sick kole tang, any ideas on treatment options?

[mtfatwork]

Ok so for starters my Kole has ich real bad, but that is the question, the question is his mouth is swolen so he has trouble closing it, and when you look at it there is this strange layer of funky white stuff on the inside of his lips outside of his teeth. What is this? I tried to get him out to do a freshwater dip last night, but it wasnt happening. He is still eating a little bit, but it looks like it would be painfull to eat, and when I feed he pretty much just tries to line himself up so a piece or two of food falls into his mouth. Any ideas?

TIA,
Mary

[stuckey_t]

Mary:bawling: When those Koles get mouth damage they are pretty much a sure goner:frown: I had one that had similar trouble and it didn't make it. If your fish have ich I know that ozone injected into the skimmer saved my tank from an outbreak when I first started putting fish in. If you can do that and maybe run a UV that would give you a shot...I have an ozone unit you could borrow with a controller if you want to try some quick response therapy!

T.

[mtfatwork]

I hooked up the uv last week when the ich started, and it seems to be keeping it to a minimum. Maybe Dustin can grab the ozone when you guys hook up to get the chiller. I still have fish that need to come home, and I need to wait until the ick clears up before I can add them. I am sad about the Kole though, he really seems to have taken a turn for the worse over the last couple days. :(

[superman]

No offense at all to Stuckey, but ozone really is not able to kill crypt unless it is dosed in VERY high amounts which wouldn't be applicable in our aquariums. UV however CAN cut off the life cycle of crypt if you are hitting within the optimal GPH through your UV sterilizer. I hope you can nip it in the butt Mary! The UV sterilizer is your best tool if you can't get the fish out to treat with copper. Fresh water dips for crypt are only mildly successful and depends on how deeply entrenched the crypt is on the fish.

[stuckey_t]

No offense at all to Stuckey, but ozone really is not able to kill crypt unless it is dosed in VERY high amounts which wouldn't be applicable in our aquariums. UV however CAN cut off the life cycle of crypt if you are hitting within the optimal GPH through your UV sterilizer. I hope you can nip it in the butt Mary! The UV sterilizer is your best tool if you can't get the fish out to treat with copper. Fresh water dips for crypt are only mildly successful and depends on how deeply entrenched the crypt is on the fish.

I'd have to strongly disagree with you in reference to the above. I used ozone and ozone alone and without it I probably would have lost all of my fish in my tank. By killing any newly hatched "free floating" organisms the fish were able to better deal with the ones they had already contracted. Yes, any ich the fish already have embedded in their skin they have to deal with and only copper and a freshwater dip are going to effectively "pop" the parasite off the fish. In a big tank how are you going to get all your fish out to treat them with dips? Ozone was a godsend for me and coupled with a UV would be twice as nice! Please reference the thread below and check out wetwebmedia though rather than my 2 cents:wink:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/fishdiseases/a/aa102797_2.htm

[superman]

I don't have an online reference, I am part of an email list serve where professional aquarists around the world vote each other in and post questions and answers to anything involving the aquarist profession. If I can find the topics I can try and cut and paste some of the crypt info. In what I have read and seen I have to strongly disagree with you stuckey, Crypt for example is a very tough little organism, even it's free swimming form where it can be killed by copper. It would take very large dosages to kill the parasite with ozone. In my opinion it is more likely that the ozone you used in your aquarium improved the environment of your tank (from a water quality stand point) to a point that the fish were no longer stressed enough to continue to succomb to the crypt. If you try putting live copepods or amphipods through a skimmer running ozone you will be surprised to see a very high survival rate, just food for thought. At any rate, it is good to hear that your fish survived crypt.

[stuckey_t]

I don't have an online reference, I am part of an email list serve where professional aquarists around the world vote each other in and post questions and answers to anything involving the aquarist profession. If I can find the topics I can try and cut and paste some of the crypt info. In what I have read and seen I have to strongly disagree with you stuckey, Crypt for example is a very tough little organism, even it's free swimming form where it can be killed by copper. It would take very large dosages to kill the parasite with ozone. In my opinion it is more likely that the ozone you used in your aquarium improved the environment of your tank (from a water quality stand point) to a point that the fish were no longer stressed enough to continue to succomb to the crypt. If you try putting live copepods or amphipods through a skimmer running ozone you will be surprised to see a very high survival rate, just food for thought. At any rate, it is good to hear that your fish survived crypt.

No problem:cool: Please take a look at this forum and make your own opinion:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ozonefaqs.htm Happy Reefing:dance:

[stuckey_t]

I don't have an online reference, I am part of an email list serve where professional aquarists around the world vote each other in and post questions and answers to anything involving the aquarist profession. If I can find the topics I can try and cut and paste some of the crypt info. In what I have read and seen I have to strongly disagree with you stuckey, Crypt for example is a very tough little organism, even it's free swimming form where it can be killed by copper. It would take very large dosages to kill the parasite with ozone. In my opinion it is more likely that the ozone you used in your aquarium improved the environment of your tank (from a water quality stand point) to a point that the fish were no longer stressed enough to continue to succomb to the crypt. If you try putting live copepods or amphipods through a skimmer running ozone you will be surprised to see a very high survival rate, just food for thought. At any rate, it is good to hear that your fish survived crypt.

Please accept my invitation to come over to my reef/ dive into my fridge/ and discuss the ramblings of ozone, UV, and what we need to frag:rotflmao: Shoot me a PM so I can find out when you might be free:biglaugh2:

[mtfatwork]

lol, that is a nice invite troy, but it is a long drive from Kansas.... lol

[rihanssu]

mary is that white stuff in your koles mouth look like a fungus? kind of like coliflower or cottage cheese? is it also on the fins?

[mtfatwork]

no it almost looks like crystals. It is not on the fins just on the inside of the lips

[rihanssu]

that kind of sounds like a fungal infection, do you happen to have pics? if it is what i think it is then it won't hurt the fish, just irritating and will go away on its own. (that is if it is what i think it is, i can't remember the exact name of the disease) also if you can catch the fish you can take a razor blade and scrape (not cut) away that stuff, that would help. but remember!!! it may not be that.

post pics!

[spsick]

lol, that is a nice invite troy, but it is a long drive from Kansas.... lol
did I miss something?

[mtfatwork]

did I miss something?



Superman lives in Kasas. He used to live over by me.