Florida Gar needing attention

[Tytink]

Have you tested your water?

No

If I did not test my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.

Do you do water changes?

Yes

What percentage of water do you change?

51-60%

How frequently do you change your water?

Every week

If I do not change my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.

Hello,

I picked up a 18” Florida gar from someone on Saturday evening. It was in a heavily stocked tank, big arowana’s, datnoids, small RTC, flag tail and some wide bar dollars.
The wide bar dollars had red at the edge of their gills.
The gar has red all between his scales, I will attach a few pictures of him when he was put into my tank.

Upon recommendation I seperated him into a small QT tank as it’s all I had available, and treated with salt (3 tablespoons per gallon) and Kanaplex. This was done on Sunday.

He is fairly active still coming up for air and exploring the camera I have on the outside of the tank, he hasn’t eaten yet but I would have said that was just stress of moving him etc.

I have been advised to try Virkon with salt and move him into the main tank.

Just looking to see if anyone has ever come across this before as I’ve had people saying it could be septicaemia, ammonia poisoning or possibly trichodina.

 

[kno4te]

Does look like and can be septicemia. Is the redness improved after salt and kanamycin?

 

[Tytink]

Does look like and can be septicemia. Is the redness improved after salt and kanamycin?

Nope, no improvement in regards to the redness. He is still actively moving around though

 

[kno4te]

Hard to tell what it is. I don’t keep gars and not sure how fast it’ll recover. If not worsened then watch for now. You’d need some skin sampling for parasites which you’ll need a vet to ID. If acting normal and eating then keep in quarantine and give it time. If not better then consider a treatment with copper which should help. Just IMO. Maybe thebiggerthebetter can help since he has gars.

 

[Tytink]

Hard to tell what it is. I don’t keep gars and not sure how fast it’ll recover. If not worsened then watch for now. You’d need some skin sampling for parasites which you’ll need a vet to ID. If acting normal and eating then keep in quarantine and give it time. If not better then consider a treatment with copper which should help. Just IMO. Maybe thebiggerthebetter can help since he has gars.

Yeah it isn’t obvious what the issue is, and cannot find anything remotely similar online. Gars react differently to medication than other fish so don’t want to over treat him and make things worse. Might see if the previous keeper is forth coming with any other issues with his fish, might give me more of a chance of treatment.

Thank you for you help.

 

[Hao]

My guess is the flagtail (notorious for sucking on slime coat of gars/polypterus) in the previous tank was sucking on its slime coat. Now the area with the slime coat removed is infected thus the redness (bacterial infection).

 

[Tytink]

My guess is the flagtail (notorious for sucking on slime coat of gars/polypterus) in the previous tank was sucking on its slime coat. Now the area with the slime coat removed is infected thus the redness (bacterial infection).

Does seem very much the case! What would you treat a bacterial infection with? Continued use of the Kanaplex or try the Virkon?

 

[Hao]

Does seem very much the case! What would you treat a bacterial infection with? Continued use of the Kanaplex or try the Virkon?

In my experience, clean water and stress-free environment generally is sufficient for gars and polypterus when it comes to bacterial infection. Generally, I don't medicate for bacterial infection unless its a really severe case since it can be stressful for the fish. As for which kind of medication, I wouldn't know what to suggest tbh. I think it would be wise to stick to one medication and run its course before trying something new. I believe Kanaplex is a form of antibiotics so it should reduce bacterial infection.

 

[Tytink]

In my experience, clean water and stress-free environment generally is sufficient for gars and polypterus when it comes to bacterial infection. Generally, I don't medicate for bacterial infection unless its a really severe case since it can be stressful for the fish. As for which kind of medication, I wouldn't know what to suggest tbh. I think it would be wise to stick to one medication and run its course before trying something new. I believe Kanaplex is a form of antibiotics so it should reduce bacterial infection.

Okay thank you for your help. I think it makes sense to get it into the bigger tank and start doing a few water changes a week instead of just one while dealing with this infection.