Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
flesh eating sickness
- lampeye (lampeye)
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just back from two weeks in france to find all not well in my marine tank. the usual stuff when you are away, skimmer stopped working, kh a little low, salinity a bit high.
but the real worry is my randalls goby. before i left he had a little red spot/line which i thought might have been a graze or something....its a lot worse now.
does anyone know what it is or how to treat it? i plan on putting him in qt tomorrow after my water change.
in real life its a lot reder like blood. he is still active and eating well. all other fish seem perfect.
water is as follows:
temp - 24.5 C
ph - 8.2
salt - 1026
kh - 6.6
nitrate -zero
if jack is reading this his help would be much appreciated
lampeye
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- Seany (Sean Phelan)
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Haven't a clue. Hopefully one of the old hands can help you out soon. Hope it all works out for you.
Seany
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saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsit...uarium_diseases.html
Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods
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- Processor (Niall O'Leary)
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A bruise being blood under the skin. In his case it's more obvious if his 'skin' is transparent.
Good that he is feeding and behaving alright though.
Processor.
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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lampeye
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- Darkrin (Damien Kane)
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running ozone(occasionally) I've always found to be beneficial as it destroys bacteria, fungus and I've read (somewhere) it inactivates viruses...either way, it will improve water quality!!
Nearly all livestock problems start and end with water quality... and you mentioned your skimmer stopping

UV sterilizer running?Is it ok? again not just for parasites.. also water bourne virses, fungus spores,bacteria etc.
Change the carbon? poly filters? all improving the Water quality..
just a thought,
Damien.
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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no ozone, no uv sterlizer, i hadnt changed the carbon since i was away but usually change it weekly and never miss a wc. it started just before i went away , skimmer carbon etc were tip top then. re water quality the tank is not overstocked, fish are not overfed, nitra`tes are zeroi, no problem algae etc.
lampeye
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Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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i was hoping someone had experienced it in their tank before and could give me a definate id/treatment. im guessing its either hole in the head disease or some other bacterial infection. hopefully instead of working tomorrow fr.jack will be surfing the itfs!
lampeye
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- Darkrin (Damien Kane)
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I not doubting your water quality, your rock looks fantastic!!
In a Fresh water aquarium you'd add medication to the tank, destroying all bacteria, in a reef you can't, and must look at other ways to sterilize the water... the 2 ways i mentioned.. and you use neither.
All i'm saying is treating the fish outside the tank is only a short term answer.
Damien.

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Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods
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- Sean (Fr. Jack)
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yes its bacterial diease, I believe a certian person left 12 boxes of anti biotics by mistake on the table in Feb 2007 ITFS meeting, apprently is legal to buy in in chemist in Spain.You could treat with anit biotics in a hospital tank (drinking route) (without bio filter) or add it into a gel fish food mix in the main tank (oral route).
That would be a ecumenical matter!!!
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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Darkrin wrote:
The bacteria that caused this is in the aquarium water... you take the fish out and treat, OK... then what?? put it back into the source of the problem . I not doubting your water quality, your rock looks fantastic!!
In a Fresh water aquarium you'd add medication to the tank, destroying all bacteria, in a reef you can't, and must look at other ways to sterilize the water... the 2 ways i mentioned.. and you use neither.
Damien.
Hi Damien. I feel that uv filters/ozone are expensive and unnecessary. I suspect that the fish in question was a bit run down, all the other fish are in perfect health.
Fr. Jack wrote:
govdocs.aquake.org/cgi/reprint/2003/727/7270080.pdf
yes its bacterial diease, I believe a certian person left 12 boxes of anti biotics by mistake on the table in Feb 2007 ITFS meeting, apprently is legal to buy in in chemist in Spain.You could treat with anit biotics in a hospital tank (drinking route) (without bio filter) or add it into a gel fish food mix in the main tank (oral route).
Jack (nice avitar!). thats an interesting article, im a bit afraid of using antibiotics. I've quarantined the fish and he is feeding well. The problem has not got any worse and seems a lot less angry so i think it has slightly improved. ( this could also be an optical illusion from the subdued lighting in the qt tank!) I tried using melafix but after one dose he seemed uncomfortable so i discontinued it. At the moment Im just keeping him well fed with vitamin/garlic enriched food, and hoping for the best. couple of questions for you jack ...in your experience:
is he a ticking time bomb or will he get better under optimum conditions?
if answer to above question is yes are antibiotics the only treatment?
how do you gauge dosage of the antibiotics for the drinking route?
I really dont want to use antibiotics unless theres no other option.im worried about the infection mutating and becoming immune to the drugs. he is active and displays no unusual behaviour, just the dodgy face, so im hopeful.
let me know what you think.
fran
lampeye
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- kieronr (kieronr)
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- Sean (Fr. Jack)
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is he a ticking time bomb or will he get better under optimum conditions?
if answer to above question is yes are antibiotics the only treatment?
how do you gauge dosage of the antibiotics for the drinking route?
@Lampeye
I think he stands about a 80% chance of recovery without treatment, with that level of hemorrhaging the same amount on a yellow tang would also have the same survival rate.
On the other hand a butterflies with this level of hemmoraging without antibiotics would almost surely die within 2 weeks.(10% change of survival without treatment.)
To reduce the stress keep the temp at 27C and s.g at 1.020-1-023 low light , if he gets worst then open one capsule of antibiotic and through the dust into the quarantine tank, i.e one capsule for every 2 feet of tank, repeat every 2 days for 6 days.
That would be a ecumenical matter!!!
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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update. he's been in qt for a month. no meds. 25% weekly water changes. hes been eating well, fattened up a bit! the trouble is he's not fully healed. still missing a bit of his skin and there is a tiny bit of redness, but nothing compared to before. ive decided to try a corse of myxazin which is an anti-bacterial/antiseptic. I suspect all of this is from a scratch that turned septic/bac infected. I'm eager to get him back to the main system as im sure he bored out of his t its in the sterile tank.
whats your thoughts on this?
and kieron where did you get the lugois?
cheers
fran
lampeye
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- kieronr (kieronr)
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- lampeye (lampeye)
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sad day.
i didnt go the anti-biotic route as i was afraid youd have to try several different types etc.
lampeye
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