Poor Crosshatch

[Feet4Fish]

Today I received a male crosshatch via Fed Ex. He has not been right since the beginning. He is very pale. I was initially bothered by this due to stress of shipping. During acclimation he also stayed in his side. Again not too alarming. When released into tank he wasn’t able to swim. If he actively swam he could a bit but as soon as he relaxed he would float up and be controlled by the current. I could use thoughts!!!

my thought is that he wasn’t adequately decompressed when collected which either gave him a swim bladder issue or decompression sickness. I have put him in an acclimation box for protection. He is still breathing but I am not optimistic. Let me know what you all think! Thanks so much!

 

[Abhishek]

it sure looks like decompression issue !!! Do you notice bloated belly ?

Depends if you want to go this route !!!
Since it’s a large fish , it will be a bit easier to perform the swim bladder operation with a 30 gauge syringe right behind the pectoral fin . Also you would need some kind to anti bacterial at hand to prevent infection as well iodine to disinfect the area . As you insert the syringe and pull it slowly , you will suck out gases but not too much so that the fish cannot swim and loose it’s buoyancy . If you perform it , the fish will definitely act like as if dead after the operation . It should be fine and can take upto a week to start eating .

You can try and move him to a smaller 20 gallon tank of its own and observe and do the operation as the last resort .

I have done it once and it’s no fun doing it

Good luck !

 

[Dierks]

Swim bladder disorder
Symptoms: Fish swims vertically with its tail up. Basically, the back half of the fish will seem more buoyant than the front half, and the fish will swim in a way to compensate for that. The fish may also stay near the surface of the water (or even float), unable to swim downwards. A protrusion (i.e. gas bubble) may be visible near the swim bladder area. In most cases, swim bladder disorders are caused by improper decompression of deep water species of fish.
Treatment: If a gas bubble is present, you can lance the air out using a 30 gauge insulin syringe. For swim bladder infections, the following are possible treatment options:
(1) Dose magnesium sulfate (Epsom Salt) at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.
(2) Give the affected fish a 30 minute Methylene Blue bath.
(3) Dose Metronidazole in conjunction with Neomycin. (You can food soak this combination as well.)

That is from my book, I hope it helps.

 

[Feet4Fish]

it sure looks like decompression issue !!! Do you notice bloated belly ?

Depends if you want to go this route !!!
Since it’s a large fish , it will be a bit easier to perform the swim bladder operation with a 30 gauge syringe right behind the pectoral fin . Also you would need some kind to anti bacterial at hand to prevent infection as well iodine to disinfect the area . As you insert the syringe and pull it slowly , you will suck out gases but not too much so that the fish cannot swim and loose it’s buoyancy . If you perform it , the fish will definitely act like as if dead after the operation . It should be fine and can take upto a week to start eating .

You can try and move him to a smaller 20 gallon tank of its own and observe and do the operation as the last resort .

I have done it once and it’s no fun doing it

Good luck !

Yep bloated belly

 

[HB AL]

Release the air in his bladder underwater to verify how much is coming out and leave a little in.

 

[Abhishek]

Yep bloated belly

Judging from the video and bloated belly - seems quite the decompression issue

You can observe and see if he comes back on his own in a couple of days or else you might need to bite the bullet and do the operation

 

[HB AL]

I would get the air out ASAP,

 

[Feet4Fish]

Wont do anything tonight. Will set up a hospital tank tomorrow. Make sure I have all supplies. I am a doctor so one would think I would have them... really need to check size needles I have on hand. If still live tomorrow evening will give it a shot.

 

[Abhishek]

Wont do anything tonight. Will set up a hospital tank tomorrow. Make sure I have all supplies. I am a doctor so one would think I would have them... really need to check size needles I have on hand. If still live tomorrow evening will give it a shot.

Sounds like a great plan ! Since you are a doc you will know way better than a novice like me

If you have to anesthetize it , you can use MS - 222 if you can provide it

 

[Feet4Fish]

Sounds like a great plan ! Since you are a doc you will know way better than a novice like me

If you have to anesthetize it , you can use MS - 222 if you can provide it

clove oil works too. need to educate myself better on it

 

[Feet4Fish]

Have the following antibiotics

1. General cure
2. Neomycin
3. Kanamycin/ nitrofurazone
Is one better for this application?

 

[Zionas]

They’re a deeper water species so might be somewhat prone to this. If I were you for deep water species I’d certainly inspect them at an LFS instead of ordering them online, though now I know it’s difficult due to the virus situation. Best of luck with yours! They’re a beautiful fish.

In the future if you are ever interested in species like certain Genicanthus genus angelfish, especially Bellus and Watanabei’s, or any deep water species really, it could be better to inspect them up close and personal.

Good luck!

 

[Abhishek]

I normally use NFG - nitrofuracin green although have just procured Enrofloxacin as it’s said to be the most effective antibiotic . Will have to test it ..

If using above I would go broad spectrum with kanamycin , metronidazole and nitrofurazone

 

[bevo5]

I've done the air release on freshwater frontosa a few times. But for them it's to release air they swallow from surface feeding. Definitely not fun, but you're way more experienced with those things than I am. Every time the fish was fine after a bit.

 

[Abhishek]

clove oil works too. need to educate myself better on it

Yeah clove oil contains Eugenol as the active ingredient . Works great in 40mg per liter ..

If using MS -222 , it will drop pH and hence sodium bicarbonate needs to be used to bring up the pH .

 

[Feet4Fish]

Bump

 

[Zionas]

Bump.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Is this one of the fish that the supplier had for a while due to difficulties shipping to you? I don’t know when it was collected but would it take this long to show an issue?

 

[Feet4Fish]

Is this one of the fish that the supplier had for a while due to difficulties shipping to you? I don’t know when it was collected but would it take this long to show an issue?

Well there are several things about this whole transaction that I am unsure of. I ordered the fish on 2/10. Per complaint policy they would hand select the fish and then put through a two week QT. Well at the end or March/early April when COVID caused delta cargo to put an embargo on animals he supposedly wasn’t still ready to ship. That already was a five to six week window to procure the fish and pit through 2 week QT. He stated and it is stated in his site that he prefers delta cargo but also uses Fed Ex. When I tried getting him to use Fed Ex after delta shut down he stated that Fed Ex was too rough. I told him I have never had problems with Fed Ex. He still said he would prefer to wait. Over last few months I tried getting him to use UPS and Southwest cargo as I new from local LFS owners they were still shipping animals. He refused. Then about two weeks ago I told him that enough was enough and please just ship Fed Ex. He agreed but said it would be about two weeks because he had to order large boxes.
Long story short I don’t know when he actually got the fish. He states he got it back in February but I am not sure.

 

[Feet4Fish]

It is crazy for a $1200 fish from a well known seller with a good reputation. That bus honestly why I chose to get this particular fish from him....because of his reputation!