Been There, Done That, Fish too far gone for the freezer.

[TCLynx]

Got home from a week away to find several floating fish bodies.  It wasn't a total HSM (heart stopping moment) as there are still plenty of fish swimming.

However, it always sucks to loose fish, especially when the cause is not certain.  Anyway, I'll be researching to try and figure out what has killed them.  The dead ones look like the gills on one side are badly infected or injured in some way.  Last year I think I lost one or two to whatever this is but since it didn't seem to spread, I didn't worry too much about it.  This time I pulled seven out of the tank and there is still at least one swimming around that looks to have the condition.

Did water tests and only a trace of ammonia and trace of nitrite which isn't surprising since I just pulled several very dead and rotting fish from the tank.  Yuck.

So now I get to watch and wait and hope the disease or whatever is going on isn't going to kill more fish though I will probably try to remove the one sick looking one tomorrow.

[TCLynx]

So here is what I've tried.
(definitely not terribly scientific but I'm not set up to do multiple trials with multiple identical systems and fish.)

Anyway,
put About a 1/2 cup of cheap pool or water softener salt in the bottom of a bucket
cut open medium/large aloe leaf and squeeze a bunch of gel off into the bucket
Add about a gallon of water and stir till salt dissolves squeezing the blobs of aloe to release more gel into the water.

Then I scooped out a little at a time (avoiding the blobs of aloe as best I could) and poured little by little into the bin with the sick fish till the TDS meter said I had aprox 1.5 ppt of salt in.

Now if those fish die, it doesn't tell me much since they are looking pretty terrible and I wouldn't expect them to recover anyway. However, if they were to recover, I'll think I've discovered the next best thing.

Once past this current situation, I think I will see if I can figure out a careful way to test the safety of using aloe with catfish to see what dosage and methods might be safe and beneficial. Catfish definitely do have sensitive skin and are prone to scraping themselves on tanks, filter materials, and nets and since they can only handle minimal salt, it would be nice to have a good organic home remedy for them that is effective at reducing stress.

Right now the catfish with the left gill problem is quite active and agitatedly swimming around the bin while the other fish with the right gill damaged seems lethargic. I think lefty got a stronger salt dip while righty got a weak solution but I'm not absolutely certain cause my hands were wet and I wasn't taking notes. I'm also not sure which is a better sign.

[Ron Thompson]

Aloe and Catfish is a good thing it seems. Some quoteouts from "Global Aquaculture Advocate", a peer reviewed journal. The article title: "Studies Toward a Standardized Columnaris Disease Challenge Model for Channel Catfish"

....The effect of a artificial sliming agent, Aloe-Vera, on catfish following physical abrasion and heat branding....

.....Finally, we show that Aloe-Vera and similar substances act to protect the fish from the early uptake of the pathogen and aid in wound protection. They can therefore be used to delay and prevent infection. .....


You can read the whole, truly exciting paper at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_...

...Disruption of the epithelium appears to be the major prerequisite for disease to occur and could be reversed, rather simply, by the application of Aloe-Vera. ...









TCLynx said:

So here is what I've tried.
(definitely not terribly scientific but I'm not set up to do multiple trials with multiple identical systems and fish.)

Anyway,
put About a 1/2 cup of cheap pool or water softener salt in the bottom of a bucket
cut open medium/large aloe leaf and squeeze a bunch of gel off into the bucket
Add about a gallon of water and stir till salt dissolves squeezing the blobs of aloe to release more gel into the water.

Then I scooped out a little at a time (avoiding the blobs of aloe as best I could) and poured little by little into the bin with the sick fish till the TDS meter said I had aprox 1.5 ppt of salt in.

Now if those fish die, it doesn't tell me much since they are looking pretty terrible and I wouldn't expect them to recover anyway. However, if they were to recover, I'll think I've discovered the next best thing.

Once past this current situation, I think I will see if I can figure out a careful way to test the safety of using aloe with catfish to see what dosage and methods might be safe and beneficial. Catfish definitely do have sensitive skin and are prone to scraping themselves on tanks, filter materials, and nets and since they can only handle minimal salt, it would be nice to have a good organic home remedy for them that is effective at reducing stress.

Right now the catfish with the left gill problem is quite active and agitatedly swimming around the bin while the other fish with the right gill damaged seems lethargic. I think lefty got a stronger salt dip while righty got a weak solution but I'm not absolutely certain cause my hands were wet and I wasn't taking notes. I'm also not sure which is a better sign.

[TCLynx]

That's really cool Ron, thanks for pointing that one out to me. Now I just need to figure out how one is supposed to apply the aloe vera to the fish.

[Ron Thompson]

You could apply it the same way as tarter sauce...




TCLynx said:

That's really cool Ron, thanks for pointing that one out to me. Now I just need to figure out how one is supposed to apply the aloe vera to the fish.

[Daniel E Murphy]

ROFL


Ron Thompson said:

You could apply it the same way as tarter sauce...




TCLynx said:

That's really cool Ron, thanks for pointing that one out to me. Now I just need to figure out how one is supposed to apply the aloe vera to the fish.

[David Hart]

Good one Ron ! :-)

Ron Thompson said:

You could apply it the same way as tarter sauce...




TCLynx said:

That's really cool Ron, thanks for pointing that one out to me. Now I just need to figure out how one is supposed to apply the aloe vera to the fish.

[TCLynx]

The fish in the bin are still surviving here the next morning. I do not know if it is possible for them to heal though. The wound around the gill looks ghastly.

[Ron Thompson]

Don't give up hope, it is amazing how resilient fish can be. I had an 6" Emperor Angel in a saltwater tank that caught a parasite called "Hole-in-the-Head. It was aptly name because by the time I got it under control the fish literally had several 1/8" holes that went completely through it's skull. You could see through the head at several places. While the holes never went away, that fish went back to acting normal and lived three more years.



TCLynx said:

The fish in the bin are still surviving here the next morning. I do not know if it is possible for them to heal though. The wound around the gill looks ghastly.

[TCLynx]

LOL, that's a bit disturbing.

Ron Thompson said:

Don't give up hope, it is amazing how resilient fish can be. I had an 6" Emperor Angel in a saltwater tank that caught a parasite called "Hole-in-the-Head. It was aptly name because by the time I got it under control the fish literally had several 1/8" holes that went completely through it's skull. You could see through the head at several places. While the holes never went away, that fish went back to acting normal and lived three more years.

[TCLynx]

Well one of the two fish from isolation has gone to the BSF bin, it was the one with it's Right gill affected. The other one which was overactive before is now lethargic.

[Ron Thompson]

BSF?

[Daniel E Murphy]

bloated stinky fish? :D


Ron Thompson said:

BSF?