[bernreuther]

I just noticed that my male kribensis has a hole in his head. But not like what I know of HITH the disease. It literally looks like he was poked with a pin. It is a tiny, perfectly round and symmetrical dot like a puncture wound. I don't have any armatuses or anything though so unless my baby aro's barbells turned into swords, I have no idea how it would've gotten there.

His behavior is the same as it has always been. He's kind of old. Should I be concerned?

 

[Robin]

Hi

Without a picture I couldn't say what it is but it's a good sign that the fish is normal otherwise.
Since HITH is thought to be related at least in part to poor water quality you might focus on improving it. Try doing every other day partial water changes of 30 % for the next several weeks. Use a good quality declorinator. Siphon the gravel. Check and make sure that your
filter(s) are working properly with a good strong flow coming out of them and no build up of wasted on the media itself.

If it is some kind of puncture wound then the extra attention to water quality will help to prevent it from getting infected. If you notice the hole suddenly getting larger, the edges getting raw and read looking or white or gray fuzz anywhere on the fish then you need to treat with an antibiotic.

Robin

 

[bernreuther]

Nothing about the hole/wound has changed but he is noticeably thinner a few days later. Do you think this is indicative of anything?

Right now I am feeding the tank only jungle parasite medicated food, just on the off chance that the source of the parasite in my mbuna tank (which had its own thread and appears to be improving) was the hospital tank, which a few of these fish have been in. Could it be that he's just not getting enough food now? Seems like kind of a rapid weight loss if that's the case though.

I'll try to get some photos tomorrow morning.

 

[Robin]

He's thinner but you're still seeing him eat? That's good that the hole has not changed.

Well I'd continue on with the Jungle parasite food for as long as the package advises. Make sure you're seeing this particular fish eat the Jungle food.
If there's no improvement by the end of the treatment then I would remove this fish to a hospital tank and try treating with either Jungle Parasite Clear OR, in case its bacterial, the combination of Maracyn and Maracyn-two. Kanamycin will work, too.

If you think this fish has gotten a good dose of the anti parasite FOOD then I would choose the Maracyns. If he hasn't gotten a good dose of the food then you can either try another round of the food, in isolation, or go with the JPC tablets which will guarantee that he's getting the med. (Anytime you can get a fish to ingest it's medicine its preferable however it's not always easy to document that the fish is actually eating enough of the med)

Sorry not to give you a definite answer on which way to go: parasite or bacteria. Unfortunately the symptoms point to either and without looking at a sample under a microscope there's no way of knowing for sure.

Robin

 

[bernreuther]

Upon closer examination his belly is getting hollow like the africans in the other tank. And my girlfriend reports that he does not seem interested in the jungle food.

I treated the tank again with the jungle parasite clear tabs and if that doesn't work I'll step it up to the stuff that I know is 250mg Metro/75 prazi (I even called Jungle and they were unable to tell me how much of each of those ingredients is in their tabs). 250/75 metro/prazi seemed to help the african tank, in addition to being on a jungle food-only diet. I think I may have lost one yellow lab (hard to count when so many look the same) but the peacocks bellies appear to be filling back in.

I wonder though, when it might be time to decide the metro isn't working and try to move on to something more powerful, possibly levamisole hydrochloride (not that I know where to get that). I also have Prazi-Pro that I can put in on its own too. Now that I apparently have this going on in two tanks despite all my best efforts, I really just want to be prepared for anything.

The only thing I can figure is that the snails in the hospital tank (which used to house a puffer, hence the snails' introduction) carried the parasite, and that the fish that had been in that brought the paraiste into both tanks. That's the only explanation for why they both have it but my third tank does not. I am going to empty out the hospital tank and throw out the gravel, so that it can be prepared to house this krib if he continues to ignore the food. Do I need to be worried that perhaps there is parasite living in the sponge filter of that tank? Or is that impossible?