pulcher and Shrimp Related Injury

sorberj

sorberj

wannabe fish whisperer
Sep 14, 2009
699
0
16
McCleary, WA
Real Name
Jerad
So, my Pelvicachromis pulcher decided that the wood shrimp would be something interesting to poke with his nose. The shrimp took exception and apparently those legs can be pretty sharp. Pulcher (yeah I know the naming was creative), got a pretty good gash on the nose. I didn't think much of it since he'd gotten one before and healed up pretty quickly. This time it looks like the tissue around the wound is eroding and it's opening up more. I've moved pulcher to my 20 gal quarantine tank (fully cycled since I've been getting ready for the upgrade to a 90) on his own and dosed with pimafix and melafix. He's been eating, but not really wanting to compete for food in the main tank for the last day or so (I can't blame him). Other than erosion of the wound, and a bit of lethargy, I'm not seeing any other obvious signs of problems with him.

I'm currently keeping the QT at 75F. It's got the Magnum 350 on it, and all levels are ok (Ammonia= 0 , Nitrite= 0 , nitrate = 0) and I just did a water change last night. Light's out for quiet, plastic plants for cover and stress relief.

Any suggestions on anything additional I should be doing that I'm not thinking of?

The current plan is to monitor water params a bit more closely maintain the dosing of the pimafix and melafix and do water changes if necessary.
 
Anything I'm missing? Anyone suggest anything stronger in the antibiotic range? I don't really have anything in stock, but can pick up something on the way home from work tomorrow.
 
I had the same thing happen with an Oto. I had a Machrobrachium sp. shrimp that grabbed the Oto, I was able to shoo him off the Oto with a long shishkabob skewer.

My poor Oto had a bloody nose, caudal fin nipped off close to the body, and a chunk out of the doral fin.

I did as you are doing; clean water, daily water changes, Melafix every day right after the water change. A nice quiet place for him to hide and feel safe.

He fully recovered. I think you're doing every thing just right, but I would watch carefully for any sign of bacterial or fungal infection. I wouldn't use antibiotics at this point, not unless he definitely develops an infection.

Melafix is mildly antibacterial, as well as soothing, so they say, but I think the most important thing is pristine water.
 
Thanks mel, I was hoping you'd check in. He's staying active in the quarantine, looking for food, etc. The wound looks pretty ugly though (maybe he's allergic to shellfish :P).
I'm a bit worried since he seems to be losing tissue around the wound area, but everything around it looks pretty pink now (not white) so I'm thinking that it was just an initial infection from the cut and that it's going to start growing back now. I imagine he's going to have a pretty good scar, but as long as the wound closes up and he's happy, I'll be happy.
 
I've seen some horribly traumatic injuries that healed up with just plenty of good clean water. Pristine... perfect water. Try not to worry. I think he'll be OK, from the description...

If you could... some photos would be really helpful... if for nothing else but to have a jounal of his recovery.

I wish I had done that with my Oto... actually he hid so well in a cave that it was hard to see him, but I do think I have some pics I may try to upload so you can see how mine looked.
 
Thanks mel, I'll try to get some pictures this evening. I still need to get a camera so it'll be with the cell-phone one.
 
Here's my little guy a few hour after the attack. You can't see the bloody area on his face,, but you can see how much is missing of his dorsal fin, and his caudal fin.

Oto in cave.jpg

More views several days later. You can see the bit of whiteness on the edge of his dorsal, which I at first thought was infection, but was healing instead. You can see the injury to his face.

Oto on wood.jpg

Oto on sand.jpg

In this pic you can see the skinned area on his face.
Oto enlarged.jpg

I was scared to death that the horribly traumatic experience and the damage to his body would surely lead to an infection, but he was/is a little hoss, he's a champion, and I'm very hopeful that your little guy will do as well.

Oto in cave.jpg Oto on wood.jpg Oto on sand.jpg Oto enlarged.jpg
 
Here's a link to a thread from quite some time back. I've attached the link to the page, I hope, that has all the photos uploaded in chronological order. It should be page 19 in the thread.

Some day when you have hours to spend looking at the whole thread from start to finish you may want to do that. It's incredible.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191064&highlight=paroon&page=19

All that was used to treat this fish was clean water: the fishkeeper did big water changes every day.
 
Thanks Mel....here's the pics of pulcher...sorry for the quality, the cell phone cam is all I have right now. He looks to be a bit more eroded than the oto was, but otos are a lot touchier too.

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He's a handsome little guy. His injury does look worse than my Otos, but hopefully he will be OK.

One thing I think you need to do; don't wait for params to indicate detectable ammonia or nitrite, or nitrate above 20ppm. Do water changes every day, regardless.

Good fresh water, low dissolved organic compounds, not a smidgen of ammonia, all other aspects of the tank water just perfect, I can't stress enough how important this is.

His immune system needs to be given every chance to resist any opportunistic bacterial infection, and pure water, as though he's living in a clear flowing stream, would be like you or me recovering from an illness or injury in a cabin in the clear clean air of the Rockies as opposed to a flat on the corner of a busy uban intersection.

Sorry for getting carried away, lol, but did I tell you how important clean water is? :grinyes:
 
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