Re: NANFA-L-- Mystery tentatively solved

geoffrey kimber (gkimber2-in-gmail.com)
Wed, 28 Jun 2006 08:33:56 -0500

did you try somehting like metronidazaole? that is a human medication
used to treat protozoa infections (among other things). It used to be
available as a fish med. Perhaps it might be helpful.

On 6/28/06, Mysteryman <bestfish-in-alaweb.com> wrote:
> That weird mystery malady that was wiping out my Rainbow Shiners has been
> narrowed down to a ciliated protozoan. These little beasties are in the habit
> of attaching to the caudal fin, tearing it to shreds, and feasting on the
> blood. Loss of blood is apparently the cause of death for the affected fish,
> although no bleeding is visible unless the crust of parasites is removed. The
> gills are strangely left alone; the parasite has a strong affinity for the
> caudal fin. The other fins are also largely ignored. The white crusty
> appearance is due to a congregation of thousands of the creatures piled up on
> the fins & each other. Just how they swarm so suddenly in such great number
> and attach to fish in such a very short time is something I haven't figured
> out, but it does-in-least explain the way the fish are fine all night and only
> attacked in the morning. I guess the parasites wake up-in-dawn and begin their
> rampage.
> Antifungal & antibiotic meds seem to retard their growth & spread for a short
> while, and antiparasite meds knock them down for a lot longer. I gave the fish
> a massive dose ( 3X normal ) of Coppersafe, and after about 10 days with no
> further outbreaks the problem seems to be solved, although the fish are
> obviously unhappy about the copper. A few massive water changes might help
> them through it.
> Normal copper doses weren't having any useful effect. I would guess that a
> strong dose of Clout or similar might also work.
>
> I never did get around to sending any specimens to a lab, but I will. I just
> used my own microscope and pored through a whole bunch of books on the
> subject, finally finding one obscure reference in a very old book printed back
> when people still commonly kept natives. No physical description of the
> parasite in that example is given, so I don't know if that's the culprit.
> Cyclochaeta is the name of it, or-in-least it was way back then, and the
> symptoms described are a good match for what my poor little rainbows
> suffered.
> I've never before heard of this Cyclochaeta, and that's odd in itself, since I
> have a LOT of books on the subject of fish diseases. Oh, well; the newer books
> have long had the irksome habit of leaving out good stuff from times past,
> eh?
>
> Anyway, I figured you guys would like to know about this irritating little
> beastie in case you have the same symptoms in your fish someday. This
> knowledge came too late to save my Rainbows, but my Flagfins are okay. Luckily
> my Bluenoses were never exposed; I'm sure they wouldn't have had a chance.
> By the way, the Warmouth milt has had zero effect on the bluenoses in regard
> to making them spawn, although they are in full spawning condition and
> courting constantly. ( Quite a sight! Who needs Bettas with this action going
> on? ) I guess I'm gonna have to find a Longear.
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/ visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
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