Aquatic Vets in houston? Selena update.

[edmlfc]

Does anyone know of an Aquatic vet in houston that may treat saltwater fish. I'm desperate! And I am willing to do anything including driving to houston to help my baby girl....... If you even think that a certain vet might treat fish please let me know asap. Thanks everyone..

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

What is wrong with it? what fish?

[dblondfemme]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

maybe if you described the problem to the people on here, they may be able to help you.  I don't know of any aquatic vets, but I am an animal lover.  Tell the symptoms, show a pic, ask for help.  Usually you will KNOW the good advise.
:-)

[edmlfc]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

The folks on the pufferforum have been trying to help us, but this is where we are right now:


Ok here goes, I just wrote all this up and it did not post so I will try again:
Updated verson short form:
I have a porcupine puffer that has developed cloudy eyes. I first noticed something wrong with her on March 16 th. I moved her to a hospital tank. I have been doing daily water changes of about 98%. Her ph is 8.4, amm. 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, sg 1.021, temp 76-77 degrees.  This is what I have tried so far:
3/16/08-She does not look right something is wrong. Set up hospital and moved her in.
3/17/08-Her eyes don't look shiny anymore, they look dull and she is not swimming like normal
3/18/08-Her eyes are starting to cloud up, researching which meds to use and asking for help
3/19/08-Searched the local fish stores for any saltwater meds that would work could not find anything.
3/20/08-Her eyes are almost white now, got on line and ordered meds having them overnighted.
3/21/08-Furan-2 came in today. It was suggested by someone on the puffer forum. Started treatment today.
3/22/08-Took another suggestion and started a Hydrogen Peroxide (H202) dip using 7cc of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (H202) in 1 liter of clean tank water for an 11 minute every night.
3/23/08- The H202 seems to be helping a bit, still doing the Furan-2 treatment. She is not getting any worse it seems to have slowed down.
3/26/08-Have been using Furan-2 & doing the H202 dips for 4 days now. I have seen a very small improvement.
3/27- The last time she ate was 3/14/08, I decided to start feed her with a syringe. I also ordered vitamins.
3/29/08- Received penicillin today. Started treatment with the penicillin and stopped treatment with furan-2.
3/30/08-One eye is starting to look better, the other eye no change.
3/31/08-After the H202 dip I noticed some blue back in her eyes. Looks like the white is starting to fade in one eye.
4/1/08-4/6/08-Continued treatment with penicillin and now feeding her vitamins with her food through a syringe. Also still doing the H202 dips every night with 98% water changes.
4/7/08-Package says do not use penicillin more than 10 days. I have discontinued the penicillin and I am now doing furan-2 dips. One gallon of water and 1 package furan-2, put her in a bucket for 1 hour with an air stone.
4/8/08-Again did the furan-2 bath (morning and evening) and the H202 dip.
4/9/08- Did the furan-2 bath this morning.
Here is a picture of her eyes and a spot that I noticed on her back a few days after hey eye went cloudy. The spot started as a dark brown fuzzy spot and is slowly fading away. It now looks lighter like copper and it seems the fuzzy look is gone. At first I thought it might be velvet but I was told it was not. I think the spot on her back has something to do with her cloudy eyes but noone will confirm this. I will do what ever I need to do to make her better.  

I have been feeding her through a syringe because she cannot see her food to eat it. I first puree her food add vitamins and 2 drops of garlic put it in the syringe, place her in a bowl of tank water, she grabs a hold of the syringe and trys to suck it dry. She is eating really well. After her feeding I place her back in the hospital tank and throw away the water in the bowl.




I am leaving for Louisana in a few minutes to attend a funeral and I won't be back until later today. If you have any suggestions or know a vet please post it here. When I get back I will check the post. I also have Seachem Cupramine on hand and I have not tried it yet.
Thanks
Lissa

[Mzungu]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

:(

I'm so sorry about your little girl...

I haven't found a vet in Houston, but after a search in Texas I found a few vets that you could try to contact. Most are around the DFW area.

http://www.aquavetmed.info/index.cfm?PID=6

Good luck, I hope you can find some help!

Edit - Just realized the link doesn't show the results. Here they are:

RESULTS
Currently 623 veterinarians are listed in the database. Using the criteria you selected resulted in 8 aquatic veterinarians who can be contacted. Clicking on any individual's name will provide access to their contact information.
At any time veterinary professionals not in the database can enter their information by clicking on "New Vet Sign Up"

 
Records Found: 8 Displaying: 1 - 8  
 
1 Thomas Alvarado - Dallas Zoo  
2 Alfredo Geigel-Ortiz - Buttercup Creek Animal Hospital  
3 David Landers - DFW Aquatic Health Services  
4 Kemba Marshall - Summertree Animal Clinic  
5 Tom McCabe - Northeast Veterinary Clinic  
6 Tim Tristan - Texas State Aquarium/Oso Creek Animal Hospital  
7 Patricia Varner - Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab  
8 Steven Wade - Odessa

[CichlidFan]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

All our best wishes and prayers go out for her.....

have you tried calling "that pet place" and speaking with their marine experts?  They just might be able to help...I hope so.

CF

[nacra99]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

I don't know if there are any aquatic vets per say in houston.

Try posting on MARSH. They're really good with their Marine fish.

Or you could try the guys at Fish Gallery. Ask for Omar, he definitely knows his fish.

[edmlfc]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

I spoke to someone at fish gallery on my way to Louisana this morning. Don't know his name but he said to try freshwater dips every other day. He seems to think it may be caused by a tape worm. I haven't tried the freshwater dips yet but what have I got to loose, I will start by doing one tonight. I did email 5 aquatic vets based in texas but no response yet.


Thanks Mzungu I'll try those and see if anyone answers. If anyone hears of a vet in the houston area that I can take her too please please let me know.
Thanks

[edmlfc]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

Well I just did her first fw dip and if you are wondering how it went: The picture says it all:


I don't think she was too happy about it.

[Mzungu]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

Oh, poor thing!!  :(  Hope she got back to "normal" quickly.

[edmlfc]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

****GREAT NEWS****
I just got off the phone with an aquatic vet from Austin Texas. He sent me his cell phone number for me to call and give him an update on what I tried and talk more about Selena. So I called, told him everything that was going on and what I tried and described everything the best I could. I must have talked to him for about 30 minutes. I had a few questions that he was unsure of so he is going to do some research tonight once he gets home and give me a call or email later this evening about my questions. I told him I didn't mean to make him work so hard. Any way he said to try the Copper treatment which I had already started this morning and do that for 14 days. Also to stop any other treatments and/or meds I am using. Keep her water quality good like I have been doing. If this don't work I can overnight or drive her to Austin and he can take over from there. Or he has a friend that works at the Houston Zoo that may be able to diagnoise her. She treats all animals even fish and "Puffers"! This is very exciting...I finally got something to run with. I'll keep everyone posted.

[Mzungu]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

:clap:  That's great!

[JStrider]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

thats good to hear, definitely keep us updated.

I'm rooting for your spikey lil guy

[CichlidFan]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

Way Cool, excellent news for Selena, good luck Lissa..

Cf

[edmlfc]

Re: Aquatic Vets in houston?

Here's an update on Selena: I did not have the right copper test for her treatment, the test I did have did not show copper. I finally ordered other test kits to try and they will be here on monday. But I have been working with pufferqueen on another forum who is a saltwater puffer expert. Well......yesterday morning I checked on selena and this is what i found:
This is her right eye that looked almost like a cotton ball under the lens, now it looks more like a dense fog.
4/26/08

This picture is her right eye when it looked like a cotton ball on 4/20/08


This is a picture of her left eye, it was not quite as bad as the right eye but had started to get worse.
This picture was taken on 4/26/08

This picture was taken on 4/20/08


You can see the major improvements in both her eyes. I know you can't see it in the picture but I can actually see blue showing through the white. I stoped all meds about a week ago and I have just been keeping her water super clean. I have been feeding her seafood puree through a syringe with vitamins and garlic guard and I have not had any lights on her tank for about a week. I don't know if it's a combination of all those things that's making her better or if it's just one thing, I just know that my baby is looking good. I'm sure she still has a long recovery ahead of her so I will keep doing what I am doing because it seems to be working. I had planned to ship her to the vet after her copper treatment but it looks like she will be staying here with me instead! I was so excited I wanted to share......I was told where there's life there's hope! Well you can believe it. It's hard work but it's worth it.