Post by billyj on May 23, 2020 5:15:31 GMT -5
Hi there,
First up, a huge thank you for all the information on your website - it's a fantastic resource. It's been a great help in diagnosing and treating two of my three small (c. 2.5") ranchu goldfish for what appears to be finrot and a bacterial ulcer.
The fish are otherwise in seemingly good health, no flashing and eating well, though with the occasional stringy white faeces from the red-and-white ranchu. I first noticed finrot on the anal fin of this fish, with red streaking and a thick white edge, about three weeks ago. The infection has now reached the fin base, leaving one remaining ray (bone?) of the fin fully exposed. This ray has now split in two, and the base is livid pink - it's not pretty. He also has developed smaller areas of rot on his tail and one of his pectorals.
A few days after I noticed the finrot a small, slightly fuzzy white spot also appeared on the side of my orange ranchu, and quite swiftly became a lesion.
I tried dosing eSHA 2000 (a copper-based treatment available here in the UK), which had no visible effect after one week, and dosed API aquarium salt at approx 3/4 tsp/gal. After reading your article I obtained some methylene blue, and have been swabbing and bathing the two fish in a salt and MB solution following your instructions, twice daily for seven days.
After a few days in which it seemed to be worsening, I'm pleased to say the orange fish is now healing up well with swift re-coverage of the ulcer.
The other fish's finrot affliction, however, continues to worsen, and I'm very concerned now that it's reached the base of the fin. Yesterday I attempted a swab of the affected areas with 3% hydrogen peroxide, which has yet to have any visible effect. I have also ordered some potassium permanganate from eBay as it is easily available here, which seems riskier as a treatment but good to have on hand.
Last week I purchased some AAP Spectrogram from your website, which sounds highly effective and like it's the only thing that might knock this infection out... I'm hoping shipping from the USA doesn't take too long to save the fish (it's impossible to get hold of any real antibiotics here, and I wish I had ordered from your site weeks ago!).
My question is: when the Spectrogram arrives, how should I best dose it? I'd rather not add it to the main tank to avoid any biofilter issues, and to give a more concentrated dose. The MB article suggests that antibiotics can be combined with MB in a bath - how much Spectrogram should I dose in that case? (I have been bathing the fish in around 1gal US of water, with airstone, for 30mins).
Alternatively, I wondered if you have had success dosing Spectrogram soaked or blended into the fish's food. I feed them the gel mix Repashy Gold, so could quite easily add it this way (though would similarly be concerned about any impact on biofilter in main tank). Would this be effective, and if so what dose would you advise?
My final question is if it's worth continuing to bathe the finrot-afflicted fish in MB and salt for now, despite no visible improvement after one week. Might it still be helping to slow the infection down? What about potassium permanganate as an alternative?
Tank details below:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrite: 20-30ppm (10 out of tap)
Temp :20°C (68°F)
pH: 8.0
Volume: 125L / 33 gal US
Filter: Eheim classic 2215 external, air 200 airstone
Substrate: 2" gravel
Stock: 3 X 2.5" ranchu, circa 3 months in tank. Planted with java fern and elodea, plus a crew of ramshorn snails
WC 40% twice weekly with gravel vac, conditioner Seachem Prime
Feed Repashy Gold twice daily
Many many thanks for any advice!
First up, a huge thank you for all the information on your website - it's a fantastic resource. It's been a great help in diagnosing and treating two of my three small (c. 2.5") ranchu goldfish for what appears to be finrot and a bacterial ulcer.
The fish are otherwise in seemingly good health, no flashing and eating well, though with the occasional stringy white faeces from the red-and-white ranchu. I first noticed finrot on the anal fin of this fish, with red streaking and a thick white edge, about three weeks ago. The infection has now reached the fin base, leaving one remaining ray (bone?) of the fin fully exposed. This ray has now split in two, and the base is livid pink - it's not pretty. He also has developed smaller areas of rot on his tail and one of his pectorals.
A few days after I noticed the finrot a small, slightly fuzzy white spot also appeared on the side of my orange ranchu, and quite swiftly became a lesion.
I tried dosing eSHA 2000 (a copper-based treatment available here in the UK), which had no visible effect after one week, and dosed API aquarium salt at approx 3/4 tsp/gal. After reading your article I obtained some methylene blue, and have been swabbing and bathing the two fish in a salt and MB solution following your instructions, twice daily for seven days.
After a few days in which it seemed to be worsening, I'm pleased to say the orange fish is now healing up well with swift re-coverage of the ulcer.
The other fish's finrot affliction, however, continues to worsen, and I'm very concerned now that it's reached the base of the fin. Yesterday I attempted a swab of the affected areas with 3% hydrogen peroxide, which has yet to have any visible effect. I have also ordered some potassium permanganate from eBay as it is easily available here, which seems riskier as a treatment but good to have on hand.
Last week I purchased some AAP Spectrogram from your website, which sounds highly effective and like it's the only thing that might knock this infection out... I'm hoping shipping from the USA doesn't take too long to save the fish (it's impossible to get hold of any real antibiotics here, and I wish I had ordered from your site weeks ago!).
My question is: when the Spectrogram arrives, how should I best dose it? I'd rather not add it to the main tank to avoid any biofilter issues, and to give a more concentrated dose. The MB article suggests that antibiotics can be combined with MB in a bath - how much Spectrogram should I dose in that case? (I have been bathing the fish in around 1gal US of water, with airstone, for 30mins).
Alternatively, I wondered if you have had success dosing Spectrogram soaked or blended into the fish's food. I feed them the gel mix Repashy Gold, so could quite easily add it this way (though would similarly be concerned about any impact on biofilter in main tank). Would this be effective, and if so what dose would you advise?
My final question is if it's worth continuing to bathe the finrot-afflicted fish in MB and salt for now, despite no visible improvement after one week. Might it still be helping to slow the infection down? What about potassium permanganate as an alternative?
Tank details below:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrite: 20-30ppm (10 out of tap)
Temp :20°C (68°F)
pH: 8.0
Volume: 125L / 33 gal US
Filter: Eheim classic 2215 external, air 200 airstone
Substrate: 2" gravel
Stock: 3 X 2.5" ranchu, circa 3 months in tank. Planted with java fern and elodea, plus a crew of ramshorn snails
WC 40% twice weekly with gravel vac, conditioner Seachem Prime
Feed Repashy Gold twice daily
Many many thanks for any advice!
