Weird lesions/bumps/white spot on the head.

[QiQi]

The issue is that he already had these lesions and bumps when I got him (rescued from a pet store 2 weeks ago) and they are not getting better. In fact that one bump with the white thing in it, got bigger. I do water changes every week and test the water. The white thing in that bump goes in and out ( I observed it closely yesterday). It looks like a worm or maggot to me. From my experience with animals in general (dogs, horses, cats) just providing a healthy environment won't solve a parasite issue. You need to remove them manually or deworm and dose antibiotics too if it gets out of hand. That's the reason why I decided to treat it now and not wait for him to get really bad.

He is doing fine so far. 8 hours in the quarantine tank with Sterazin. No signs of stress, he eats too. He is just a bit bored I think since there is not much to explore.

 

[Essjay]

On the bottle says Acriflavine 340mg/L, Malachite Green 545/mg/L, Piperazine Citrate 2040mg/L, and Formaldehyde as a stabilizer.

Thank you ?



Colin - can you clarify the meds for me.
Waterlife say:
Protozin is for external protozoan infections and fungus; it contains malachite green, formalin and copper.
Myxazin is a broad spectrum bactericide; it contains malachite green, formaldehyde and acriflavine
Sterazin is for gill and body parasites and intestinal worms; it contains acriflavine etc as listed above.

Surely it's Myxazin and Sterazin which are the same as they contain more or less the same ingredients?

 

[Colin_T]

Waterlife used to claim Protozin and Myxazin did the same thing but Myxazin was safer for scaleless fishes. However, they also had Cuprazin back then and it contained copper and malachite green. They might have dropped the cuprazin and just have Myxazin, Protozin and Sterazin now.

Sterazin contains Acriflavine, Malachite Green, Piperazine Citrate, and Formaldehyde.

Myxazin has the same ingredients as the Sterazin except it does not contain the Piperazine, which is a dewormer normally used on pigs and birds.

--------------------
Malachite Green and copper are used to kill external protozoan parasites like white spot, velvet, costia, chilodonella & trichodina.

Formalin/ Formaldehyde are a preservative but also kill everything in the water. They use a low dose that theoretically kills microscopic disease organisms and doesn't kill the fish. But if you add too much you kill the fish too.

Acriflavine is a chemical that kills microscopic organisms. It's not an anti-biotic or anti-fungal but it does kill bacteria, fungus, virus, and various other micro-organisms.

 

[Essjay]

Waterlife's website now lists just Myxazin, Octozin, Parazin, Protozin and Sterazin for freshwater.

Cuprazin is listed in the marine fish treatment section, along with Myxazin, Octozin and Sterazin. From the description, Cuprazin is the marine equivalent of Protozin - both say "protozoacide and fungicide"

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Sorry @QiQi we've hijacked your thread. But it's useful to know which product is supposed to treat what disease.

 

[QiQi]

Don't worry, it is good to know for myself too
From the bottle description I would assume that protozin is for white spot and myxazin for fin rot and fungal/bacterial infections and I would have bought both, but now I know I can just get myxazin and have treatment for most of the general diseases.

The white parasite in the bump is more out today so I hope by the end of day 10 it will die and fall out, the rest of the lesions seem fine, just this one left. (the white dot in front of his left eye)

Excuse the yellowness of the water, its just tannins since I used water from the main tank.

 

[QiQi]

Update: Day 5. The bump is way smaller now and the white thing inside of it seems to have disappeared, I also noticed scales start growing back on that area. He eats properly but he is super bored in the quarantine tank and mostly sleeps at the bottom so his bottom fin has a very slight irritation/beginning of fin rot ( I can only see it with a flashlight, it is a very early stage), I did a 50% water change. He is not lethargic since he is chasing my hand whenever I sit next to him. I try to keep him company as much as I can but I can't sit next to him 24/7. I still need to dose sterazin tomorrow, Thursday, and Saturday based on the bottle instructions.

Question: Since the bump is doing so much better, should I move him back to his tank with his shrimp friends or should I stick with the bottle instructions and do frequent water changes to keep his fins in check?

 

[QiQi]

Update on my poor boy
I followed the instructions on the bottle and he got much better, with no signs of that white thing, the lump got smaller so I put him back in his tank.
5 days ago it reappeared, that side of his face was swollen and there was another lump with a white thing next to his mouth too. I put him back in the quarantine tank and instead of dosing every two days, I dose every day. The lump and white thing (this time it is sometimes very thin and stringy like spider web hanging from the lump) keep coming and going, it's still swollen on that area and now I noticed there is a more white/pinkish ring around his bottom lip. He is still energetic, no signs of stress and eats well.

 

[UnknownFishies]

this is sad to read.... not only the fact that the pet store treated the betta like this but the fact that he has a parasite and the pet store did nothing? but i am glad that he is still eating and is energetic.

 

[QiQi]

I am not sure what to do, try different brands and then antibacterial/antifungal treatment? Leave it be and try again if it gets really bad? I definitely know that this white thing sometimes is there and sometimes not and I've seen it crawling back in his skin. I don't know if the pet store was treating him. Maybe they were and he had that for so long that it got resistant to medicine?
What I remember from the first treatment is that on the 3rd dose I saw milky/cloudy liquid coming out of that bump, pus maybe? The swollen area is an infection/abscess I think. I can treat that, but if I don't get rid of that worm first the infection will keep coming back.

 

[QiQi]

I got another update, Double dose 6 days straight ( 27/02-4/03) seems to have helped and I can't see the lump at all anymore. Instead, I can see new scales growing and his sensory pits (finally!!). I waited for 48 hours and started myxazin. The swelling has gone down quite a bit. Fingers crossed now, I hope it doesn't reappear in the next 4 days (he is not in a great mood and doesn't want to eat much) so I can put him back in his tank.