Red pimple/bump on RTM tail

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Mythic Figment

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 27, 2012
2,117
2
0
Florida
So I had an RTM overnighted to me. Pulled it out of the box and it was beautiful. Didn't notice anything wrong, but could have overlooked the issue in my haste to begin acclimating. After a long acclimation, I placed the 5" female RTM in a 20 high quarantine and it immediately hid behind the sponge filter. I turned the lights out and walked away. Several hours later, I turned the lights on to see if she would eat. I dropped pellets (it's the reason the water is dirty, so I apologize in advance) and left her alone. Came back 30-45 minutes later. She hadn't eaten and the pellets had crumbled. I noticed a red pimple/bump at the base of her tail. I took the best pics I could, so sorry if they are still a little difficult to see. Any ideas what this might be? Does it look like an injury or an illness/disease?

I did a water change after taking these pics and added aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons.


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Possible Ammonia burns. There is an article posted in this "Freshwater Diseases and Health Issues' by the Mods that talks about how Ammonia levels can suddenly spike when a fish is shipped. I would give it a read because it might be what you are experiencing.
 
Do a water change and add 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water. This will help healing and also with any effects of ammonia, nitrite burns. Keep an eye on the area and if it doesn't seem to look like it's getting better in a couple of days or appears to get worse, let us know. Keep the water very clean and salted for now is should resolve.
 
Here are a couple clearer pics.

Appears the same this morning. I did a water change last night right after posting this and added 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons. I will do another one today and add salt to make it 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.


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This looks different than the first picture I replied to. Still use the salt as recomended, but in addition add a drop of iodine directly on the affected spot. This looks like Anchor worm and the iodine spot treatment will kill it without treating the whole tank.
 
This looks different than the first picture I replied to. Still use the salt as recomended, but in addition add a drop of iodine directly on the affected spot. This looks like Anchor worm and the iodine spot treatment will kill it without treating the whole tank.

Okay. Do I need to let the iodine sit for any period of time (obviously only a couple seconds) or just add the drop and immediately replace the fish? Also, should I repeat treatment at all?


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Once you put it on wait about 15 secs and put the fish back in the water. Have everything ready to go before you take the fish out of the tank to minimize the amount of time it's out of water. It will look worse before it gets better so don't worry.
 
Once should do it.
 
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