How to treat dojo loach with skin lesion?

Wanda · Post by **Wanda** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 12:48 pm

Hi - I have a dojo loach who has a raised, red skin lesion on the side of his body near his tail. It looks like a big pimple and is open in the middle. I am wondering if anyone can give me some advice on how to treat this. I am setting up a hospital tank for him now. I wondered if he nicked hmself and the lesion got infected because he loves to crawl right under the gravel and hide - but I really have no idea what it might be.

sophie · Post by **sophie** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 1:37 pm

Lesions can be caused by any number of things, from damage all the way through to fish TB, and I wouldn't presume to guess which it is. The hospital tank sounds like a very good idea, as is a really strict water hygiene policy. I think many Americans would recommend treating with antibiotics - we don't have access to them in the Uk so I'm afraid I can't help with that advice

.

In the meantime, getting him isolated and keeping on top of water changes is a good idea.

best of luck.

Wanda · Post by **Wanda** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:25 pm

Thanks for your reply. I went to the petstore and found some MelaFix (contains 1% Melaleuca). It said it is for open body wounds, open red sores, ulcers etc. So I will give it a try. Hopefully it is just a minor infected lesion and not a more serious problem. I will let you know if I see any results.

sophie · Post by **sophie** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:32 pm

Wanda wrote:Thanks for your reply. I went to the petstore and found some MelaFix (contains 1% Melaleuca). It said it is for open body wounds, open red sores, ulcers etc. So I will give it a try. Hopefully it is just a minor infected lesion and not a more serious problem. I will let you know if I see any results.

I wouldn;t use melafix without asking specific advice on the forum - many loaches hate it... they are sensitive to many meds (lelafix is, I think, basically ta tree oil) and I've heard very bad things about melafix and kuhlis.

Wanda · Post by **Wanda** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:32 pm

I didn't realize but this melaleuca is actually tea tree oil. I use that on my own zits! Interesting. Well, I hope it helps to heal my fish!

Wanda · Post by **Wanda** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:36 pm

When I read the information on the back it says it is safe for scaleless fish like clown loaches so I assumed it would be ok for my dojo.

I hope it doesn't bother him! If anyone else has had poor results with this then let me know. Thanks!

Baz Bluck · Post by **Baz Bluck** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:42 pm

I have just put some of that in my tank which is mainly inhabited by clown loaches. I read the instructions and I agree with you it does say safe to use on scaleless fish. I hope this is the case, fingers crossed.

shari · Post by **shari** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:55 pm

I have found that you can't always believe what the label says as regards 'safe to use' issues.

On the other hand, I have used MELAfix with clowns, yo yos, dojos and horsefaces with no apparent problems. PIMAfix on the other hand will drive your botia species frantic in an attempt to escape it. I would not use it again.

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:08 pm

Wanda wrote:When I read the information on the back it says it is safe for scaleless fish like clown loaches so I assumed it would be ok for my dojo.

Company disclaimer i would suggest.

However, more frequent waters do wonders for "cuts and grazes" without adding any unnecessary medications into your tank. I would also suggest you changing your substrate to a finer one if sharp edged gravel is the case.

Graeme.

sophie · Post by **sophie** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:25 pm

Shari wrote:I have found that you can't always believe what the label says as regards 'safe to use' issues.

On the other hand, I have used MELAfix with clowns, yo yos, dojos and horsefaces with no apparent problems. PIMAfix on the other hand will drive your botia species frantic in an attempt to escape it. I would not use it again.

this is why it says "mostly clueless" in my sig... I was sure I'd read cybermeez saying melafix is bad for kuhlis...

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:33 pm

Indeed it is for Pangio (Kuhli's). I've never kept or used any of the above medications for Weather loaches (Dojo's) though.

Wanda · Post by **Wanda** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:53 pm

I will try more regular water changes as suggested. I think I'll still stick with the melafix first, even though I feel a little uneasy about it.

I do have gravel and it seems pretty smooth but it is possible that there may be a rough piece in there? This loach of mine is extremely active (I have two and the other one is pretty relaxed) and so he may have dinged himself on one of the taller rocks in my tank too. Who knows though???

Thanks again for all the suggestions - this seems like a great place to get advice!

cybermeez · Post by **cybermeez** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:39 pm

sophie wrote:I was sure I'd read cybermeez saying melafix is bad for kuhlis...

Indeed I did say that. I have tried on at least 2 separate occasions to use MelaFix on Kuhlis. The first time the Kuhli died and I'm 99% certain the MelaFix had something to do with it. He wasn't all that sick to begin with which is why had opted for the MelaFix over antibiotics. Looking back, he was clearly in distress afer I added the MelaFix to his water, but at the time I thought it was just an inital response and would pass. My mis-judgement turned out to be fatal for the little guy.

The second time, within minutes of putting the MelaFix into the water the all the Kuhlis began to zoom around the tank repeatedly shooting to the surface to gulp air. I immediately did a massive water change and everyone's behavior went back to normal.

Botias, in my experience, don't seem to mind MelaFix as much. However, I agree with Shari in that I would never use PimaFix on any loach. I tried it once on mixed botias and it caused them to try to jump out of the tank. I did a water change right away and then they were fine.

Not exactly scientific proof, but my fish told me they didn't like it (fish, especially loaches, do communicate if you learn to read their behavior) and in this case I'm going to listen to them.

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:48 pm

Slightly different impression on this end.

The only time I've used Melafix on a tank with khulis was when I had to move them to another tank (easier this way than taking the tank apart). It makes them much more active and swimming but I'm certain they were not trying to grab air...it appeared to me to act as a powerful stimulant or intoxicant (perhaps too powerful).

Does anyone here have an opinion on khulis reaction to an algae tank? --- it seems to provide the same type, but weaker, stimulation, but I may be wrong.
Did anyone try to keep khulis in a tank with a lot of algae?

cybermeez · Post by **cybermeez** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:53 pm

How long have you been keeping loaches?

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How to treat dojo loach with skin lesion?

How to treat dojo loach with skin lesion?

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