Severely Injured Catfish

[grimraven]

Hi all,
I have had this catfish for ten years now, he is 13 inches long  and occasionally goes crazy causing himself a mischief. However we have just recently moved home and i think he scraped on something as he has a hole in his side where you can actually see inside him. It was covered in a scab that turned into cotton wool but is now peeling off making him look like the terminator, also white lumps on his tail. Been using melafix for a week and all smaller wounds are pretty much healed. Im not sure how to fix this gaping hole though, he seems pretty fine otherwise... Will post pics in a sec havin a bit of trouble right now...
Regards
Grimraven

 

[grimraven]

I had this guy for 10+ years and he is the biggest in the aquarium. Hes acting pretty normal considering hes been like this for nearly 2 weeks


His smiley face!

 

[fluttermoth]

I know this is not what you want to hear, but I'm not sure you're going to be able to pull him through this.
 
If it looks that bad after two weeks of healing time, I don't think it's going to get better.
 
Sorry

 

[Brilly91]

That doesnt look good

 

[snazy]

Melafix will do nothing for such a thing. It may have helped preventing a huge infection but you'd need a more broad spectrum med that's compatible with your catfish and treats both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. The cotton sounds like bacterial/fungus.
With an wound like this, he will not heal in two weeks so I wouldn't give up yet. Give him plenty of water changes and maybe try to get proper medication. Make sure it's not harsh on catfish and doesn't kill the filter bacteria. There are plenty of safe enough alternatives.

 

[grimraven]

I dont know if any member here is from helston, cornwall and knows of any place where i may get such medication... Pets at home always seem so generic and vague and local pet stores never seem to stock more than the basics...
Regards
Grimraven

 

[snazy]

You'd need something similar to antibiotic. I've got stuff like kanamycin sulfate(seachem kanaplex) from ebay but it takes time to be delivered. Kanaplex combined with Furan 2 is recommended in extreme cases as a broad spectrum and can be used together. Kanaplex in recommended dose has no effect on the filter and I've used it with corys and shrimp so it should be safe on sensitive stock.  I am not sure about Furan 2. It needs a bit of googling to find out.
Other than that, you can try to find a good antibacterial/antifungal med locally. Whatever you choose, try to get something that is not dangerous to catfish, doesn't affect the filter bacteria and is a broad spectrum enough.
 
Here is some info on the meds I suggested:
 
Furan 2:
 
Effectively treat a wide variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial diseases including: furunculosis (aeromonas), dropsy, gill disease, fin and tail rot, open red sores, black molly disease, mouth fungus, hemorrhagic septicemia, body slime and eye cloud. Powder dissolves quickly for faster healing. Active ingredients: Nitrofurazone and Furazolidone. One powder packet doses 10 gallons of marine or freshwater. 850 grams bulk jar doses up to 3,270 gallons.
 
 
Seachem Kanaplex:
 
KanaPlex™ is a blended kanamycin based medication that safely and effectively treats several fungal, and bacterial fish diseases (dropsy, popeye, fin/tail rot, septicemica). Because it is absorbed by fish it is useful in treating internal infections in those situations where food is refused. It does not adversely affect the filter bed and is easily removed with carbon. To enhance palatability use with GarlicGuard™. Food may be refrozen. For use in freshwater or marine aquaria.

 

[NorthEastFisherman]

It doesnt look like its just that one spot, hes got some cuts on his dorsal, back, and lips. By the way melafix is to make the fish stronger and prevent disease and infection, its not really used to medicate a sick/infected fish. I would highly suggest spending some time researching if you wanna save him. When i was fishing i caught a catfish with a golf ball sized chunk out of his side.