Update and questions about treatment

You all were right in your suspicions about the nitrates being the
problem. I read in a goldfish book that though nitrates are generally
not toxic to fish, fancy goldfish, especially Pearlscales, are
adversely affected by them, and that high nitrate levels can make them
more susceptible to disease. It read that the symptoms would first be
apparent in the tail fins as varicose looking veins. Sound familiar? I
wish I had come across this book earlier, when I was first looking for
goldfish literature.

I am still not quite confident of what she has. I started having
problems with my newsgroup server and google groups just as she was
getting worse so I began treatment with a medicine I had on hand
called Furan-2, which is Nitrofurazone 60mg, Furazolidone 25mg, and
Methylene blue Trihydrate 2mg per dose. Considering the way the
salesperson at the petstore pushed it, this seems to be a "cure all."
I used it for four days and she seemed to be getting better but then
overnight she went critical. She was more dropsied then before,
severely red, she look "wasted" and skinny, she looked like she ha d a
lump neear the base of her anal port, and it looked like she was
covered in a fungus (Colmunaris or just a secondary fungal
infection?). I was ready to give up the ghost and euthanise her, but
she was still swimming strongly so I decided to keep fighting if she
did. When do you decide it is better to euthanise a fish? I have read
that fish don't feel pain!?, but still I don't want to prolong the
inevitable.

I read the suggestion that it could be Costia, so I did a salt
dip and began using the tub to tub method. When I first started
treating her I treated the water with epsoms to help alleviate her
severe dropsy. She doesn't appear dropsied any more, so I am
wondering. Should I continue to use epsoms while I am medicating her
and she still shows other symptoms, in case of an reinflamation? She
still has some redness and signs of an internal infection. Before I
start using regular salt again, should I gradually ease the dosing of
the epsoms, or would it be fine to make the change over quickly?
Days later I also did a 30 minute PP dip. I would like to do a least
one more of these. Should I not? How long should I wait between
treatments? Also, I am feeding her a couple pellets of Romet B once a
day. When do I know that she is healed and treatment can be safetly
ended? A week after symptoms are gone? Longer?

I am cautiously optimistic that she will survive this ordeal: She has
a healthy appetite, her redness is subsiding, she has no open wounds,
her fungus is gone and she has actually gotten bigger! What will be
the long term affects of this bout? Will she be even more susceptible
to water conditions? How will her immune system differ?

Thank you for your continuing help.

Happy Holidays!

stick with the epsom salts, stay away from NaCl for at least a month. continue with
heat and antibiotic for a month. read this
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...are3.htm#PEARL about special
mineral needs of pearl scales.
If you can keep the water pristine, have good aeration you can stop the tub to tub.
a complete cure takes time. then she will be fine.
I dont think you need to do anymore treatment for a couple weeks, see how the fish is
doing. Ingrid

(D.W.) wrote:

You all were right in your suspicions about the nitrates being the
problem. I read in a goldfish book that though nitrates are generally
not toxic to fish, fancy goldfish, especially Pearlscales, are
adversely affected by them, and that high nitrate levels can make them
more susceptible to disease. It read that the symptoms would first be
apparent in the tail fins as varicose looking veins. Sound familiar? I
wish I had come across this book earlier, when I was first looking for
goldfish literature.

I am still not quite confident of what she has. I started having
problems with my newsgroup server and google groups just as she was
getting worse so I began treatment with a medicine I had on hand
called Furan-2, which is Nitrofurazone 60mg, Furazolidone 25mg, and
Methylene blue Trihydrate 2mg per dose. Considering the way the
salesperson at the petstore pushed it, this seems to be a "cure all."
I used it for four days and she seemed to be getting better but then
overnight she went critical. She was more dropsied then before,
severely red, she look "wasted" and skinny, she looked like she ha d a
lump neear the base of her anal port, and it looked like she was
covered in a fungus (Colmunaris or just a secondary fungal
infection?). I was ready to give up the ghost and euthanise her, but
she was still swimming strongly so I decided to keep fighting if she
did. When do you decide it is better to euthanise a fish? I have read
that fish don't feel pain!?, but still I don't want to prolong the
inevitable.

I read the suggestion that it could be Costia, so I did a salt
dip and began using the tub to tub method. When I first started
treating her I treated the water with epsoms to help alleviate her
severe dropsy. She doesn't appear dropsied any more, so I am
wondering. Should I continue to use epsoms while I am medicating her
and she still shows other symptoms, in case of an reinflamation? She
still has some redness and signs of an internal infection. Before I
start using regular salt again, should I gradually ease the dosing of
the epsoms, or would it be fine to make the change over quickly?
Days later I also did a 30 minute PP dip. I would like to do a least
one more of these. Should I not? How long should I wait between
treatments? Also, I am feeding her a couple pellets of Romet B once a
day. When do I know that she is healed and treatment can be safetly
ended? A week after symptoms are gone? Longer?

I am cautiously optimistic that she will survive this ordeal: She has
a healthy appetite, her redness is subsiding, she has no open wounds,
her fungus is gone and she has actually gotten bigger! What will be
the long term affects of this bout? Will she be even more susceptible
to water conditions? How will her immune system differ?

Thank you for your continuing help.

Happy Holidays!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
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