I'm hoping you're wrong as well. What is it that makes you 100% sure that it's fatal? Do you know what the cause is? Because if not, I've seen some fish recover from much nastier wounds...
Hole in fish
- Thread starter Lucky
- Start date
An update on Pirate:
The hole appears to have started healing. It's not red and raw-looking any more - instead it looks pinkish and like it's getting filled in.
However - she has started to bloat and pinecone, mostly on her right side (the opposite side of the hole). Her body is curving slightly to the left because of this, too. For a few days now, she hasn't been using her left side much (I believe I mentioned this in the original post), although she occasionally uses her 'flipper' fin.
She originally seemed to have trouble keeping her tail up, then she had trouble keeping her tail down for a couple days, and now it looks like she may be back to nose up. It's not a large angle - she's at about a 45* (or smaller) tilt, on average (doesn't go above that).
I started treating her with Maracyn on Monday (today is day 4 of the 5 day treatment) to help prevent the hole from getting infected and to deal with any other problems she may have, since I suspected something else going on, but it doesn't seem to have done anything for the bloat, since it has gotten worse since that started.
To my knowledge, she has not eaten. I've seen her knock flakes down from the surface when I put them in, but I haven't seen her eat any of them so far. The last time she ate was about Saturday, I think. No clamped fins, no bottom-sitting (she swims slowly, but pretty constantly). Gills pumping more than they should, but she doesn't look distressed about it.
I'll try to get some pictures of her puffy self, but my camera's brand new batteries apparently died (ugh!) and I'm out of double A's, so I'm stuck with my camera phone for now, and it's not great.
The hole appears to have started healing. It's not red and raw-looking any more - instead it looks pinkish and like it's getting filled in.
However - she has started to bloat and pinecone, mostly on her right side (the opposite side of the hole). Her body is curving slightly to the left because of this, too. For a few days now, she hasn't been using her left side much (I believe I mentioned this in the original post), although she occasionally uses her 'flipper' fin.
She originally seemed to have trouble keeping her tail up, then she had trouble keeping her tail down for a couple days, and now it looks like she may be back to nose up. It's not a large angle - she's at about a 45* (or smaller) tilt, on average (doesn't go above that).
I started treating her with Maracyn on Monday (today is day 4 of the 5 day treatment) to help prevent the hole from getting infected and to deal with any other problems she may have, since I suspected something else going on, but it doesn't seem to have done anything for the bloat, since it has gotten worse since that started.
To my knowledge, she has not eaten. I've seen her knock flakes down from the surface when I put them in, but I haven't seen her eat any of them so far. The last time she ate was about Saturday, I think. No clamped fins, no bottom-sitting (she swims slowly, but pretty constantly). Gills pumping more than they should, but she doesn't look distressed about it.
I'll try to get some pictures of her puffy self, but my camera's brand new batteries apparently died (ugh!) and I'm out of double A's, so I'm stuck with my camera phone for now, and it's not great.
Try epsom salts. I hope she gets better. Dropsy is hard to recover from.
I'll have to look into that when the Maracyn's done tomorrow (although I may go to a full 10 day treatment, too... yuck)
Thanks for the tip
Yeah, dropsy sucks... I had a goldfish fight dropsy for about 3 months before she died, a few years back. Couldn't kick it, but she acted fine and happy until one day she just couldn't swell any more and keeled over.
Update:
Drastic decline overnight. She's swollen on both sides now, instead of just one. She's straightened out because of it, but now she's having trouble staying flat. More often than not, she's straight up and down, and even rolling onto her back. Bottom sitting (although she can't really manage to get flat on the gravel). Lots of pineconing. The meds obviously aren't working. I think she was trying to eat, but it just resulted in her going straight up and getting tired.
At this rate, I'm guessing she'll be gone by tonight. Any last-ditch-effort advice? Or should I start freezing some water...?
Drastic decline overnight. She's swollen on both sides now, instead of just one. She's straightened out because of it, but now she's having trouble staying flat. More often than not, she's straight up and down, and even rolling onto her back. Bottom sitting (although she can't really manage to get flat on the gravel). Lots of pineconing. The meds obviously aren't working. I think she was trying to eat, but it just resulted in her going straight up and getting tired.
At this rate, I'm guessing she'll be gone by tonight. Any last-ditch-effort advice? Or should I start freezing some water...?
