White growths

[Orion]

My male heros has some white growth looking things along his forehead and two behind the gill plate on the left side. I don't think it is HITH or HLLE, and I'm not sure it might be flukes either.

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been as on top of my WC's as I normaly am due to work, so this may be an underlying cause. No other fish are showing any symptoms of this or any other disease or illness. And as far as the inflicted fish is, he acts just fine like normal. No changes in behavior at all. Color looks normal and eats like a horse.

It starts as a small dot, then it looks like it grows to no more than 4 or 5 mm. It looks like it has been affected by melafix as they seemed to have shrunk to just about nothing during the first treatment. I assumed it was gone and didn't add any more to the tank for a few days and it came back. This is why I want to try to determine what it is to knock it out for good.

I'm thinking of maybe just tring some heavier anti-bacterial meds and see if that gets me anywhere. But I'm all open to suggestions or ideas. He's my baby and I'd hate to loose him.

 

[Mahamotorworks]

I really dont have any experience with disease. I would try rasing the temp for the same reason we do with ICH. It will speed up the organisms metabolism. If the Melafix workd to reduce it I would try it again. Maybe dose more or longer then before. Stronger med lke you said is the other alternative.

MAHA

 

[Lotus]

Are the growths smooth or fuzzy?

If it responded to Melafix somewhat, I'd assume it's bacterial (fungal infections are rare). Most parasites like flukes aren't affected by Melafix, and wouldn't grow or shrink, either.

To be honest, I wouldn't raise the temperature. If it's bacterial or fungal, it would just make the disease spread faster.

 

[Orion]

When they are small and just barely over the skin they appear smooth. But when there is one that is longer, the very end does look a little bit fuzzy.

I'm going to stick with the melafix treatment for now and stay with it for a few weeks at the minimum and see how this goes. I'm positive that it's got something to do with my lack of more constant WC's. I hope that dispite this I have caught it soon enough to not cause any major harm.

 

[Lotus]

If you want to keep on the "light" meds, you could do a Melafix/Pimafix mix. They work fine together. Pimafix can cloud the water a bit, but it doesn't stay cloudy after you're finished treatment.

Definitely do some water changes!

 

[Orion]

Yeah I do want to keep with the light stuff if I can. I also realized that they went almost a week without a heater because I forgot to plug it in after the last water change, so the drop in temp may have had a contributing hand as well.

Hopefully melafix and more water changes will help the big guy clear up.

 

[Lotus]

A drop in temp, coupled with a lack of water changes can definitely bring on a case of mild bacteria.

I'm sure once the water is back up to normal, they'll improve.

 

[Orion]

Exactly what I was thinking.

This has been one of those Doh! moments for me.

 

[Orion]

Well now we've went from bad to worse. The white spots are gone. Now looks like he's got popeye in the right eye. This has just came up in the past 24 hours. Now he's also hidding more and not wanting to come out into the open.

Any specific recomendations on meds or treatments?

 

[Lotus]

If it's only one eye that is protruding, I would assume some kind of physical damage, rather than sickness.

Is it possible someone was picking on him or he bashed into something in the tank?

 

[Orion]

now that you mention it, yesterday I did see him rubbing his right gill plate on some driftwood, so I could easily see his eye getting damaged some.

I've been lucky and not had to deal with many illness' in my time. It's just pokeing out there by a good 3-4 mm more than the other eye (normal). And today is the first day he's taken to hidding in the log rather than out being his normal self. Of course if my eye looked like that I wouldn't want to come out either

I'll try to grab a pic in a min.

 

[Orion]

As much as I hate to show the world what I allowed to happen, maybe these will help me help him.

 

[Lotus]

Poor guy!

Pop eye can be caused by poor water quality, bacterial infection or physical damage. Unless the other fish shows symptoms, it's not worth treating with antibiotic, and will likely get better on its own. Continuing with the Melafix won't hurt, and may help with the healing.

 

[Orion]

Nope, no other fish are showing any signs of anything out of the ordinary.

Thanks for the help. Makes me feel better knowing that it's most likley not anything serious even though it looks pretty bad. I'll keep on with the melafix and large water changes and give this guy some TLC that he needs.

 

[Orion]

He was pretty much lifeless when I got home just now. Wife said that about 15 minutes ago he jumped out of the back of the tank, but she was able to get him back in within a few seconds. The right eye that was swollen looked as if the outer layer popped as the eye was much larger. Floating on the surface and not even putting up a fight was enough sign to me that it was time.

Maybe someday I'll be able to get another male as nice as this one and actualy have it pair up with a female and I can have some baby Heros. Just not today. Sorry Pure, I had real high hopes for my pair. With any luck you can turn out better than I have with these guys.

 

[JoluvsGuppies]

Looks like pop-eye to me..

Pop-Eye
This condition may lead to blindness and loss of the affected eye(s). Pop-eye does not spread easily to other fish so unless you are medicating with a wide-spectrum antibiotic, there is not really a need to separate them. It cannot be treated unless you know the cause, of which there could be many. It could be excess gases in the blood caused by super-saturation in water from high-pressure mains. This is a condition much like the bends in divers. Are there any bubbles in the eye? Is the guppy acting like it is in distress or moving/swimming strangely? Is it acting nervous? If so, assume this is the problem, and lower the temperature as far as you can within reason to help increase the solubility of the gas (nitrogen) and cut off all aeration. Pop-eye could also occur in relation to infrequent water changes, dropsy, ich, bacterial infection, parasitic fungus, internal metabolic disorders, TB, or even a hormonal imbalance. Treatments with several different medications may be required before a cure is found; however, usually all you can do is hope that the pop-eye goes away.

 

[calico_]

i'm sorry for your beautiful fish
well this is the bad thing about fishkeeping, a little distraction and the balance is lost... these things happen anyway

 

[Pure]

Wow sorry man. I just saw this for the first time. If ya want PM me and I will see if I can talk the Mrs into getting you another male. We still have 11 of them things in our 125.