<!--quoteo
(post=1984:date=Aug 3 2006, 04:08 PM:name=lag)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lag @ Aug 3
2006, 04:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=1984)</div><div
class='quotemain'>I bought a mature Texas about a month ago and in the last couple
of weeks he has developed what looks like a sore (meaty flesh) spreading around his front under
fin. I was told it may be ulcers and have treated with Melafix but it has got worse and is now
starting on his head below his eye. It looks like red flesh protuding out - starts clean and then
becomes fleshy. Any suggestions? I have tried to catch him but he knows somethings up and is very
elusive.</div>
Too many possibilities and you've given us
practically nothing that would help. Questions:
1.what size tank?
2.what size fish in
inches? total length-nose through tail OR standard length nose to beginning of tail
abbreviate TL or SL but tell us which method you used.
3.is some one beating him up? is he
alone in the tank?
4.is it bleeding?
5. where'd you get him? a store? are their's
sick? wild caught?
5.how long since you've done a water change?
6.do you have an
empty tank you could use to isolate him?
Until we get a few answers there's not much
we can do to help.
A couple of things:
1. if this were you or your kid you
wouldn't have waited weeks to fix it. you want to fix a sore on your leg while you've still
got the leg.
2. if the tank hasn't had a water change recently, I'd start there. If
it's questionable, I'd start there anyway. If you can isolate him, do so.
3. while the
water level is low catch him and examine him. Swab the wound with peroxide. Follow up with
methiolade or wound-ex. (Don't have that ?- swab the melafix on it) Condition the water as
usual. ADD SALT, at least a tablespoon per 5 gallons. There's 3 tablespoons in an ounce,
roughly 1 pound per 200 gallons, you figure it out (it doesn't have to be exact- more is
probably better)
4. if you're going to the store to buy medicine get something with
nitrofurizone in it.( nitrofurazone works well on hemorrhaging) If you don't know, ask.
5.
if you're not going to the store the salt may work.
Melafix is a great product, if
the fish isn't yours and you've got a couple of years to treat it. It's like drinking
herbal tea when you need a shot of penicillin. Yes, it will probably work, eventually, unless the
fish dies first. It'd be faster if you quadrupled the dose.
Using CLOUT would
probably work. If the fish were to die, I'd wonder if it were the original problem or the
CLOUT. It's like killing an ant with a sledgehammer. Does the job with collateral damage to
everything else.
Do you have a local fish store? Do you have a friend that keeps fish
and knows more than you do? In the future, when something happens, call either of those sources
WITHIN DAYS not weeks. Dan