# Sick Severum with growths on his skin



## Marin (Jan 8, 2008)

Hi Robin, hi all,

I have previously posted about this severum (Homer), he is the fish in our lab. We are keepig up with regular weekly water changes and the aquarium conditions are excellent right now. We moved him to a 65 gallon aquarium with the algae eater. They were both fine until 2 months ago. We have introduced a smaller bottom cleaner fish (a shark species) in the tank and everything was fine for aabout a month. We treated the aquarium with Melafix when we introduced the fish. But then Homer (the severum) started not eating and producing white stingy poop again. Thinking it is the same problem as before, I treated him with Parasite Clear. It did not help him. Then I noticed this erosions on the head, behind the eye especially and small holes starting to appear. "Aha!" I said , this must be HITH! So I used one round of Maracyn and MAracyn-2 concurrently (for 5 days). He also had whitish fuzzy growth on the skin which diseppeared on second day and he contined to improve. But unfortunately, the small bottom cleaner fish died during Maracyn treatment. He had a transparent layer of substance covering most of his body when he died. This was about 3 weeks ago. In the meantime, I used Melafix for 7 days.

Now he is regrowing those white fuzzy stuff on the tail and especially behind the side fins! The base of the fins look red and inflamed and the growths are increasing in size, they look like white lentils hanging from the base ofthe fin. I started on another round of Maracyn and Maracyn-2.. This is the 4th day but there is no improvement, actually now both side fins are affected, the erosions and holes are still there. Strangely, he is still eating normally, and actually acting aggresively towards us and the heater. He is also digging the gravel, and could be on season, I don't know. He is active and lively, but he does not look good. The aquarium condition are great, and we are doing twice a week large water changes now, and also adding 1Tbsp of aquarum salt per 10 gallons. Itis difficult to see the algae eater, but I did not notice anything strange as far as I could see on him.

If Maracyns are not helping, could his skin problem be parazytic? After we finish dosing with two Maracyns tomorrow, what do you recommend us using? My repertuar of fish medications are limited with Jungle products, but I don't know which one to use. I will try to get a picture tomorrow and I really appreciate if you could help.

Thanks a lot,
Marin


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi,

sorry to hear your fish isn't doing well.

Have you actually tested the water for ammonia,nitrite and nitrate? What brand of dechlorinator are you using? What sort of filtration have you got going on the tank?

It sounds like a bacterial or fungal problem and of couse with that the first thing we look at is the water quality however it sounds like you're doing everything right in that regard. How much and how often are you feeding?

Salt, sodium chloride, can help prevent bacteria and fugus from adherring to the fish's skin. You want to use 1 Tablespoon per five gallons. Increasing water movement will also help in this regard.

I'll look forward to seeing the picture.

Robin


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## Marin (Jan 8, 2008)

Hi Robin,

I am regularly testing the water, the pH is 7.2, no nitrite or ammonia are present, and the nitrate is around 20. have been adding 1 tbsp of aquarium salt per 5 gallons for many months by now. I have been using AquaSafe as a dechlorinator. There is enough aeration in the aquarium. We have been feeding the severum about twice per day, 10-15 medium size pellets. But until 2 weeks ago, he was not eating at all, so we had not been feeding him for many weeks before that, just the algae eater (every other day or so).

Maracyn and Maracyn-2 treatment is over and the fins look worse. We did a large water change (about 40%) yeserday. I could not yet take a good picture, will try again tomorrow. But now both side fins have this white growths protruding from their base and they are growing. They do not seem to be moving. I am not sure if it is fungus or parazite. It could still be a resistant strain of bacteria not responding to maracyns. THere are growing number of white spots on the tail, but they do not look like ick. Spots are much larger than that.

I have both fungus clear and parazite clear (also melafix and pimafix) in hand to start treatment, but without a picture, you probably can not advice  I can buy anything that you recommend. Is it OK to use these medications one after another? Not that we have many choices , but still....

Thanks,
Marin


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## Marin (Jan 8, 2008)

Hi Robin, I managed to get some photos, I hope they come out all right from PictureTrail. I will explain the details if they do.


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## Marin (Jan 8, 2008)

Trying again from Photobucket...









This picture shows (hopefully) the solid white growth behind the side fin (in circle), where it attaches the body. The fin is also reddened on the base. The same growth is present on the other side fin. The reflection in the miror shows th white spots on the tail and dorsal fin (in circles).









This one shows the head erosion behind te eye, now white in color. The other side is not as bad. There are small "holes" on the head too. The side fin is hiding the growth behind it, but it looks somewhat reddish here..

















More pics of the head erosion, the holes in the head and small white spots on the tail and dorsal fin.









How he looks from the side (with white spots)

He is still eating well and actually being really aggressive. He is not rubbing himself to anything and does not seem to be disturbed wit the problem. The skin is not getting worse since we finished the two Maracyn treatment. I was thinking of adding Pimafix to see if it helps in the meantime? Melafix did not help the last time we tried..

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

Much thanks,
Marin


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## Marin (Jan 8, 2008)

Hi Robin, hi all, does anyboy have any idea of what type of disease this severum has and how to treat this condition? I am not sure what to do. We are changing the water about twice per week and he continues to eat and act normally. He does not look any better or worse.
Thanks,
Marin


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## Marin (Jan 8, 2008)

Ok, here are some comments from other people who have seen the fish..

- The decoloration behind the eye is normal, no need to worry (But I think it is more like an erosion than a decoloration. Oh well)..
- The fish may heal from HITH disease, but the skin does not heal (Can such a thing happen?).

Homer is really acting normally and eating fine. The growths behind the fins are smaller and less red. There are still holes in the middle of his head, but I cannot get a picture of those holes really.. He is about 6-7 years old too, I am not sure how long American cichlids live, but can he be considered old and not so even-textured any more?

So for now, as an "action" plan, I was planning to do water changes every 3 days or so until I make sure he is OK (plus aquarium salt). I may also use Pimafix or Melafix, if they make sense.

Any comments are really appreciated.

Much thanks,
Marin


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