Headstanding ?

[alpine]

Could I use salt and neomycin antibiotic together ? neomycin was the only gram negative antibiotic that my supplier could come up with . it is suppose to be gram negative and positive .
have you all had good luck bringing back a fish with this headstanding ailment ?
I treated w/ epsom salts for thee days , then went to Neomycin antibiotic and would like to add salt too. I lowered the water level to half in the 30 gallon cube . The fish is my best blue male , two and half years old and it has had the ailment for about two weeks .
thanks for any help,
roberto.

[jeep]

Most antibiotics in the"mycin" family are ok. Kanamycin would be best and EM would be a good second choice. I would think neomycin will be a decent choice as well.

As far as headstanding goes... bad news. In the majority of cases are permenant unless caught very early. Some say it's an infection in the fish's "inner-ear" and some say it's an infection in the swim bladder. Either way, the results are the same and the treatment is the same. Regardless, by the time the problem is apparent, the damage is already done...

IME, I've caught a couple of headstanders very early on and treated them with Maracyn (EM) and had positive results. However, the problem has returned in about 6-8 months and cannot be cured....

Extremely clean water is essential!!!

[jeep]

Oh... and salt is an during the treatment is excellent as well...

[alpine]

Jeep, thanks for your responses . it is a very sad prognosis ...I am going to keep trying , the neomycin for five days ??? and salt too.
thanks for your quick response ,
roberto.

[jeep]

Ok, right or wrong, here's what I do for this extreme situation...

First, I lower the water to just below the top of the dorsal. The fish will be tilting sideways a bit but will not be using the swim bladder either. Double dose the EM the first day and then regular dose every day for 5-7 days. 7 preferably with 50% or more W/C's every day before re-dosing. I also add about 1/2 cup of salt per 10g and replace what is removed during the W/C...

After the antibiotic treatment, I raise the water to just above the dorsal for about a week and then increase to normal about a week later.

Best of luck!!

[Darren's Discus]

Roberto,
sorry to say in most cases this is a swim bladder problem and all the anti biotics in the world won't help,ive had a few with this problem over the years,


cheers

[Discus-Hans]

Sorry to hear about your Blue Roberto.

Only thing that worked for me with head standers was Chloramphenicol, back in my Holland days. A vew years back they took it of the market and we couldn't get the powder anymore.

We never could find anything to replace it. Many things can help for a moment but 99% of the time it comes back.
I ever had a big male with that problem and I couldn't solve it, it still did all his work, spawned with females and did his job. He was only infront of the eggs up side down. Indication for me they are not in pain or something,

Hans

[deesdiscus]

i agree with hans, usually whatever treatment seems to work is temporary. i have had 3 fish total with swim bladder. what i found to work best to help, only works for a little while is i take the fish thats head standing, put it in another tank with fungus eliminator (yellow powder), epsom salt, and lower the water level to relieve some of the pressure. i've seen that they usually correct the head standing for a little while. but in all 3 cases it came back. hth Derrick

[alpine]

Hans, thanks for the news of the fish being able to be a father again, he has been a great father for three spawns already ..

roberto

[LizStreithorst]

Good luck with him, Roberto. IMO it's virtually incurable. Maybe you'll be able to get out of yours what Hans got out of his.

[jczz1232]

LoL sorry I pull this back up, but Roberto, have you solved the head stand problem?

John

[alpine]

John, the Blue still headstanding, I moved him to a tank with his old buddy (I grew them together from 2 inches) , he eats well, looks dark most of the times , headstands, fights the other male pretty hard at times (he always was the alpha male ) .
After my experience and having spoken to a lot of knowledgable discus keepers once this condition takes a hold , it stays with the fish , I do not think there is a cure for it.

roberto.

[Elite Aquaria]

Roberto,

I am so sorry to hear the news about your Alpha Male...Was he one that is in your Avatar?

[jczz1232]

OK thanks Roberto.

John

[alpine]

Dan, no ..the ones in the Avatar are some of my beautiful females that I lost recently.

roberto.