Ulcer on flowerhorn

[oscillatewildly]

I have a 12" flowerhorn that I recently relocated from his cramped 55 gallon tank into a 120 gallon. I cycled the tank and the fish has been in contact with no other fish. Water parameters have been stable. He's been in the tank for about two months.

When we moved him, we noticed he had atrophied somewhat from being in the smaller tank (we'd just moved cross-country so had limited real estate for him for a little while). We figured the 120 would help. We fed him about a dozen pieces of Cichlid Staple every day and kept an eye on him. He seemed more active and happier at first, but now he has a TERRIBLE looking lesion on his back between his dorsal and tail fins. Since moving him, his dorsal fin has been "flopped over" to the side and he principally hangs out vertically near the top of the water with part of his tail flesh sticking out. The part that he continually has sticking out of the water is what has gotten the lesion. It's to the point where it has eaten away at all the skin and scales and now there are larger veins showing. I'm getting VERY worried (well, I was pretty worried before).

I've looked through the Freshwater symptoms but nothing absolutely fits. He isn't breathing hard, there is no evidence of bacterial or fungal infection around the gills or eyes or lips, he is eating, but it looks awful and he seems like he is in some degree of pain when he swims. We've done a 30% water change, added some more salt and am thinking of bumping up his diet to something more high protein.

Does anyone have any recommendations for medications or water treatments? I am not very well versed in diseases; I've had this fish for 4 years and this is the first time he's been anything other than tip-top.

Thanks all!

 

[Cerianthus]

Wow! Looks like if big predatory fish took big chunk out???

Are different angles shots possible, including top view?

You said no contact with other fishes, No other fish in 120?

Provided no exposure to unideal water condition since being moved into 120 about 2 month ago, exactly when did you first notice problem which developed into such horrible condition?

If possible, can you post the prev and latest test results (pH/NH3/NO2)?

What kind of med do you have now? To treat 120, cost might be too high thus do you have smaller tank which is suitable enough as q/t for your FH?

 

[mel_20_20]

I agee with Cerianthus, more photos would be very helpful.

I have a few questions:

You mention he looks atrophied, can you be more specific in what you mean, could you describe this? Do you mean to say he looks stunted? Or that he had become thin? A bit more on this would help.

Assuming your water quality has been good and temp and params all stable, no big fish bit him, and so far it really doesn't look like this was a result of an infection, then we have to consider other factors.

It could be a bacterial infection, but it looks fairly clean, more like what Cerianthus said, as if he had a bite taken out of him.

Could you tell me if the food that you mentioned you have been feeding him is a change from what he's been eating?

You mentioned that he stays vertical, I'm assuming sort of head down, with his injured area sticking out of the water somewhat on the surface; did you notice that he was doing this before the ulcer/wound developed, or did this behavior develop after the ulcer/wound had become noticeable?

If he has been stuck at the surface I'm thinking there's a possibly that this is a bouancy issue, and with this area exposed to the air quite a bit then I'm wondering if the wound could have developed due to drying of the skin at the surface of the water. This happens sometimes with goldfish, and the area can become quite damaged due to drying. I don't know... I"m just trying to analyze this.

I'm just thinking out loud here: if this is a bouancy problem it could be a swim bladder problem, or hopefully more of a matter of gas/air in his gut due to constipation, perhaps this may have been brought on by a change in food and the stress of the move.

If your answers lead us to believe that he does seem to have a bouancy problem them let's try to feed him some peeled, nuked english pea to get his bowels moving. Soak the mushy pea in some fresh crushed garlic juice to stimulate his appetite and see if this could clear out his gut and hopefully get rid of gas in the gut that could be causing a bouancy problem.

If he can't leave the surface this is going to be a problem in your efforts to get the wound to heal, and believe me I have seen worse and more traumatic wounds in fish heal through meticulous care of the water quality.

Daily huge water changes, with temperature matched and conditioned water, fish can recover from dramatic injuries; even worse than your poor guy, really. Also, Prime is an excellent conditioner that I highly recommend.

You mentioned you just did a 30% water change, so doing more will not hurt and in fact will be very helpful.

The ph and gh/kh will also be stable enough with daily big water changes, and keeping pristine conditions can help his own immune system do its job.

The wound has to be watched carefully for any signs of bacterial infection, or true fungal infection which can sometimes develop at the margins of a wound.

If the answers to my questions do point to a bouancy problem that caused this then we have to try to address that as described above.

If it's gas in the gut then the measures to clean out his gut may help. If it's a swim bladder problem, from what i understand, this can be caused by digestive problems, but also can be due to infection and other factors. I think it can be difficult to deal with. I'm hopeful that if this is the problem the peas will help.

Here's a link to a thread discussing swim bladder:


http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...1401&highlight=swim+bladder+lupin#post2061401


So to recap:

Try the nuked pea to hopefully get his gut cleared of gas that may be keeping him near the surface.

Keep the water pristine through daily big water changes.

Watch for signs of infection, bacterial or fungal.

I know most people here don't feel that Melafix or Pimafix have any merits, but I have used them to help prevent infection in fish with significant wounds/injuries. They are natual botanical compounds with mild antibacterial qualities.

In fact, I called and spoke to an API rep to ask about using Furan 2, one of their antibiotics, for a fish with both septicemia and a skin infection and he suggested instead using both Melafix and Pimafix, also made by API.

I said, "Do you mean to tell me that this is what you would use instead of Furan 2 for a serious infection like this?" and he said, "Yes."

I said the fish is "really sick." he said, "Use Melafix and Pimafix."

Well... I dunno... I was stunned that he would say that, and he said it so dogmatically, too.

Anyway, you could get those two and use them with your water changes. They couldn't hurt and may help somewhat in preventing an infection.

Keep us posted. I'm sorry your beautiful big guy is so sick. I hope he will recover.

 

[mel_20_20]

More pics as soon as possible, please. There could be a bacterial infection involved and, if so, an appropriate antibiotic treatment should be started as soon as possible. We need more photos, please.

I would hold off on the salt in his water, or at least keep the salinity low.

 

[mel_20_20]

Please let us know how he's doing. I hope things are improving, somehow.