apisto "lockjaw"

[wrisch@mendel.berkeley.edu (lisa wrischnik)]

Hi all,
Ed Pon keeps mentioning this disease (in which the jaws of the fish seem
to open wider and wider, and the fish also hyperventilate), and I wish I
could tell him more about it. I have had it kill nijsseni, rotpunkt, and
cacatuoides,
but it hasn't been a problem for me lately (I've had other diseases to
worry over).

Antibiotics did not seem to have any effect on "lockjaw", but I was not
very systematic in my choice of them (I think I used whatever I had around
at the time - I never did combine both gram+/gram- medications, for
example). I did
try metronidizole once and I also had no success, but the fish may have
been too far gone to save (after a run of antibiotics). I also tried fluke
medicine, but I may have overdosed it because the fish was dead the next
day
 - something else to retest.

I once mentioned this disease to David Soares, and he said he had lost fish
to it as well, didn't know how to cure it, and suggested perhaps it could
be some form of fish tuberculosis. I believe they start the breathing
defect before the mouth begins to distend, so maybe, Ed, you could try to
nip it in
the bud by starting to medicate at the first sign of rapid breathing. Unwisely,
I always waited until the jaw defect appeared. (I know, WHICH meds to use is
really the crucial issue here. I'll at least attempt to remember which
antibiotics I've tried).

Sorry I can't be more helpful,
Lisa