Hi:
I just netted up my 2 year old Kohaku, which had a very rough week. Here's the background:
The Kohaku spent the last year in quarantine/growout. Most of that with a Kujaku that was a long time member of the main herd.
The kohaku was added in with the main herd on June 18th. There is a fish in that herd (not the Kujaku) that showed a waxy facial growth about 2 years ago. It disappeared when the water warmed, and I haven't seen it again. Temps have ranged from 64degF to 72degF.
On July 5th or 6th, spawning wrecked havoc on the water parameters: NH3 = 0ppm, NO2- @ 0.5ppm, NO3- @ ~20ppm
I salted to 0.12% and started water changes.
July 8th NO2- back down to undetectable.
Since then, back to the usual: 10% water changes every 2nd or 3rd day, NO3- around 5 - 10ppm, KH 3 - 4 drops (yes, I do this on purpose...). Lots of air (Sieve + Hakko 120), a mix of bead, upflow media filter and the very recent addition of a moving bed.
This evening I saw the following two symptoms on this Kohaku
#1 A localized, waxy, raised deposit on her head
#2 Two bruises on her back (near the 'bridge' in beni plates)
My hypothesis is a viral infection, spread by a latent, but frisky male, coupled with bruises acquired in spawning. The virus took hold because of the stress.
I have fish in my indoor tank, one of which is getting at the 4 week point in quarantine. I'm planning on scraping the new addition and one of the canary fish, and if everything is kosher, adding the Kohaku in with them. This will give me the ability to heat the tank up (no heat outside, and it has been a VERY cold and wet winter in the PacNW). I'm thinking a strong salt dip before adding her might help in sloughing the damaged skin.
Setting up another tank will be really tough right now, as I still only have limited use of my left hand as it recuperates from reconstructive surgery...
I'm heartbroken because I really feel this is a show quality fish (her body is awesome), and I don't know if she'll ever heal up right.
Any other suggestions or interpretations?
Thanks,
-t