Bass Fungus Help

[cableguy031]

Please help!!! I have two(2) bass in my 55 gallon tank. The following problem started about 1 week ago and I don't know how to treat it. There are white parasite looking things on one of the bass' head. It grew more and more over a week period. I've tried to use Melafix and checked my PH level without result.

The strange thing is that only one bass is infected with this parasite, the other one is fine just like a normal bass. There are also two other occupants in the tank, 1 bull head and one sun fish. Those two are not infected by this disease.

I've included 2 pictures to illustrate the problem, if anyone has knowledge on this subject, I would really like to hear what your opinion is and how to go about treating this parasite situation.

I've owned these bass since they were about "yearling" and now they're about 2 pounds each. I love to see them chase minnows when it comes to feeding time. Eventually, when they're too big for the tank, they are destined for Cabela's in Rogers, with proper transport papers and fees of course.

So here are 2 pics of this parasite, I have more if anyone wants to see a better detail.

This is a picture of the bass before the infection:

This is what that same bass look like after infection:

This is a picture of my sun fish in the same tank but without any infections:

[Hotspotter]

Are the legions from the bass rubbing his head against the tank or other items in the tank? They may be more troubling than the parasite (if that's what those stringy white things are). There is something called "Hole in the Head Disease" or erosion, that looks a lot like that. That said, I don't know how to explain the white features on the head.

Contact an expert. Email me and I can provide you with some contact information. Email address at bottom.

Thanks,

Joel

[cableguy031]

There are times at night when the infected bass will slam itself against my filter uptake tube. It rattles the whole filter but that's about it. There are also times when it will splash water out of the tank onto my wall.

I'm not a fish amateur and this is not the first time I've had fish, however, it IS the first time I've had this species of fish.

[Black_Bay]

I'm not positive what it is but it looks like a fungus or possibly columnaris. Aureomycin or chloramphenicol are listed treatments for columnaris. I contacted someone who has knowledge of fish diseases and will forward on his response.

If you can, isolate that fish from the others and clean that tank VERY well. Especially the rocks. Hydrogen peroxide works well. You said you're not a fish amateur so you probably already know that stuff.

[cableguy031]

Update:

I went to World of Fish in Richfield to seek expert advice. I took those same pictures and a few more on my digital camera and showed it to Bob, who works there. His knowledge of fish was exceptional. I presented the pictures and explained the situation to him.

Bob suggested that I take the infected bass and give him a salt dip, I was like, a salt dip for a fresh water fish? That is insane!!! Then the process was explained to me why and how it works, and it made lots of sense. Apparently, fresh water parasites will disengage from the host if you dip the fish in salt water, and the same with salt water fish into fresh water. Oh, and it has to be aquarium salt, not your typical kitchen salt. This opened a whole new concept for me and new information too.

I was told to keep a close eye on the fish during the salt bath and remove the fish when it seems to be floundering or gasping for air. This process can be repeated up to 30 minutes. The salintiy solution will cause the parasites to disengage from the fish without too much harm.

I will post the results.....once the salt dip is completed.

[Black_Bay]

My contact agreed with the salt dip and also said peroxide would help. He said to use the solar rock salt in the blue bags. It works just fine.

[cableguy031]

Here's the latest update:

I used aquarium salt bought from Walmart for the salt dip. I put the bass in there and monitored it for 2 minutes. He started to go sideways a bit, not quite laying on its side yet. I removed it and put it back in the tank for 15 minutes.

Then the process was repeated for 2 more times. Approx. 10-12 hours later, I checked back on the bass. WOW!!! No more parasite protruding from its head and gills. It's as clean as a fush should look like.

However, there are several rather large gaping holes in his head where the parasites were. The holes look raw and seems to be deep. The bass is fine, still alive and still an eating machine. This was a new concept and very helpful information for me about LMB.

As of today, 01/02/08, the holes are looking like it's closing but a little slow. There are quite a few differences today versus a couple of weeks ago. But what's really odd to me was that none of his tank mates caught the parasite problem. They all eat minnows from the same source and live in the same environment. Weird!!!

I did not use peroxide for fear of an unknown result. I wanted to take one treatment step at a time so I can reduce the stress level on a fish especially when I've had these two since they were "fingerlings". Since the salt dip came out with positive results, I did not find further need to use peroxide as suggested.

Here are pics of the result:

[EBass]

Nice job saving said bass! It's still eating right? I'm sure the wounds will heal in time. Poor guy went through a lot. Those things were nasty.

[ocf1]

Way to save the fish, Man did that look nasty before you treated it!