[noddy]

One of my trophs has something wrong with it. It looks like it has fine, white flaps protruding from under it's gill plates, I can't get a pic right now. I'm wondering if it is gill flukes. My Lfs suggested gill flukes and gave me a bottle of "life bearer", I don't want to treat until I figure out what it is for sure. I'll try and get a pic. after work. Does anyone have any ideas. Thanks.

 

[NorthShore]

I would say gill flukes.

 

[noddy]

Thanks Gerry. I managed to get a couple of pics. I'm a little worried as I have never seen this before and don't know how to treat it (quaranteen the fish or treat the whole tank). If anyone else has experience with this problem I would be gratefull for any help. Thanks.

 

[noddy]

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[IrkedCitizen]

Might as well treat the whole tank. Better to be safe then sorry.

How to treat them? I have no idea.

 

[lloyd]

hey noddy, long time no see. if your troph's gill plates appear cottony, i would proceed with an antibacterial treatment for the full tank. i see some light tail rot, which could strengthen this suspicion, but with aggressive fish like tropheus, it can be an inappropriate assumption at times.
the white line along the anal fin concerns me most. if this is the only fish with this issue, and the whitish color has extended beyond gill plates, to include other body extensions, then one could assume kidney failure, and you would need to cull the fish as terminal. HTH and IMHE.

 

[noddy]

Thanks for the advice guys. Hey Lloyd, do you still have snow up there? The white line at the anal fin only showed up once I posted the pics, it's not visible normally. I recently went away for 2 weeks and so, the tanks missed one of their water changes. when I got back I had one troph in each tank that was swollen so, I treated with metro for 4-5 days, everyone was good after a week except this one kachese who then developed these gill "curtains". I'm going to treat today with something (not sure what yet) I was given some meds called "life bearer", made by aquarium products. My big concern is that it will affect the the bio. I can't seem to get a definate answer on whether or not it will. Lloyd, if you find yourself down this way, you'r allways welcome to stop in for a beer (I have another cigar here that I'll never smoke as well). Thanks again. :thumb:

 

[lloyd]

Hey Lloyd, do you still have snow up there?

last year's snow is finally reappearing from under the new stuff. at this rate, we should be mowing grass by 2009
life bearer should be ok in a well established tank but 1/2 dose is the best way to start. the 50% w.c. caution, if fish show 'stress', is a good clue to proceed slowly. HTH.

 

[Robin]

Some of the meds used to treat Gill Flukes are Clout, Fluke Tabs, Paraform, Trifon, Paragon, Quick Cure, Formalin, and Jungle Parasite Guard. I'm not familiar with the med Life Bearer so I can't comment on it.

Is the fish rubbing and scratching against things? Breathing hard? Would you say the white substance is slimy? Fuzzy? Bloody? Is the area around the gills red? Is the fish eating? Swimming normally? Hanging at the top or hiding?

I understand your concern that you don't want to treat until you know for sure what the fish has. The problem is that unless its something very obvious, without taking an actual sample of the white substance and looking at it under a microscope we're not going to know for sure. I can't tell anything from the pictures other than to confirm the fact that there's something white there.

lloyd's on the right track in trying to determine if it's bacterial or a parasite. If you've had these fish for awhile and you haven't added anything new to the tank then its more likely bacterial since most parasites need to be introduced to the tank. Bacterias are for the most part present in the tank all the time and only become a problem when the fish comes under some kind of stress.

Please post back with more information and in the meantime try to fit in a few partial water changes.

Robin

 

[noddy]

The fish is not rubbing or scratching against things, eats and poops normally, doesn't hang around the top or hide behind rocks. It basically acts quite normal except, it's gill plates are flared out and, has this white stuff coming out from under them. The gill plates are not swollen or red either. The white stuff appears to be kind of mucusy but not like it can be scraped off to easily, it's kind of slimey and not fuzzy or bloody. It looks like a set of silk drapes that undulate with the fish's breathing. The fish was in an established colony of trophs with no new tankmates. I pulled her out and put her in a 35g hospitall tank on sunday, I treated with life bearer (full strength) on sunday and then repeated yesterday. The white stuff seems to have decreased but, is still there. I'm going to do a 50% water change this evening and then treat with clout. Thanks very much for the help. Paul.

 

[Robin]

I just looked up Life Bearer and apparently it's for parasites, gill flukes in particular. If there's been some improvement with one treatment and the package advises to do another one then I'd be inclined to do a second dose of the Life Bearer. But Clout is also a good way to go.

If you don't see significant improvement after the second treatment then you might consider treating it as a bacterial infection with an antibiotic.

Sorry not to give you a definite direction to go. If symptoms don't fall clearly in one catagory or another, (in this case parasite or bacterial), then you simply have to go with the most likely diagnosis and treat accordingly.

Thankfully it sounds like your fish is fairly healthy in all other respects so you have a little extra time to find the right course of treatment.

Let me know how it goes.

Robin

 

[noddy]

Thanks Robin. The instructions for the life bearer said to not exceed two treatments, and I have done two. I'll try the clout, and if that doesn't fix it I will look into some anti- bacterial meds.