water main, ammonia, necrosis

sorry i took so long to post. everything about his q tank makes it hard to take pics. the bubbles, lighting, room, tank sideways etc... i wanted to show you rather than explain. the treatment seems to be doing well except he has broken his tail off somehow. he still seems to be in good coloration as you will see. he's still his lazy old self trying to tuck behind things when there's too much movement, but not while i'm watching. i still don't see him eating but that's normal and he doesn't seem to be getting thin although how would you tell really looking at him every couple of hours. anyway here are the pics:

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i am mortified and now questioning treatment at this point, but i won't give up if anyone says not to. i think if he can survive and heal up he will still have a decent home in my tank as noone bothers him as far as i see. he is no competition for food for anyone but snails so i see no issue if he can pull through this. as of right now he still seems to be getting around ok oddly enough.
 
his tail is now just about completely off. should i euth.? should i continue treatment? should i change treatment? anyone? i have never seen anything like this and i am freaked.

to top it off i keep replaying my sixth birthday in my head. the one where i was woken up at 6 in the morning to go see my dad picked up piece by piece from under his motorcycle off the side of the road. this is really killing me psychologically.

someone please post something. tell me it's my fault... i don't care i just need feedback.
 
Did you do this intentionally? No! So it is not your fault. Is he getting around? Is he eating at all? Even off of the walls etc. If you think there is any chance for him, I would keep trying. He seems to be very important to you, so until there is no hope, don't give up. We are all here as support and routing for him and you.
 
Don't give up on your farly! I just finished a nightmarish stint with a fish of mine, and it's horrible, I know, to be almost afraid to go check on them and see how much worse it has gotten...I sat here bawling one night, waiting for something, anything to happen. I ended up ditching all the meds, putting carbon back in the filter and changing almost 100% water everyday as a last resort...and it worked. We're missing part of a fin and most of a gill cover, but ok now, so there's still hope...

We're pulling for you,
Jen
 
Don't give up.

Listen, you keep your chin up! :) The most important thing, and I'm telling you again, the most important thing right now, is to keep his water crystal clean... absolutely pure.

Use good conditioner: Prime (helps with traces of ammonia and nitrites that build up just before your daily water change for your sick little guy)

Water changes Daily: I would do huge daily water changes. 80-90% at least to give him the optimum conditions to recover by means of his own immune system. Test the water to make sure there are no traces of ammonia and nitrites after the water change and if needed do another water change of about 50%.

Test his water everyday as often as needed to make sure what his parameters are, and I didn't scan back on previous pages so I don't remember if you do have a liquid test kit, but if you don't then get the API Master liquid test kit, so you can know his ammonia, nitrites, ph.

I want you to go look at this link I'm providing below. This is page 19 of a thread that has a paroon shark that is in a devastated condition from an injury, but he recovered.

Here it is. Be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of page 19. There are a series of photos at the top of the page, but an even better series of photos as you go down further. The pictures chronicle from start to finish his road to recovery.

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

Sometime when you have a lot of time you should read the whole thread, but this link shows pictures of his injuries and his progressive healing. It is stunning.

He recovered because his own immune system fought through the injuries and tissue damage, but most importantly his keeper made sure his water was perfect, pure, absolutely free of ammonia and nitrites.

Your guy will have the best shot if you do this for him. He's depending on you to help him get through this.:thm:

Having said all that, with all your best efforts he may still not make it and you need to know that you have tried hard to do your best. You love him and have cared for him and that is important for you to remember.

That and remember that we are here for you! This is not your fault!! OK... buddy?
We're pulling for you and your little Farley.
 
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thanks guys. that's exactly what i wanted to hear. it is discouraging... especially since i've never teared for an animal before. i never really could understand why my mother took in animals of all kinds when they were injured. i am understanding more and more now. for it to be a fish that gets me emotional is just beyond my understanding. the only things that have ever made me feel this way were seeing my dad under his harley and my grandmother dying. i've assisted on anywhere from a dog giving birth to re-attaching most of a pigeons wing and never got emotional.

melody... i have read that thread through from end to end and noticed you kept having to re-post pics for the OP. i also noticed the arguments back and forth about treatment and euthanasia. that was horrific. i would have thought he was a goner. i am also surprised the OP has not updated with new pics. you would think he would be proud he saved the catfish.

once again thank you guys soooooooo much. i don't know what else i can say to express my appreciation of your support. i am the fish guy out of my friends so i have noone else to help and my lfs's keep trying to sell me things i don't need or want. most of them really are completely shameless. i don't understand why there aren't laws governing them a little better. let my dog go through something like this though and animal control will be here in an hour with warrants.
 
How's Farly? Let us know how he's doing. Hope he's feeling better.
 
he seems to be doing great. i have been doing water changes like crazy. he is amazingly spunky and seems to be eating more than he ever has. the only thing he's been eating is the egg yolk though i'm afraid. i put a bowl outside with rocks and fish food in tap water (with the high ammonia). it's not growing algae though since we've had major thunderstorms the last couple days. i am concerned he may get bloated soon with him not eating veggie matter. he is scraping the sides of the tank like a madman but i don't think there's anything there. i could be wrong since it has had water change water in it for a long time before this.

we have spent a lot of money on spring water lately. we're going broke quick! you think it would be fine to re-constitute rain water with barr's gh booster and baking soda? i have done the math and 1/2 tsp b/s should give me a 5 for kh. 1 1/2 tsp (1/2tbsp) barr's should give me a gh of 6. i think he should be fine with that since it's just over what our tap water he's been living in was. we have done daily water changes on the 10 (q/t), 30 and 50 since the beginning. all levels seem to be fine now which is nice but to keep it up we will have to start borrowing money the day after tommorrow. i have collected alot of rain water and already have the gh booster and baking soda. i have even done a control and checked the levels against my math. tap water is almost .75 ammonia so that's out of the question. i am not happy with the water we've been using either. the gh is pretty high in comparison to what we normally have and the kh is 2 or less everytime. i have been increasing the kh to 5ish to keep things even. i want to update with pics but i stare at him for a while while he does his thing and check things out knowing i might miss my chance. i go get the camera enthuzed he's out and he's now hiding behind or under the sponge... everytime. don't worry, i'll get him eventually.

anyway i've been keeping an eye on the betta and guppies since they seemed to have eaten some of the crud from him. i think the betta is showing signs now. she also may just be healing from ammonia burns. it's at the edges of her gill covers i think. i may have to throw her in the q/t also. i'm pretty sure i'll know by the morning but i think if she hasn't wedged herself somewhere she can be lazy at i will just throw her in there with him. she likes to be cozy and laze around alot though so i'm kinda waiting for my chance.
 
You may like to try a really good remedy that is used to treat constipation, and to prevent constipation.

You get frozen english peas. Nuke some in the microwave, about 45 seconds or so, then squish the insides out of the skin. It should not be firm, but somewhat mushy.

Take some fresh garlic juice. You can smash a pod and rub the pea all in that, or do like I do. I buy the minced garlic in a jar, usually found in the produce section on an end cap near the onions and such.

I pour some of the garlic liquid on the plate with the peas and mix it up good, and put that in there with him. Garlic normally makes fish go crazy, they love it so much. It can make a really picky eater have an appetite.

The nuked english pea remedy is famous here on AC, and I think most everyone has used this to help their fish. It can help with swim bladder problems, too, because in some cases of swim bladder constipation is a factor.

Besides, the peas are nutritious, too.

What did you say the level of ammonia is in your tap? Could you test it again, maybe the levels have dropped if the problem was a result of some work they did on the main.
 
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I'm so glad he's still hanging in there. He sounds like he's a tough cookie. You're doing great doing water changes, but I'm hoping you can just go back to using the tap water.

I worry about rain water a little bit. How are you collecting it?
 
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