chriscoli
Administrator
My male Rainbow Cichlid has had a small spot on his side where he's missing a scale and every now and again it seems to "flare up" and look irritated. A course of pimafix/melafix and some waterchanges has fixed it in the past. And, really, I assume that the waterchanges are probably the main factor in his recovery.
I noticed the other day that the spot had flared up again. I was trying to remember to bring the pima/melafix back upstairs for a few days (busy week). Then when I checked on him again, the spot had grown to about 3 missing scales, with a wound with red edges, and the surrounding scales were raised. Uh Oh. Ok, so this means more than mela/pimafix. So I get out my antibiotics and use one that has a 2-antibiotic cocktail. By the time I dose the tank, he's becoming listless but did make it through the night.
So now, the tank has been treated with 2 of the 3 doses. He's acting much better....he's active, swimming, eating, chasing the female around, but, the wound is muuuuch worse (see pic below). Now, fish diseases are hard to diagnose, so I'm thinking to myself, "what else do I have in the arsenal" when I see one of the velvet swordtails in the tank with them go over....and start picking at the wound! And the Rainbow Cichlid lets it. He even exposes his side to allow it!!!!
So, anyhow....now the cichlid is in a breeder net in the tank, I'll be continuing to treat the tank. I strongly suspect that the exacerbation of the wound was due to his helper but we'll see if confinement helps.
ugh!
I noticed the other day that the spot had flared up again. I was trying to remember to bring the pima/melafix back upstairs for a few days (busy week). Then when I checked on him again, the spot had grown to about 3 missing scales, with a wound with red edges, and the surrounding scales were raised. Uh Oh. Ok, so this means more than mela/pimafix. So I get out my antibiotics and use one that has a 2-antibiotic cocktail. By the time I dose the tank, he's becoming listless but did make it through the night.
So now, the tank has been treated with 2 of the 3 doses. He's acting much better....he's active, swimming, eating, chasing the female around, but, the wound is muuuuch worse (see pic below). Now, fish diseases are hard to diagnose, so I'm thinking to myself, "what else do I have in the arsenal" when I see one of the velvet swordtails in the tank with them go over....and start picking at the wound! And the Rainbow Cichlid lets it. He even exposes his side to allow it!!!!
So, anyhow....now the cichlid is in a breeder net in the tank, I'll be continuing to treat the tank. I strongly suspect that the exacerbation of the wound was due to his helper but we'll see if confinement helps.
ugh!
