red edema in foxface after fight in hospital tank, what should I do?

[sensei]

I treated 4 fish with TTM + prazi. The problem started when I transffered the last 2 fish to the 80g Observation tank. a kole eye tang started attacking a hippo tang and after 3 days I placed a separator to isolate the hippo tang.
the other 3 fish stayed on the other side of the tank: a kole eye, a naso tang and a fox face. After 3 more days I noticed that the foxface had a red ball beside the side fin. I did not see him fight but I guess it is what happened.
I took out the naso and the kole eye and only the foxface and hippo stayed in tank.

I do not know what medicine should I dose the Hospital tank to treat the foxface. inflamation seems to be getting worse. fish cannot move side fin, there may be some infection as well.

here is a photo of foxface

Thanks for your help

 

[ThRoewer]

If it is a wound and bacterial infection I would treat with an antibiotic. But without knowing the exact bacteria all you can do is guess. Usually a broadband antibiotic will be your best bet. Amoxicillin, Septra or BiFuran have worked for me in the past with fish.

 

[sensei]

Thanks for your answer ThRoewer
the wound is worst now, bigger, and it is an open hole that you can see inside of the fish, it seems to be eating the fish flesh
please tell how to dose these antibiotics

here is a photo of fish now

 

[ThRoewer]

This looks bad - like flesh eating bacteria.

Which antibiotics do you have on hand? You need to start treatment right away!

Amoxicillin dosage is 250 mg per 10 gallon. Minimum treatment duration is 5 days, maximum 10 days. You need give another dose every 24h. Ideally you do a 50% water change before each dose. I would treat for at least 7 days.

Septra: one tablet (80/400) per 25 liter (~6.6 gal). Treatment duration and water changes as above.

If you have BiFuran the instructions should be on the bottle (I think it was 10g on 10 gallon, redosed every day after at least 50% water change).

If you have nothing else at hand, you can try to apply some diluted lugol iodine solution with a Q-Tiip to the wound.

 

[sensei]

Thanks for your answer.
yesterday I was alarmed after looking at that open wound.
the antibiotic that I had in my house was ceftriaxone. a cephalosporine of broad spectrum.
I dosed the tank in acording to your recomendation of amoxicillin 250mg per 10g.

the curios thing is that the fish do not seem to mind that big hole in his body. he is not eating though. how could this bacteria get here?

I ask because this fish was with we for 1 year now in an ich infested tank ( before I did not quarentine fish), and I am now treating all fish in that tank following the quarentine protocols.

should I dose again 24hrs later and then keep the fish in there for 7 days with out dosing any more??
can a fish recover of something like this?

we will see if the fish resist
thanks again

 

[sensei]

ThRoewer,
We are very alarmed now,
this flesh eating bacteria are very dangerous, I have 4 kids in in the house.
one of my kids and I got our hands inside that tank yesterday.
In addition there were other fish in that tank but when I saw the edema I took two of them out of there and yesterday when we saw the hole I took out a hippo tank from that tank. the Hippo is showing some other simptoms, please take a look at my other post:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2567262

please tell me what you think I should do.
we are getting nervous avoid this

Thanks a lot

 

[ThRoewer]

It is nearly impossible to say what it is from a picture. If you want to know it for sure you need to bring the fish to a vet who can take a sample for a culture (may get costly).

I would definitely advise to use gloves when going into the tank. Though unless you have open wounds the chances of getting infected are pretty low (if it is Vibrio, Psedomonas or something along that line).

You definitely need to re-dose the antibiotic after 24h to keep the therapeutic level. It is best to dose after the lights gone off as many antibiotics are light sensitive.

Ceftriaxone should be OK. If you don't see any change after 3 to 5 days I would switch to a different antibiotic that especially targets gram-negative bacteria.
Thomas Labs has a good selection which are suitable for aquarium use: FISH ANTIBIOTICS

 

[sensei]

Thanks Roewer,
the fish died today.
I will bleach that tank.

do you know how much bleach solution should I use for every galon of water?
I plan to circulate the bleaching solution in that tank with everything in it so that it kills all bacteria in the circulation pump, ceramic media, sponge filters etc.

can the ceramic media and sponge filters be re-used again for setting the QT again??

thanks for your help

 

[ThRoewer]

I usually eyeball the amount of bleach, but you can also go by the recommended amount for your washing machine. When the water smells like bleach you definitely have enough.

Sand, rocks and ceramics can also be boiled in water for sterilization.

As for the sponge filter - if it isn't to pricy I would just replace it. Bleach may dissolve it in part.

 

[sensei]

Thanks Roewer
Would you recommend having antibiotics for aquarium use at hand
or having the ceftriaxone at hand would be fine?

I work in pharmaceutical company outside the US that produces antibiotics for human consumption. I have access to cephalosporins, ampicillin, etc in inyection form

I believe the dose is 250mg for 10g of water of any of these antibiotics?
please let me know what you think

 

[ThRoewer]

I would always keep something at hand as you often can't wait if you need them.
I always have Cipro and Septra at hand for my anemones. For the fish I have BiFuran and Amoxicillin, and I will probably stock up on that.

For dosages I usually rely on what is on the package or check Thomas Labs website for their dosages.

 

[sensei]

thanks a lot!