clown with nasty lump

[tender]

Hi Emma!
Well, this is getting more and more confusing. This morning it was fine. Swimming with the others and seemed happy enough. Fed them all with Brineshrimp this evening (before I read youre post) and 10 minutes later; ANOTHER LUMP I examined it closely and it is beginning to dawn on me: it`s not a lump, it`s coming out of its anus! In other words, this is probably some kind of internal parasite. I guess I got fooled by the "wounds" on its abdomen which was in the same area, and automatically assumed the lump was acosiated with this. Also; when the lump went away yesterday it was again, just after feeding time, and it was having a "poop". Ten minutes later; lump gone. I have never seen a parasite/worm like this. Completely round, like a pimple. Could it be "skinny disease"? In which case I`m in deep s..t! As i`ve said in another post on the forum, all known effective medicine against this is illegal in Norway. But is this kind of faeces normal with Skinny d? I thought the only symptom was that the loach simply got more and more skinny?
Getting frustrated here

[tender]

Well, the "lump" is most definetly an internal parasite (it has come and gone twice since my last post). The weird thing is that it was constantly present until I started the previous medication (protozin). Trust me on this; I checked all the time, morning, daytime, evening and night! However; with recent developments I know this is coming from inside. (Weird though; Protozine is not supposed to do anything against internal parasites. Maybe just a coincidence?)
I bought a quarantine tank today and will transfer the loach tomorrow. I was able to get Flubenol in Sweden (1,5 hours from where I live in Oslo, and it was simply sold over the counter! Typical Norwegian regulations that it`s not available here AT ALL!! Even with prescription )

The Flubenol is only available in Pasta form, so after a lot of checking I have worked out the dosage. (difficult to give it directly in the loaches` mouth as it is supposed to be done, as it`s intended for cats and dogs )

I`ll keep posting as to the results. (I know, It`s "only" a fish, but this has become something of a mystery to me, and the little "bugger" has been hanging on for so long that I`ve grown really fond of him/her )

Kind regards
Marius

[Emma Turner]

Hi Marius,

I was going to suggest you trying to obtain Flubenol via eBay or somewhere and taking a chance. I am glad you managed to get some in Sweden.

Your best bet will be to crush the tablets into a fine powder using a mortar & pestle (like what is used in cookery for grinding herbs etc) and then adding the powder to a jugful of tank water and mixing well before pouring into the tank.

I am not thinking 'it is only a fish' - we all get attached to our loachy friends and I really hope you manage to save this one. Keep us updated!

Emma

[tender]

Hi Emma!
It`s not tablets. It`s Pasta. Meaning it`s a "non solid" substance. Resembles Tooth-paste The big issue is whether it will be as effective as Flubenol 15 which is designed especially for fish. There might be a problem as it is not atuomatically dissolved in water. But I did a test today and after 20 min it was all dissolved. I imagine all the Flubendazole wont "go away" even though it takes time to dissolve in contact with water. I`m giving it a shot anyway... I`ve got nothing to loose. The clown WILL die if it doesn`t get treated. It REALLY pisses me off that idiotic legislation prevents treatment to animals, when the treatment is completely harmless to any creature

(I understand the reasons for restrictive rules re medications, but this is ridicoulus)

[tender]

The loach has now been transferred to my new quarrantine tank.
The flubenol was added this evening and will be in the tank for 48 hours.
Surprisingly, the clown seems quite happy on its own Quite active, and not hiding. Added a few very small snails and a bit of an algae wafer because the tank is new, and there is no natural food-source in the tank, yet. But my god how skinny it is
I`m sceptical to whether it will pull through, but keeping my fingers crossed.

Kind regards
Marius

[tender]

Another update; for those who might be interested
My clown is finally acting normal. Swimming around, and eating. It seems to enjoy snails again After eating the "shit" coming out looks like a string with pearls on it, so it`s obviously not quite cured, but at least It`s acting normally and the faeces is "leaving" the fish in a "normal" way. It`s still much to early to say whether it will work out, as it`s still extremely thin, but maybe it has a chance?

Kind regards
Marius

[Emma Turner]

Fingers are crossed here, Marius. It is a good sign that the fish is now feeding again.

Emma

[tender]

Clown still hanging in there and no more parasites coming out of his ass Although he has been less active the last few days. But we are having a heatwave here so temp is up and down (I do a small waterchange everyday to cool down the tank).

As he`s still extremely skinny I have tried feeding sparingly 3 times a day. The only thing he eats is frozen Brineshrimp and frozen red bloodworms. He`s totally uninterested in any form of sinking pellets or wafers. As Emma told me Brineshrimp is not very nutricious and bloodworms is very "strong" I`m worried if he`s getting the right diet, at the moment. Any tips or recommendations to alternative food? Or is this ok? (Oh yes, the odd snail goes down aswell, but they generally survive a few days in the tank, so he`s not up to his usual appetite for snails)

[Clowntje]

Hi Tender,
Hows your Clown doing now?

In Holland it is difficult to get meds too (atleast the good meds)

If u cant get a dewormer trough a vet, i found a method with pumpkin seeds on a puffer forum when i was searching for alternatives for my puffer to deworm.

Here's the link. Scroll down untill u see the Pumpkin seeds.
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/lib ... t/#more-75

According to the forum the method worked with some Puffers.

Good luck with your search.

[Clowntje]

Have u tried feeding some Cucumber or Courgette? u can boil it for a few minutes so it sinks to the bottom or u can heavy it with a teaspoon so it can sink. U can also soak it in meds before u feed it.

My Clowns also love mussels, not the slimey ones but the boiled or baked ones.

Good luck with it.

[tender]

Hi!
Unfortunately I had to euthanize the clown today. I`t stopped feeding, and last 2 days there was nothing left of it. Just skin and bones. What pisses me off the most, is that this has gone on for a while now, and had the right medication been available to start with I might have been able to save it.

Thanks for all help and advice.

Kind regards
Marius

[Emma Turner]

Marius, try not to feel too bad, you did as best as you could given the difficult circumstances re: the strict control of fish medications over there. Hopefully the link I PM'd you with earlier will enable you to obtain Flubenol in the event you should ever need it again.

Emma

[chefkeith]

Tender- I feel for you. I had to euthenize 3 out of 5 skinny clowns loaches I had a few years ago. There was nothing I could do for 2 of them, they were too far gone by the time I took notice. It was heart breaking to see them like that.

The other 3, I caught the symptoms early and treated them with the proper medications (Prazi and Levamisole). 1 of the clowns made an immediate recovery and has been fine. The 2nd clown relapsed a few months after the treatments, got some kind of fungal infection, then got really skinny, so I had to euthenize it. The 3rd clown has had 3 or 4 relapses in the past 2 years, but has finally recovered and has started bulking up.

Even with all the right medications, it can be a long and hard recovery for the fish. Even with the right medications there is no guarantee.

[tender]

Thanks for the support guys!
I`m going to start stocking up medication now. Emma has sent me a useful link to where I can obtain Flubenol. Thanks Emma!!

Chefkieth: I see you mentioned Prazi... Does this work against skinny aswell? Because that medication I can actually get hold of. Its called Dactymor and comes from Munster in Germany.

[chefkeith]

Praziquantel sometimes helps. It kills flatworms. Flubenol and Levamisole are for the roundworms.

It's best to have both on hand if you don't know what you're dealing with.