CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi, my name is Edwin, from the Philippines and I'm new to your forum. I have a huge problem with a fish a friend of mine bought on impulse around 3 days ago. He bought a Trimac from a local petshop and last Friday he noticed that the mouth area was swollen with whitish substances just above the upper lip. This progressively got worse to the point that right now a couple of these sores are now bleeding. He had passed it off to me in the hopes that I would be able to do something but in my years as a discus keeper, I have never encountered anything like this.

I'm keeping this 7inch Trimac in a US15Gal tank with a heater set at 32*. I have put table salt in the hopes that the iodine would help but I'm really at a loss. One very important thing too is that it is discharging small pellet size white stool attached together like with a string. Due to this, I suspect internal parasite but not sure why there are these sore around the mouth and why this area is swollen.

No eating since Friday morning, gills are okay, not moving faster than usual. Still swimming around some but really slow.

I really wanna be able to revive this fish as even though its not mine, man, I gotta try.

Any advice would really be appreciated. Sorry to handicap you guys but I'd have to say that here in the Philippines we don't have that easy access to what you might consider to be readily available medicine so hopefully, you'll be able to recommend alternatives as well.

Thanks again in advance,
Edwin

G`day Edwin
Hate to say it but table salt containing "iodine" is bad for fish. Use only pure cooking salt at a rate of one tablespoon per 5 US gallons.
How much table salt is in the tank now?
I suggest emptying the tank and starting fresh with the cooking salt. Being such a small tank I would also do 20% water changes per day so you dont get any spikes while the fish is sick. Replace the salt to reflect the amount of water being changed.

Can you get metronidazole? Its found in fish meds like Paragon-2. If not it is also prescribed for animal and human ailments and comes in brands like Flagyl. Its available from most vets and chemists.
Being a small tank,one and a half 250mg crushed tablets is all you would need. If the fish is still eating you can also mix 100grams into one table spoon of food(Minced beefheat is good) freeze, then cut up into small servings. Both treatments can be done at the same time and is reccomended.
Keep your water temp as you have it now 32C(around 84F)

hope this helps

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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
My Cichlidfish.com Home page
No Feeder Nazi
worldcichlids.com

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the tip. Metronidazole is not going to be difficult to get. I'm on my way out the door right after I type this.

Thanks very much Tony, and I'll get this done right away. I'll keep you posted as to what happens.

Edwin

BTW Tony, will this also be enough for the sores along the mouth? One of the spots had started to bleed last night and that got me real worried.

Edwin

The metronidazole and the salt should clear it up

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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
My Cichlidfish.com Home page
No Feeder Nazi
worldcichlids.com

Thanks Tony, I've done as you have recommended. I'll keep you posted as to what happens.

Edwin