1/20/2008: Maggie was a Christmas gift and was recently put in with Freckles. Maggie is a male. I recently found that out after he spawned with Freckles who is a confirmed female. He is about 3-4 inches nose to end of tail and thin. A week ago I thought his eye was a little bulgy looking but on closer inspection looked to be fine. Last night I noticed that his gill plate is open and looks thickened, that side of his face looks twisted and swollen and that eye has some edema around the bottom. He almost looks similar to a stroke victim or like there is something in that side of his mouth. The inside of the mouth looks thickened as well. I pulled him out with some assistance and had another look. There does appear to be a tumorous mass in there. He eats fine and behaves normally. He has spawned with Freckles on several occasions.

Here you can see the thickness inside the gill cover. That is not his gill you are seeing.

Gills look good, uniform and red. They appear lighter than they are in this picture.

1/23/2008: His eye really ballooned out last night and early this morning the edema burst open. There is something trailing out of the gills that could be degraded tumor I suppose. He is no longer eating and when I took a quick peek in his mouth it looks to be mostly occluded. I am going to pull him out and see if I can remove some of it. He sure was feisty. He jumped out of my hands several times which makes me think he is certainly not feeling too badly. There are so many teeny tiny blood vessels going into this thing OR this is the lining of the mouth being pushed in and is flush with blood vessels for some reason. In any event it was a no go. Mr. Wonderful took the pics. Not a single one is worth posting. I was able to remove a few bits from the gills. Which are now very pale looking. I simply cannot get a decent shot of them myself. I emailed Helen to see if she thinks she can do anything for him. I will take him in and have her take a look. If the prognosis is bad I am going to cop out and have her put him down. I cannot allow him to slowly waste away. He at least had a month of good meals while here with me.

Here are the best of the worst pics ever.

1/25/2008: Vet Visit with Dr. Helen Roberts. He has a defective gill arch (It is upside down). His gills are alarmingly pale today compared to two days ago. In addition he has the membrane covered mass that went from the gill plate into the pharyngeal cavity deviating it and closing off the esophagus. It is also possible it has grown into the bone causing the facial defect. The mass was very nodular so it is possible TB is involved as well. A sample was sent to Steve Smith at Virginia Tech. He is doing a research project I believe on TB in aquaria. Dr. Roberts will be attending a conference there so he will have the results of all the samples sent when she gets there. There was also an abscess [we think as removing bits of the mass it was very gooey] where the mass is. Samples of the mass along with the gooey stuff was also sent out.

We were not real sure about removing the mass till we know what it is and were concerned about him bleeding out. I was aware of the risks and chose to have Dr. Roberts remove enough so he can eat and be a little more comfortable. We are not sure how far down the mass went so hopefully enough was removed. He was very fiesty and really did well. I don't think either one of us expected him to be going home. He is very stressed but did recover well. His mouth inside is swollen but he appears comfortable presently.

Here is Maggie in the finquel tub.

Taking a look inside and trying to manipulate an opening.

Otoscopes work well for fish though they are intended for ears.

Right gill view. Normal gill structure.

Left defective gill arch.

Scope shots did not turn out well due to the lighting and the fact that I brought the wrong lens for the camera.

The esophagus is pretty much occluded.

Some nodules on the mass.

At this point after taking samples and Dr. Roberts trying to remove as much of the gooey exudate as possible we decided to go ahead and try to remove some of the mass.

I had already debrided the gill prior to bringing him in so there was not a lot left there. The pop eyed had resolved as well and the eye has gone back to normal size. There was quite a bit of exudate that I had cleaned out this morning as well. The entire inside off the gill plate was inflamed.

Dr. Roberts debriding the pharyngeal cavity via the gill.

Poor baby.

Dr. Roberts was having a hard time seeing so she put on the optivisor.

Tech Katie keeping Maggie's gills flushed with fresh oxygenated water as well as her body. Dr. Roberts excising some of the mass.

Going where angels fear to tread.

First little piece.

Checking her progress. Maggie is now able to close her mouth. She has been unable to fully close it for the past few days.

A slow tedious process to insure no bleeding.

I think I see China

Maggie weighs 25 grams. She was given a shot a Baytril.

Done.

Thanks Dr. Roberts!

2/4/2008: Sadly Maggie passed away tonight. He seemed at peace snuggled in the plant he had been sleeping in lately. He never resumed eating and his gills were pure white when I looked at them. I will have the results back later from the histology reports and other samples that were sent out.

2/28/2008: He had myxobolus. It is a myxosporean parasite. Not sure of the exact species as it is hard to distinguish between species but it is similar to the one [cerebralis] that causes whirling disease in trout. [The parasite can become systemic and affect the central nervous system]. It is a parasite found in farm raised fish mainly trout and salmon and wild fish. There is one documented case of this in koi but it was a skin only infection. The vet who did the samples in Virginia will be writing an article on Maggie. I will be taking in her frozen remains to Dr. Roberts to send off to him. This is not a reportable parasite and nothing I need to be concerned about with the rest of my stock. It primarily affects young fish and treatment consists of treating secondary infections if any. In Maggie's case it did get into organs probably his liver which caused issues with bleeding or blood vessel destruction hence the white gills. It resides in the bone and cartilage which caused his curvature of the head and jaw. The mortality rate is high with young fish and the primarily reason it affects them more than adults is their skeletal system has not ossified. It can also involve other organs and muscle tissue.

Myxobolus is one of the parasites that are transmitted via the tubifex worm. This parasite has a two host cycle. The fish and the tubifex worm. When the fish dies the spores are released and eaten by the tubifex worm [bottom dwellers]. They develop in the tubifex worm intestines and are released back into the water where they attach to the fishes body and migrate to the central nervous system and bone/cartilage. A very good example of why NOT to feed tubifex worms to your fish.

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