Strange, Serious Wound On A Swordtail

[confusion]

I have a 10G tank with the following in it:
3 platies
2 mollies
1 swordtail
4 otos
1 juvi angel

The ph is 6.4, ammonia is 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates 20ppm.

This is a black/blue swordtail. She has what looks like a big bite taken out of the side of her tail. It's a deep wound. I noticed that the coloring of the rest of her seems a little pinkish, where it was white before - like on the top of her. She seems to be swimming normally, no clamped fins, etc. I bought her about 6 days ago, and no problems with her or the other fish.

I've recently bought a 2.5G "ICU" tank so I don't kill the bio filter in my hospital/quarnetine. I moved her into the 2.5G tank and put in a dose of tetracycline. I have some jungle anti-baterial food that I've mixed with some garlic guard cooling in the fridge that I'll try to feed her after she acclimates to the new tank for a little bit.

Any idea what could have happened? The otos are a little fiesty trying to nibble on other fish, but I can't imagine how long it would take to do that kind of damage.

 

[WILDER]

It sounds bad did it start of as a red spot, deep wound has she hurt herself on something in the tank.
Dosn't sound like the oto.
Though you do have an angel and the tank is to small they are nippers.

 

[confusion]

It sounds bad did it start of as a red spot, deep wound has she hurt herself on something in the tank.
Dosn't sound like the oto.
Though you do have an angel and the tank is to small they are nippers.

It's a very very small angel. Maybe a bit smaller than a quarter, so I'd be surprised if it did it, plus it's quite shy.

I didn't notice anything before today. I have a plastic cave, and a hanging bubbler thing, but I can't see how she would do that on her own. Though, I suppose she could have gotten stuck somehow and did it freeing herself. It's pretty deep though.

 

[WILDER]

If it deep yes you have her on a good med tetracycline.
Fingers crossed and hope she makes it bless her.

Take a look her as you could bath it.
http/www.nationalfishpharm.com/articles.html

 

[confusion]

So, I got home from dinner and checked in on her. She's still swimming well. I took out a flashlight to examine her closely noticed that her scales are very very slightly pineconed out. I looked her over close early and didn't notice it earlier (I used the light then, too).

 

[ileopard]

I would suggest starting a dropsy treatment of kanamycin sulfate (commonly sold as Kanamycin) if you can find it, or if you can't find it, Maracyn and Maracyn-Two. Along with 3 tsp. of epsom salt.

Actually, another thought is fish tuberculosis. It can have wounds and scale pineconing as an effect. If so, try Kanamycin - that is the only drug that will have a chance of fixing it, unless you have the resources to inject the fish with a medication.

 

[confusion]

ironically, I bought some Kanamycin the other day - for no apparent reason. I'll give it a try.

 

[ileopard]

Nice coincidence! It is useful stuff.

 

[confusion]

So, it's been a couple of days and she is getting better. The wound doesn't look like raw meat anymore - it appears to have healed over - no scales yet, but better. Her scales are no longer pine-coned out. She's still very jumpy in the small tank, and keeps trying to swim to her friends (the 2.5G is sitting next to the 10G).

I've been treating her with the Kanamycin and tetracycline daily. In case anyone else is interested, I just have her in a 2.5G tank that I got for $9 from Petsmart with a bubbler and a heater (that I had already). I've been catching her in a plastic bag with a bit of water, floating her in the 10G tank, dumping and rinsing the 2.5G, refilling and using ammo-lock as conditioner to make sure no ammonia builds up. I've also increased the temp to about 82F.

One thing that is concerning to me is that she has no appetite. It seems like once she starts eating again, she'll be good to go. I'm not sure if it's the medication that's making her not eat, or if its a lingering effect of the illness. Should I be concerned? My experience has always been (without exception) that fish that are uninterested in food are dying.

Thanks for the help.

 

[WILDER]

She might eat soon but can never tell with fish.
Good luck.

 

[confusion]

just an update - she was still not eating any clearly upset at being in the "ICU" tank, plus she was looking much better, so I moved her back into the 10G, and she's eating again and being social, so it seems like she'll be ok.

 

[ileopard]

That's great that she's eating. I would recommend ordering the Jungle Anti-Bacterial Medicated Food and feeding that to her for 10 days, twice a day, which should help kill tuberculosis bacteria if it is infact tuberculosis. PetSmart sells this in-store.

 

[confusion]

I have some. My only problem is that no fish will touch the stuff, even without feeding for 2 days. I have a batch that I soaked in the garlic guard, and I'm going to give that a try.

 

[WILDER]

I would keep a close eye on her even though she was better you might of cut the meds to short.
Good luck.

 

[ileopard]

The Kanamycin package I have states to dose the tank once, and if needed, do a repeat dosage after 24 hours. It only needs to be dosed 1-2 times.

You could try some sort of "disguise" for the food such as the garlic one you talked about, or you could hatch some baby brine shrimp, grow them to adult size, and feed those the medicated food, and then feed that to the fish. I'm not sure how well it would work, but it's worth a try.