Infection on Red Tail Flasher Wrasse??

[Overboard]

Hi,

My Red Tail Flasher Wrasse is in quarantine and developed some sort of infection or parasite on his right side behind his gill plate. I treated with Furan2 without much effect. I am trying Maracyn now. Could this be fungal or a parasite? Is another antibiotic perhaps more effective? Seems to be getting worse. He is also now showing some stringy poop like you might see with internal parasites. I have had him in QT for about 5 weeks. This showed up about 2 weeks ago and is progressing.

Thanks for the help,
Mark

 

[MellowReefer]

Wish I could help you but I just posted a similar question and haven't gotten a response yet. From what I've been reading there are many antibiotics and you just have to try each one until one works. Just like humans sometimes the doc needs to give you different ones for different strains of bacteria. Are you using Maracyn or Maracyn 2? I have read that Maracyn 2 is more effective for saltwater because it targets the "gram negative" strain which is more common in saltwater. Regular Maracyn targets the "gram positive" type. But someone said it's not a bad idea to use both at the same time so you have both covered. Maracyn 2 is now only marketed as a freshwater med, and Mardel is trying to market Maracyn Plus for saltwater, but people say it doesn't work as well and you are better off with Maracyn 2, just double the dosage. I hope someone will answer one of our posts. Also you might consider Seachem Kanaplex, which I read an another post someone said works well. Good luck.

 

[Overboard]

Thanks.

I am using regular Maracyn right now, and I do not think it is being effective. Doubt it is fungal, but possible. I may try Ciprofloxacin as it is supposed to be a very broad spectrum antibiotic also. This weekend I will do a water change and try Cipro or Maracyn 2. Thanks for the feedback. Good luck on getting your question answered.

 

[GroktheCube]

I had a girdled fairy wrasse develop a similar infection in QT. I tried amoxicillin, erythromycin, and enrofloxacin. None had any effect, and he died before the enrofloxacin course was done.

I was planning on trying an anti-fungal next, as the odds of him having a bacterial infection resistant to three different classes of antibiotics seemed very low. I was pretty shocked that the baytril had no effect, as it kills almost everything. Given that, I'm betting it was fungal, unless I somehow ended up with an extremely nasty multi-drug resistant bug in my QT.

 

[Overboard]

Thanks for the response.

Furan 2, then water changes, Maracyn, and now Maracyn 2. None seem to really help. I am beginning to think you are right that it might be fungal. Previously treated with Prazi Pro as well, just in case, but it does not appear as a parasite. One more course of Maracyn 2 tonight and then I may try a fungal treatment. Do you know what is the best fungal medication?

Thanks,

Mark

PS - All this has been over time. Just keeps getting worse.

 

[firewill65]

My flasher wrasse that I've had over a year died tonight. It developed a similar infection? Had a brown/gray area around it's gills. Very strange. The only thing I've done lately to my tank is run bio Pellets. Could the extra bacteria cause and infection? The wrasse looked bad but I knew I would never be able to catch him with all the live rock and 6ft tank. I hope whatever it was, it was isolated to only him. All other fish appear fine. Would running UV help with water quality? Thanks!

 

[Overboard]

My fish was in a QT and none of the medication I tried helped. Sorry to hear you had a similar issue. Having your fish for a year makes it even more mysterious.