Need advice on skin lesion in P taenitus; Parasitized Apistogrammoides

["Maladorno, Dionigi \(DRUG;Nutley\)" <DIONIGI.MALADORNO@roche.com>]

"Robert J Molan" wrote: <<<<<
Need advice on skin lesion in P taenitus
One of my P taenitus species has developed a lesion at the base of the
dorsal fin.  The lesion is ulcerated and is not responding to
conservative
treatment, starting at salt baths, and antifungal/finrot medications.
My
question is should I use antibiotics on her, or should I continue to
treat
in conservative fashion.  Also although she is moved to a hospital tank
should I treat her old tank.>>>>>>>


I do not think you need to treat the previous tank. Several
skin ulcerations are not treatable (actually, in some
cases they may be infective to humans, and caution should be
exercised in immersing bare hands in tanks with fishes in this
condition), and it is my impression that water quality is the
key factor that the average hobbyist may control. 
Antibiotics just dispersed in the water may not be too effective, 
but if you suspect a bacterial origin (red, swollen lesions) you can
give a try for example with one of the furans, such as nifurpirinol.




 (Steven J. Waldron wrote: <<<<<Parasitized Apistogrammoides
I recently picked up some Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis and after a few
weeks of what seemed to be excellent health and vigor, they are starting
to
go down. None have died as of yet, but they have stopped eating, feces
are
stringy, bellies pinched, and a lot of time spent sitting on the bottom
of
the aquarium.(...) I have been treating with Paragon II, an
anit-parasite med that
contains metrondiazole. Things seem to be getting progressively worse
(...) >>>>>


Steve, Paragon is in my opinion a poorly effective and poorly tolerated
drug,
due to the choice of the ingredients. It is supposed to work by the
"shotgun" approach, but the only victims are normally the bacteria in
the biological filter, and occasionally the sick fish!
Clean it out with carbon, and then go on with a de-wormer such as
Fluke-Tabs
(one full dose only) or flubenol (I assume you are in the US, where
either one is
 more easily available than other possible choices). A temperature in
the
low eighties might be of some support.
If this does not work, try again metronidazole at full dose(use for
example the 
formulation from Aquatronics).


Dionigi Maladorno
dionigi.maladorno@roche.com
This message presents personal opinions which are not necessarily those
of my employer.