Hole in head... how to treat?

reefermike1

New member
I'm just starting up a 180 gallon tank. Right after the cycle I threw in 6 bluegreen chromis. One of them has a hole in his head after being in the tank just over a week. It looks like a big purple pimple that was just popped. Searching the forum and google, I didnt find a whole lot about this disease except to treat it with Metrodiazole.

I'm not sure really what to do here. Should I try to pull all the fish out and let it go fallow while treating the fish? Should I just treat the food with Metro and hope for the best? Will the tank need to sit fallow after this?

Before I'm scolded let me assure you guys that I've just purchased a 29biocube just to use as a qt tank for all new fish after this. Lesson learned.
 
My concern is that with newly introduced chromis, you may be seeing uronema. Google that and see if it looks like what you are seeing. We don't scold, there is no value in that.
 
Oh my God. I Googled Uronema, and I may have this in my tank. The solution I saw is a horrible sight for a sober man! Especially after being fallow for 3 months! I'll be watching this thread.
 
Thanks for the link, it is very informative and a great reference. I could'nt get a pic of the fish so I took a short video, hopefully it will help to I.D. what we're dealing with. Please disregard the audio, my son was behind me on xbox live.. lol...



I went and got some Seachem Metronidazole and mixed it with some food last night and again today. They all readily accepted it so I guess we'll see how it goes. Should I continue mixing Metro with the food or should I wait and see what happens?

Thanks for the help
 
Please check the appropriate section of this.

Thank you. Man, the more I read and see the more I am sure that this is what I have.

This is THE fish.
The fish that started it all. My fallowness. My education. My elevated responsibility as a hobbyist. THE fish is no longer with us, but I took these pictures in the HT.

<a href="http://s17.photobucket.com/user/pigpen_/media/IMG_0533.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b71/pigpen_/IMG_0533.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_0533.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s17.photobucket.com/user/pigpen_/media/IMG_0536.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b71/pigpen_/IMG_0536.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_0536.jpg"/></a>

It's a bit hard to see. When this was happening, my fish for sure had Ich. I thought it has cut itself scratching on the rocks, and then the PVC, but that cut on it's side looks like it could be much worse. What do you guys think?
 
That looks very similar to what I'm dealing with.

An update, the fish is still alive, but I dont know how... The hole has gotten much larger its almost half of his head missing, yet hes still swimming around like normal and eating well. Still plenty able to dodge my net. I fed them with metro for a couple days, now I'm just waiting to see what happens. So far none of the other fish are exhibiting any symptoms.
 
So I got home from work today and the fish is under a rock breathing heavy on his side... tried to net him but he disappeared before I could see where he went. Im guessing he'll be dead by tonight, but the other fish still all seem fine.

Not sure what the next step should be as far as getting any new fish.
 
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