Sick Uaru (Hexamita, diet, environment)  3/1/09 
I have been keeping fish for a few years and have a Uaru in a 80 gallon tank. He developed what i believed to be fin rot about 2 months ago which i treated and he healed. He then developed holes in his head with mucus coming out i had seen hole in the head before and his faeces was not white and stringy he only had at first one small one. he had no appetite loss or did he isolate himself. I spoke to a trusted fish shop person who recommended Pimafix, and to keep an eye on it in case he got worse. well the next day he had puss filled holes on his head around his eyes and also
on the line down his body that looks like a sewed line (sorry cant think of another way to describe it). In this case i decide to treat him with esHa Hexamita. i have now been treating him as per the instructions for at least a month and he has seemed to improve then as soon as i gave the tank a rest after the three days he acquired more holes. He can be very awkward with the Sailfin Plec that i have and when i first had him he got injured by being spiked which caused a swelling and loss of half of his top lip which would ooze white stuff. two day ago he had a swollen cheek and now he has 4-5 holes down the side of this cheek where i am not sure if the cheek is oozing or it is still as a result of the hole in the head he has one hole on his nose on one side all holes have gone on the side with the swollen cheek he has one that is an original hole and a linear ooze on the line on his side as i described before. he has had 5 treatments with breaks and water changes he is eating some days he isolates in his house other days he is fine. I have put some aquarium salts in and now as there seemed to be and improvement but the holes are back. I have heard now that i cant retreat with the Hexamita as it cant mix with the salt Is this true? and i am so upset that i may lose him if i water change can i treat him and can i put more in than it says or put treatment in until it goes, or for four or five days. I need HELP!! Please? Water quality has been tested There are two gold Severums 2 alliminium catfish and a Firemouth in the same tank
MonicaMonica
<Hello Monica. Before anything else, my gut feeling here is we're looking at chronic water quality problems. Let me explain. While 80 gallons sounds a lot on paper, the fish you have are both big (the Aluminium Catfish, Chrysichthys longipinnis) and super-sensitive to water quality, including nitrates (the cichlids, particularly the Uaru). I'm also concerned that you're not tackling the problem head-on. There's no need to use "aquarium salt" in a freshwater tank, and any retailer that recommends either salt or Pimafix as the solutions to your problems isn't doing you a good service.
The problem is almost certainly lack of space, lack of water changes, and/or lack of filtration. So let's review. Aluminium Catfish can get to 70 cm (over 25 inches) in the wild. Two of them by themselves would need a much bigger tank than you have, something upwards of 800 litres (175 Imp. gallons). On top of that, you'd need a colossal amount of filtration, not less than 6-8 times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour. On the flip side, Uaru amphiacanthoides is a cichlid species at least as sensitive to water quality as Discus, so keeping such a fish in a cramped tank with poor water quality is going to make its life difficult. Putting aside water chemistry issues for the moment, in terms of water quality you need zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and a nitrate level of less than 20 mg/l. It's also
a partially herbivorous cichlid, and unless it's diet is rich in green foods, it suffers from vitamin deficiencies rather easily, and these make fish more vulnerable to Hexamita. And I'm sure you're dealing with some type of Hexamita infection here. The reliable cure for this is Metronidazole 250 mg per 38 litres (8 Imp. gallons/10 US gallons). In the
UK, you can get this only from a vet. Whilst I'm aware of the eSHa alternative, I've not used it, so can't comment on its efficacy. I'll also make the point that unless you fix the environment and diet, all the treatment in the world won't help. Cheers, Neale.>