Ok, now i'm curious

[ostrow]

Ok, for those who have read of my parasite/bacteria/snail travails and drastic solutions:

48 hours and no death yet. I'm hopeful.

Ick signs disappearing with the Quick Cure and Maracyn (1 and 2).

But my female variatus STILL has a single white spot/growth in the middle of her tail. This is really hard to describe. It is round, looks granular/hard almost. Bigger than a table salt crystal. I can't pinpoint the size though. It has the appearance of being lodged in there (as if it protrudes out both sides of the tail). I doubt it is Ick as it doesn't change, spread, or disappear on her.

She seems otherwise happy, but I'm surprised these meds aren't affecting it at all. Could she have a tiny pebble fragment stuck in there?!?!?!?

 

[William]

I think a guppy of mine had what you had. I tried meds but nothing seemed to work . Sorry maybe someone else can help you.

 

[ostrow]

What happened to your guppy?!? :but:

Here's what I now think. I think she managed to spear something with her tail. What it is, I can't imagine.

Has anyone ever seen that?

You know those little plastic thingies they use to attach tags to clothing (the ones you can't bite or pull off but need scissors or you'll tear you new garment?)? It looks almost like a teeny tiny piece of one of those, really only like 1/4mm worth, is lodged in there. Except that the spot is white and those things tend to be greyish.

Oh well.

 

[Dragonslair]

My swordtail has what you descibe on her tail. I placed a aquarium magnifier to the tank and discovered that it is missing pigmentation. My swordtail had ick and started to get some bacterial infection. I dosed the tank and after several days with all but the floss in the filter working. Light patches started to appear on her tail. I kept an eye on it but it got no worse,but neither did it improve. So curiosity got the better of me so I examined her closely. It seemed where the infection attacked, and with the meds/chems healed, the colour pigmentation never returned. This may be the same situation with your fish. Worth investigating?

 

[ostrow]

Hmmm, does it seem to protrude? This seems not a pigmentation thing ... esp since her tail is clear/transluscent.

It looks more like an object to me.

I guess if she doesn't get worse it isn't a problem. It's a little unsightly. (she'd kill me if she knew I talked about her like this :0 )

 

[Dragonslair]

Could it be a cyst then? There are several types of cysts ranging from the spherical types caused by water pathogens to the ones caused by flukes.
Only a biopsy can determine what it is. So if it is not bothering her, I would say leave her alone.

 

[ostrow]

Hey, a revival of an old thread!

But this is interesting, and may demand that the Sturgeon Surgeon take a trip to Chicago.

My female Blue Variatus decided to take a nap right in the front corner of the tank, just as my body for no apparent reason decided to wake up at 4am yesterday.

I passed by the tank and took a look and realized she was giving me a really close look at her tail.

There is NO doubt now that something is lodged in there -- a flake of a pebble that must have been just jagged enough and her luck just bad enough to get wedged into her tail. It goes all the way through, but most of it is hanging out one side.

I resisted the temptation to just reach in and pull it out for fear I'd shred her tail (or worse) in the process. But seeing it just hanging there created an enormous temptation akin to post-sunburned peeling skin.

Anyway, what is the recommended course of action? Wouldn't do nothing will end up in infection or something? Can Sturgeon come here and perform some surgeon?!?

Thanks all....

 

[Alien Anna]

Are you sure it's not an anchor worm? They have been described as looking a little like those plastic tags that hold the cardboard tags to clothing in shops.

 

[Tatya]

You can find pictures of anchor worms at yucky parasites

 

[ostrow]

NO! This is distinctly white and solid/opaque. It can not be described as lengthy. It looks more like a piece of cooked rice. Or, a little pebble.

If it were the worm, in all this time my guess is it would have MOVED! Replicated. Done SOMETHING!!! :grumpy: :grumpy:

No, whatever this is, it is NOT alive, I can tell you that.

Fortunately, the fish doesn't even seem to notice. But as I said, I worry about infection.

 

[adeyc]

What you need to do.(only if you're convinced that this isn't a worm etc. but can be done for a number of things) is catch the fish and manualy remove the object with tweezers or the like, wash the tail in a formalin solution prior to putting back in the tank(ideally it should go into a hospital tank but I'm assumming you havent been able to get hold of one yet). and treat for any secondry infections. the fish will be ok out of the water for a the couple of minutes it takes to do this. keep the tank light of when she's back in the tank as she will be a little stressed after this.

 

[Rose]

.....she will be a little stressed after this.

I think this is a bit of a understatement here. She will be quite stressed and idealy a tank all her own would be best after this is done. Rose

 

[adeyc]

ok if you wrap the fish in a damp towel it should help relieve the stress a bit. but I did understate it a bit. bad choice of words sorry. but I couldnt post the fish would be freaked as it's a job that needs to be done and the wording may have put ostrow off.

 

[ostrow]

Hmmm. I sure wish the sturgeon surgeon could do this for me...

You've got ME freaked ... never mind the fish!

Seriously, though, she's had this thing like 4 months now and I don't see evil signs. So I need some convincing on the rationale for doing this before probably risking her life.

Even once I catch her, I'm having difficulty picturing how I keep her in a wet cloth, AND hold her, AND use tweezers to get the object out of her tail. She'll flip (literally) off whatever surface I'm working on....

And I don't have formalin (is this a UK product, or is there another name here in the States???). Would I put this right on the tail? Or is it something that would go in water with the fish (I have a small 2 gal bowl I could use for a short while I imagine.)

But again, this all seems quite drastic. Perhaps I should leave well enough alone?

I am perplexed that after 6 months these "livebearers" haven't borne anything. I've maintained roughly 2 female to 1 male ratio..... Perhaps her discomfort has kept her out of the mood ("honey, not tonight, my tail aches...") :laugh: :laugh:

 

[Rose]

If she's had it that long with no problems with it, I'd leave it alone. No sence stressing her out when you don't need to. However I would keep an eye on it and see what it does. That's what I would do if she were my fish. Rose