# male frontosa is itchy.. very itchy



## mveale (Oct 25, 2005)

My male is itchy.. very itchy.. he's scratching his side with his pectorial fins
and seems very irritated... hes also got what seems like a slight fungal infection. 
He pops out of his cave, biting the water, and shaking... and it seems to be getting worse, he's even got to just resting on the sand bottom and not moving.
He's still feeding which is a good sign.

I had noticed that one of my internal filters was on the blink so it could be a case of 
the water fouled a little while the pump was off (for what could have been 2 weeks)

I treated with melafix and primifix, which cleared him up but 3 days later the symptoms returned... *** put in some polyfilter and done 2 waterchanges in the last week. all parameters are normal.

Somebody suggested that its possible that the sand in the tank is too fine and some could have gotten in under his scales and he's irritated with this... *** no idea what to try next. saltwater bath/dip?

All other fish seem fine, and leleupi and calvus have spawned within the last week which should be a good sign...

any advice???? im totally stumped.
Ill post a pic / video tomorrow.


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## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

i had a fungul infection on some of my other africans (not fronts) recently and noticed that symptoms would improve and seem to disappear when i treated with melafix but then return a week or so later. The fungus i dealt with was just a tiny speck of black fungus, there was no itching or damagae of any kind to the fish and fish acted as if they were not ill at all.

Im not sure what advice to give you since my fish were not bothered by the fungus and did not show any syptems of illness with it, i was able to just continue treatment with the melaix at a lower dose over a longer period of time and do extra water changes till it was gone. I never did find out if it was the melafix that got rid of it or if it just went away on its own.

I guess i would suggest continuing the treatment that worked the first time, just continue it past when the last signs are gone, like when you continue treatment for ick even though all signs are gone. I would also step up the number of water changes while doing this . I and others will be able to give better advice when we get the pics etc. that you said your going to post.


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

i doubt the substrate (sand) is relevant to your frontosa's discomfort. scales fit tighter than most bathing suits. :lol: 
some of his activities (twitching, biting the water) could be caused by his acclimating to the increased water changes, but if he acted this way prior, i would suggest the potential of a parasitic infection. in particular, gill flukes. his lethargic, lack of activity (sitting on bottom), could be interpreted as a sign his capacity to intake oxygen has being compromised.
if his gill plates are both moving similar to each other, and his appetite remains robust, an internal bacterial infection might also be worthy of consideration. 
either way, considering your experience (i peeked in your website), and the fact the mild 'fix' products brought comfort without cure, your next step is to Q the fish, and begin exposures to more specific medicines. hopefully, your posting a video, will help to reduce speculations to a more direct conclusion. 
side note: i chuckled at your t-shirt collection. when i vacationed in west mexico, i bought a T off the beach, that stated: "west mexica home of the metistic blue martin".


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## mveale (Oct 25, 2005)

Hi all, thanks for the replies..

hopefully these videos will make the symptoms more visible


Notice also that the inside of his mouth is red in one of the videos.. this was the
first time i saw this, but yet this morning it seems better...

Im seeding a filter for quarantine but am still concerned and think i need to treat with something.. but not sure


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## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

It was kind of hard for me tell for sure but does he have a spot on one of his sides ? As he faces the left in the second video (in the beginning of the video as you zoom in) it looks like he has a injury in the center of his body. Does he ? Also in the first video i thought i saw some small white pimple looking areas on his face, above the mouth area, does he ? Get back to us.

Thanks,
CG


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## mveale (Oct 25, 2005)

yes looks like a scale is irritating him or about to fall off...
the white pimple i think is fungal.. it cleared up with melafix
but then came back 2 days after treatment ended...


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## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

Ok, my advice then is to do a 50 -75 percent water change, vacume gravel and rocks super good (move them if you have to to vacume under them) and begin treatment with the melaix again since it worked before.

Continue treatment for about a week. When the last symtom is gone and there is no sign of illness do another big water change and continue treating with the melafix for at least another week , you can remove the melafix with carbon and water change for a couple days (2 or 3 days )inbetween treatments. I suggest you do this becuase it cleared up and then came back again. It will be important to keep up on water changes and cleaning practices after treatment is finished so that the fungal or bacterial problem does not come back. Melafix uses tee tree oil as its main ingrediant and that has both bacterial and anti fungal properties (i often use it to cure a condition called rain rot on my horses (fungal) and ringworm (also fungal).

It says on the bottle that you can use melafix and pimafix together at the same time, i have never done that so i would speak to someone who has before doing this yourself if you have not done it before. Im not sure on dosing and length of time it is ok to leave the fish in treatment etc..


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