I'm Back!!!--update on Dorado

Well, we got back from our trip today. I was so terrified I'd come home to find Dorado in horrible shape. But when I walked into my room and called his name, he immediately darted out of his clay pot and came right over to greet me. It was rather touching to see that he had missed me as much as I missed him. Unlike Cas and Fuego. : They glanced at me like I'd been gone a few minutes, swam to the top to look for food, and then when they didn't find any they continued on their business. Either they're still ticked off that I left them a week without food, or they were so busy flirting the whole week they didn't realize I was gone.

Anyway, back to Dorado. The tank was filthy so I did a 50% water change. He even jumped out of the water to nip my fingers while I was trying to do the syphoning. I am so glad to see he still has plenty of energy.

On the other hand, his condition does not look great. The open ulceration has not grown, but I can see scale damage now on Both sides of him where it is starting to spread. He is also quite severely bloated, although thank goodness he is not pineconing. I just don't want to take any more chances with him...I think I will order some kanamycin. If the infection is beginning to spread on the outside, that means it is also probably spreading inside, and in that case it could kill him pretty quickly. I just hope that won't happen.

I decided that it is not good for him to go without light for any longer (the q tank just has a piece of cardboard over it as I can't afford another hood). So, I am going to switch the lids between the 10 gal Betta tank and the 10 gal q tank (which happen to be right next to each other). In the morning the light will be on the Betta tank and the cardboard on the q tank, and then I will switch them in the evening.

I put the light on Dorado this evening and was surprised at his change of color. He was not paler, but dull, like he'd lost all his irridescence. Not sure if that's caused by being sick or from not having a light for two weeks. Also I noticed that while the ulcer looked red and fleshy in the dark, it is a milky white under lighting. At a first glance it might be mistaken for bacterial "fungus", except that it is a slight indent rather than a raised growth.

Well, I'd better wrap up this post before it becomes a novel. I'll give Dorado a nice long epsom bath tomorrow and then one once or twice a day from then on until his belly shrinks a bit. I'm also gonna see if I can make him eat that gel-tek ampicillin.

 

Best of luck with him, we really hope you see him all healthy soon. that's so great how he greated you.. funny how some seem happier than others after you come back from a trip.. we got that with our bunch too.

 

I think now it would be a good idea to try the Kanamycin if he is still bloated. Poor little guy! I hope he gets better. He must have really missed you and maybe that caused some stress. Give him his meds and lots of extra attention now that you're back and hopefully things will turn around for him.

 

Grrr...just the time to realize I'm completely out of money... Where's the cheapest place to order Kanaplex? Maybe if it isn't too much I can convince my parents to loan me some money...although I already owe them a bunch... arggh

Well anyway, at least Dorado seems to be holding out. He's active and energetic as usual. I've never seen him sulking because he's sick. I gave him a half hour epsom bath today. He doesn't mind his baths at all...I'm so glad he trusts me to catch him and stuff. I can't imagine trying to give baths to like a Neon or something.

He ate a tiny bit of the gel-tek...hopefully since I'm not feeding him anything else, he'll decide to eat more tomorrow. He needs the Ampicillin, cause I'm not giving him the Fungus Clear anymore and the kanamycin could be a while coming. Or who knows, maybe he'll suddenly decide to eat loads of the gel-tek and it will miraculously cure him. Right. :

 

i've not used kanaplex yet - have you called local places to see if anyone carries it so you could get it fast & avoid shipping costs? Maybe where Phloxface got hers would be the best.. what are you putting the gel-tek meds on? I hope he does surprise you with a fast recovery, but just keep doing your best on him and giving him love and he's going to beat this. :;br

 

what are you putting the gel-tek meds on?

The gel-tek stuff is just fed by itself...you just put drops of it in the water and it forms balls of gell that (usually) float. I tried to put it onto pellets but it wouldn't stick.

Today I gave him another half hour bath but with a dosage of 2 tsp of epsom per gal. I could tell he was a bit more uncomfortable in the higher dosage, but not to the point of being in distress. I could only get him to eat one drop of ampicillin...oh well.

None of the stores by me sell kanamycin. It must not be very common, because I hadn't even heard of it until recently when I was doing some detailed research on TB. I will look around to see where they sell it online. I'm pretty sure Drs. F & S don't sell it.

 

i've heard of people having luck with soaking bloodworms in it and feeding the fish the meds that way. yea, DFS doesn't sell the kanaplex. I think the way to get it is from the manufacturer.

 

I may have to try the bloodworm trick. I did find a place that sells Kanaplex though... That Fish Place, which is where I get my sponge filters...don't know why I didn't think to look there before. So, hopefully Dorado will hang in there until the Kanaplex arrives.

 

I hope he does too.. what your doing for him now will give him a good chance to and if the kanaplex is the last step to him getting better, he'll be a happy AND healthy fish before long.

 

If the epsom is too strong for him and you need to do the proper dosage for it swtich to aquarium salt. It's just as effective and I think it's safer since it's specifically for aquariums and fish. I used aquarium salt on Royell when he had dropsy and it worked wonders. It didn't effect him at all. Natalie

 

No, the epsom is working fine, but thanks for the input Natalie. Actually, I gave him another epsom bath tonight at a dosage of 2 tsp per gallon, and left him in there for 40 minutes. He never seemed bothered. I will increase the dosage for his bath tomorrow. Anyway, Dorado seems to know that the epsom baths are helping him...he actually swam into the cup today the minute I put it into the water to catch him. And, trust me, he is normally a stinker to catch.

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that my mum ordered the Kanaplex for me today and said I can pay her back when her credit card bill comes.

The bad news is that if Dorado can actually make it until the Kanaplex arrives, he will officially be my Miracle Fish #2. (#1 is Mist, one of my Otos, who among other things recovered from a two month long battle with finrot that completely split his tail in half, and was one of two survivors from when all my fish died of tuberculosis.)

Dorado's health is slowly but definitely deteriorating. He still has plenty of energy and appetite, but he has to take longer rests between boughts of playfulness. But worst of all...I may just be imagining it, but it seems as if his scales are a bit more defined, like they're starting to stick up a tiny bit. (hence the extra long epsom bath) I really hope the furunculosis hasn't lead to dropsy. Poor little guy. He's still so playful and energetic, but I have to wonder just how long he can last. Hopefully the Kanaplex will arrive really soon....

 

I'm so sorry he's not doing well. I've been worried about him. Do you know how long it'll be before you get your shipment? The best hope for curing dropsy is to get it before the scales start sticking up. Once they do it's usually only a few days before they die. It's a terrible thing to watch, having been through it twice in only one week. I never want to see another case of dropsy in my life!
If the Kanaplex won't be arriving for a few days you can still treat him with whatever you've got that is for dropsy and keep up with the Epsom salts. Just do a big water change when the Kanaplex arrives and switch to that.

 

yea, we lost our beloved Super Mario to Dropsy so we get paranoid about it, but we weren't participating in fishlore then and had no clue about any meds for him.. I know it's hard on you but don't lose hope, he's got the best of care, lots of love and a great med on the way, so I think he's got a real good chance of making it thru this sickness and getting healthy again.

 

Thanks for the concern Phloxface and Bettacouple. I am not sure when the Kanaplex will arrive, but I have ordered from That Fish Place before and they usually ship pretty fast. Meanwhile I have added a third teaspoon of epsom to his tank water, and he will get daily epsom baths. I have been trying to get him to eat the gel-tek ampicillin, but with no luck.

I just found that I have 2 tablets of Maracyn 2. I wonder if I could get some more.... I do have to go to Petsmart sometime because my mum said she'd buy me a light timer for when we go on vacation, so that the pet sitter won't have to come twice a day to turn on tank lights. Maybe I could also convince her to get some Maracyn 2 too.............

Oh, but one problem. I don't have any carbon and I use a sponge filter in the q tank anyway, so the only means I have to remove meds is large water changes. So, there will probably still be traces of Fungus Clear in the water when/if I switch to M.2, and there will probably be traces of M.2 and/or Fungus Clear in the water when I switch to Kanaplex. Do you think that's a problem? If I absolutely had to I could remove Dorado and do a 100% change, but that would take quite a while (since I'd have to wait for the new water to become the right temp) and I don't want to stress him out more than I have to.

 

I recommend just getting a couple carbon filters.It's a lot easier when clearing meds. You don't have keep it in there.Just put it in there for a few hours and the meds will be cleared and then you can go back to using your sponge filter. Just a suggestion. I'd hate for you to do all that work just to change meds and clear out the old. I really hope Dorado recovers. Were all cheering for him. Natalie

 

Unfortunately I don't have any money at the moment so buying a carbon filter is not an option.

 

one thing we did when we had to do 100% water changes was to warm up the water in the microwave for a little bit, a bowl at a time. i'm not sure of another way to clear meds without the AC. do you have a probe thermometer?

 

This is an urgent message! There has been a breach in security! Up until now, we have successfully fooled the common civilians into thinking that we are just like them--we eat, work, and play during the day, and sleep at night. But today at approximately 10:30 PM my brother got up with a nosebleed and caught me...doing a water change!! We'd better arrange a brainwashing session immediately to prevent this classified information from leaking out. We cannot let the public know what we fishkeepers actually do at night.


Ahem. Now to the serious news...

To answer your question, no, all I have are cheap glass thermometers.

I got pretty lucky...I made 15 bucks for digging weeds all afternoon, so I was able to get some Maracyn 2. I did a huge, maybe 90%, water change--left only an inch or two of water to keep Dorado, the sponge filter, and the heater underwater. So the Fungus Clear is effectively gone. (I had done several other water changes after the F.C. treatment, so it was already pretty diluted) I went ahead and treated him with the M.2, since I don't feel comfortable leaving him without meds any longer.

Dorado is slowly starting to go downhill. He is sitting on the bottom more and more often...he obviously is starting to feel sick. The stomach bloating is back today and his scales are definitely starting to stick up, although only a teeny bit...you can't see it from the top yet. He also has developed some weird swelling around the ulcer, which if anything is getting worse, although verrrry gradually.

I increased his epsom bath dosage to 2.5 tsp epsom per gal. He mostly just sat around during the bath, which worries me. I'm not sure if it was because of the increased dosage or because he isn't feeling well.

At least he still has his appetite. Would it be a good idea to make medicated pellets with the Maracyn 2 powder?

 

he's still got the ulcer? i'm sorry, I didn't realize that hadn't cleared. maracyn plus treats dropsy and ulcers.. or do you have any neomycin? (it's one of the gel-tek antibiotics) that also works on ulcers. that ulcer could be why he's feeling worse. also if you have novaqua+ or liquid vitamins to put in the water, that could help some.

i'm not sure if he'd eat the pellets, but as long as you get all of the maracyn 2 powder into the tank one way or another, it's good. best of luck with Dorado. hopefully he'll rebound soon for you.

 

I hope your trip was nice!

So sorry that Dorado still isn't feeling well.

I ordered the Kanaplex from That Fish Place too, and it really took a while for it to get to me (about 10 days), so I hope you have better luck... I also ordered some Fungus Eliminator by Jungle Labs. It's a much stronger med than the Fungus Clear and I'm hoping that it will be another useful tool in my arsenal. It says on the bottle that it "Clears cotton fungus (columnaris), red sores (furunculosis), gray skin (costiasis), fish bloat (dropsy), fin and mouth rot, white film on eyes, red streaks on fins and swim bladder disease." If it just works for stubborn fin rot I will be overjoyed...

 

Sorry to hear that Dorado is not doing well. I have been following all they ups and downs he's had. Another way to warm the water quickly is to fill your sink partially with hot water and sit the gallon jug in it. I usually do it in the bathroom sink. I let it sit for about 3-5 min, shake it and then test the temp with the thermometer. I usually have a nice 80-82 degrees.

 

he's still got the ulcer? i'm sorry, I didn't realize that hadn't cleared. maracyn plus treats dropsy and ulcers.. or do you have any neomycin? (it's one of the gel-tek antibiotics) that also works on ulcers. that ulcer could be why he's feeling worse. also if you have novaqua+ or liquid vitamins to put in the water, that could help some.

They do not sell Maracyn Plus or Neomycin anywhere that I'm aware of. I am using Novaqua+ but don't have vitamins. I am using the Maracyn 2 in hopes that it will stop the dropsy from developing. The Kanaplex will (hopefully) take care of the furunculosis, which is what caused the ulcer and probably what lead to the dropsy (well, at this point I'm not sure I would call it dropsy since his scales are sticking up so little, but it will become dropsy I'm sure if he continues bloating).

Jendayi--thanks for the info on Fungus Eliminator. That is now on my list of things to get once I have some money. Although...it is a bit strange because furunculosis causes white sores, not red ones, like it says on the bottle...

Heatmisr--that's a great idea.

Well...Dorado seems to still be somewhat stable. He's not getting worse but he's not getting better either. I hope the Kanaplex arrives soon....

 

Sorry I haven't updated in a while.

Dorado is now on his second day of Kanaplex treatment. The meds are already affecting him, making him sort of drowsy and a very deep sleeper, so it's sort of hard to tell whether or not he's improving. However, the ulcer does appear to be healing up! The bloating is pretty unstable...he'll be fine one day and pretty bloated up the next...not sure why. His epsom baths are now up to full strength, a Tbsp of epsom per gal (for a length of usually 45 min). He doesn't mind at all...in fact he seems to enjoy the break from the kanamycin. He's eating and swimming fine, but sleeping a lot.

For those of you who didn't see my other thread I'm leaving on another trip Friday for 2 1/2 weeks. I hate leaving Dorado in this condition. Hopefully he will be ok. He has gotten really attached to me and used to lots of attention during this whole treatment process, so I just hope he won't get depressed while I'm gone.

 

i'm glad the ulcer is healing up. and hopefully you can have someone stop by and talk to him some while you're away?

 

Well there's someone coming over to feed all my pets...they thought I was crazy when I said the Bettas might not want to eat while I'm gone...they'd probably move to another state if I told them their petsitting job involved talking to a fish....

 

Well there's someone coming over to feed all my pets...they thought I was crazy when I said the Bettas might not want to eat while I'm gone...they'd probably move to another state if I told them their petsitting job involved talking to a fish....

lol.. yea.. we had my mom feed and talk to our bettas when we were away.. it took some convincing to get her to agree to talk to them each some every day after each feeding.

 

Well there's someone coming over to feed all my pets...they thought I was crazy when I said the Bettas might not want to eat while I'm gone...they'd probably move to another state if I told them their petsitting job involved talking to a fish....

lol.. yea.. we had my mom feed and talk to our bettas when we were away.. it took some convincing to get her to agree to talk to them each some every day after each feeding.

;D I somehow can't quite imagine my mother talking to a fish.......

 

I cannot get anyone to even say they will feed my little fellows when I am gone. They have to just wing it for a few days and get by on the leftovers. Everyone I know will not have a thing to do with them. The last time someone volunteered to feed them, she said the smell of the fish food made her sick so now I have no fish sitters left. I guess they better say their prayers that mommy is here from now on.

Rose

 

that stinks, you have such great little bettas. If we were closer, we'd break out the guest tanks for them and they could stay over anytime.

 

Hi, I have been reading what's going on and I feel so bad about your fish Dorado! I would like to know how he's doing? I hope that he gets better and back to his energetic self! --To the others worrying about feeding their bettas or fish, they have many "weekend" and "day" feeders. I have some because I am going on a week long trip, and I wouldnt trust anyone else to feed my fishes! I hope when I come home though they are still all alive and active. - Best of wishes for Dorado please update on his conditions!

 

Yes, can't you use the automatic feeders? That's a real bummer.