Diagnosing Sick Panduros

[Kalin]

I have a female panduro that has been staying up at the surface with her mouth wide open. I have isolated her from the other fish by putting her in a strainer hanging down in to the tank such that she can rest on the bottom of it and not have to work to keep at the surface. She has been this way now for several days and I suspect she will die. I have observed this same thing about a year ago in my panduros and I ran the gamut in trying to medicate them to treat the ailment but was never successful. (It was suspected they had an internal parasite due to the presence also of stringy white poo, and I tried treating them with metonidazole, levamisol, praziquantel, etc.) They all eventually died.

What I’m wondering is, how might I go about autopsying her if I can gain access to a microscope? How do I do a fecal smear? And then once I have my slide, where is there a database of internal fish parasites that might help me identify what I'm looking at? I want to try to ascertain what parasite is causing this so I can apply the proper treatment to the rest of my tank, and prevent my other fish from enduring a similar fate. Or is this too much for the layperson?

 

[Bilbo]

I have a Bitaeniat in much the same way at the moment so sorry I dont have any helpful answers but I have a friend who got fedup with his Apisto's getting sick so now he adds a few drops of garlic juice to his water before water changes. Does anyone else do this or have any good reasons why this should/shouldnt be done?

He says there has been no more sickness or deaths since but this could be due to the vampires keeping well clear of the fish room. We dont need a map to his place just walk up the street and follow your nose

 

[Corine]

My Mildred (a. cacatuoides) just died of the same kind of thing. She started floating at the water surface yesterday evening, so I took her out and put her in a hospital tank, but she was dead when I came home from work this afternoon. :frown:

 

[michelle]

Garlic

I have also heard that putting garlic into the water helps - whole!. I did try this and nurse my apisto back to life when the female beat him up after a big fall out. So, don't know why it helped but I was recommended it and it helped my fish.
Michelle

 

[bigbird]

Morning All,

In my view, if some of you have had success with garlic, then by all means try it, it does not hurt at all and garlic as we know also assist us humans.

cheers jk :biggrin: