding Melafix.

Pics of the GT are at this thread: http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=95174








QUESTIONS:
*Does this seem like a accurate diagnosis and treatment?
How do you treat a fish for Septicemia?*


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Are the scales falling off??? If indeed that is what the fish has, will probually need a serious med and be isolated right away.


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## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)

mashunter18 said:


> Are the scales falling off??? If indeed that is what the fish has, will probually need a serious med and be isolated right away.
> [snapback]1163161[/snapback]​


No, that doesn't seem to be the case. He still has all of his scales. I will have to take a closer look to confirm this though.

What do mean by serious medicine? This is day 7 of Melafix treatment. Is there stronger/different meds that I could treat him with?


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## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)




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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

gamgenius said:


> mashunter18 said:
> 
> 
> > Are the scales falling off??? If indeed that is what the fish has, will probually need a serious med and be isolated right away.
> ...


I dont know much about the diesease, I remember reading somewhere one of the symptoms of Septicemia is scales falling off.

by heavy meds I mean more of a specialty med, to me melafix, primafix, and salt are basic medications.I would use caution using anything other then these.

dont know of one to reccomend, I would try and make sure your diagnosis is correct as well....I cant really help any more then that....


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## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)

mashunter18 said:


> I dont know much about the diesease, I remember reading somewhere one of the symptoms of Septicemia is scales falling off.
> 
> by heavy meds I mean more of a specialty med, to me melafix, primafix, and salt are basic medications.I would use caution using anything other then these.
> 
> ...


I appreciate your input for sure. I am going to continue with regular water changes and add salt after I am done with the Melafix treatment. Then see if the GT shows signs of improvement.

From what I have read, the syptoms suggest either Septicemia or Tuberculosis. I don't want to think that it is Tuberculosis since there is no cure for that







I am hoping for the best and will keep ya updated on the progress.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Melafix and Pimafix are, from my experience, completely useless "snake oil" type medications that are niether clinically proven, nor remotely effective in my experience. I think the instances where you do see fish get better with these treatments are simply a result of the fish's natural immune system fighting off the infection combined with the good water quality that comes along with the water changes that are part of the dosing instructions for those medications. Don't bother with any of them because even if they were effective (which they aren't) septicemia is a blood disease and external medications will not be useful.

Having said that, Septicemia is a gram negative bacterial infection of the blood. It is worth noting that it is transferable to humans and can be fatal to you as well, so please wash your hands very well with a strong antibacterial soap immediately after going into the tank, or better still wear gloves.

What you want to look for is a anti-biotic medication specifically tailored to gram negative bacterial infections. Maracyn-2 should work quite well in this case. Maracyn (not maracyn-2) is not effective against gram negative bacteria and should be avoided since it won't do anything.

Lastly to mention is two things. CHECK THE EXPIRY DATE ON YOUR MEDICATION BEFORE YOU BUY. Anti-biotics have a shelf life, and if they're expired you're just wasting your time.

Also VERY IMPORTANT is that your nitrifiers are a gram negative bacteria and will be killed by the medication. This means that it is inevitable that you're going to have to cycle your tank one more time. Purchasing a bottle of ammo-lock and adding a bit of salt will prevent your fish from suffering the ill effects of the cycle it's likely to go through and further stressing it out. If you have another tank with culutured bio media plan ahead to be taking some out of that filter to help cycle this tank again when you are done treatment.

Let us know how it goes. Good luck


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

elTwitcho said:


> Melafix and Pimafix are, from my experience, completely useless "snake oil" type medications that are niether clinically proven, nor remotely effective in my experience. I think the instances where you do see fish get better with these treatments are simply a result of the fish's natural immune system fighting off the infection combined with the good water quality that comes along with the water changes that are part of the dosing instructions for those medications. Don't bother with any of them because even if they were effective (which they aren't) septicemia is a blood disease and external medications will not be useful.
> 
> Having said that, Septicemia is a gram negative bacterial infection of the blood. It is worth noting that it is transferable to humans and can be fatal to you as well, so please wash your hands very well with a strong antibacterial soap immediately after going into the tank, or better still wear gloves.
> 
> ...


there you go, much better advice then what I gave. Im not to experienced with diesease meds and what not, Frankly never had any serious problems since Iv kept fish. I used melafix once, on a pair of fish, that had a slight mouth fungus, 2 weeks later it barely looked better, eventually cleared on its own, in 1 months time, dont know if that melafix had anything to do with it.

Good luck.. from me as well


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## Husky_Jim (May 26, 2003)

My advice is to start treatment with Aquarium's Pharmaceutical's General Cure (in order to stop any secondary parasitic infections) and Furan-2 in order to cover the gram-positive and negative bacterials.

Goodluck with your guy...


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## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)

Thank you guys sooo much for the input!

ElTwitcho, I think you're right about the Melafix since there was no major improvements after the treatment. A slight increase in appetite was the only difference. So I will give the Maracyn 2 shot at curing the GT's ailments this week.

I will post some updates when there is something more to report.


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## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)

Update on my GT's health... He is eating more, about 4-6 large pellets a day. The reddening at the base of ventral fins has been redued slightly. Also, hee is a little more active as he chases the tankmates sometimes now.

Sooo some signs of improvement after the Melafix treatment, but not a complete recovery. 
Should I begin the Maracyn-2 treatment this weekend as ElTwitcho described above? 
OR should I do another Melafix treatment?

Any input?


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