I wanted to share this story with you guys about how incredible cichlid are. Not too long ago I had a jewel and a firemouth in my 125 gallon who bickered like an old married couple. As the jewel's red started to come through, the more offended my firemouth got. The jewel ignored the firemouth and kept to it's cave, but the firemouth just couldn't stand the sight of the jewel and would flare it's gills at the jewel. After a persistent display, the jewel would finally have enough and nip the firemouth's fin; which in turn would send the firemouth high-tailing.
I noticed after some time that the firemouth's fins were starting to look particularly ragged and weren't healing quickly enough, so I decided to remove it with a DIY cichlid trap (amazing and avoided so much unnecessary stress for all of us,) and put it into a divider used for breeders until I could head to the store to pick up some meds. I figured I could wait a few days until my day off since it's fins didn't look much worse than some of the cichlids on here that occasionally get nipped. At least the firemouth would get a break from the fin nipping right? WRONG! The very next morning there was white fuzz growing on this poor fish and the fins looked like they were melting off. The firemouth was on and off laying on it's side and just didn't look good.
Maybe it was my stubbornness, or maybe I was projecting my own issues with having an out of control autoimmune disease...but I didn't have the heart to humanely euthanize, not just yet at least. I wouldn't want someone euthanizing me when I looked like poop, so I wanted to at least give this fish a fair shot to bounce back. Since I couldn't wait for my stressguard to come, I added quick cure to the tank after doing a good w/c. The fungus immediately dropped off the fish, but the fish remained "meh." By the next day it was acting slightly better and was actually responding to my presence...which was of course the littlest gill flare of displeasure. How could I euthanize after it could muster up enough energy to give me sass? So I continued with daily 25% w/c and treatment and eventually changing over to Stressguard when it arrived in the mail.
I was mortified when the firemouth's tail came completely off, but it was actually an improvement as the infected part fell off and new, healthy tissue started to show. I had doubts, and still do, that the tail will ever come back the same. But everyday, the little pink nub gets a teenie bit bigger so I have hope. We aren't completely out of the woods yet, but it looks like my little fighter is going to pull through. It has a healthy appetite, is swimming strongly and is ready to leave it's clear prison, and is healing quickly. We removed the jewel so when it's strong enough to come back to the other tank, it won't hopefully see it's nemesis again. And when the salvini leaves the 37 gallon (which hopefully will be this weekend) we can graduate to seeing if it can be in a larger tank solo.
Maybe I should have put the poor thing out of it's misery; but if it was willing to fight, I was willing to give it that opportunity. Below are photos of this little fish's journey, enjoy!
9/17
The first photo I took when I discovered the infection. I sent this to a friend asking for his input on whether or not it had a chance.
9/18
9/19
9/20
9/22
9/28
9/30
10/2
and today after I just turned on the lights. It's not much, but the firemouth makes it work and it ready to get out of there!
I noticed after some time that the firemouth's fins were starting to look particularly ragged and weren't healing quickly enough, so I decided to remove it with a DIY cichlid trap (amazing and avoided so much unnecessary stress for all of us,) and put it into a divider used for breeders until I could head to the store to pick up some meds. I figured I could wait a few days until my day off since it's fins didn't look much worse than some of the cichlids on here that occasionally get nipped. At least the firemouth would get a break from the fin nipping right? WRONG! The very next morning there was white fuzz growing on this poor fish and the fins looked like they were melting off. The firemouth was on and off laying on it's side and just didn't look good.
Maybe it was my stubbornness, or maybe I was projecting my own issues with having an out of control autoimmune disease...but I didn't have the heart to humanely euthanize, not just yet at least. I wouldn't want someone euthanizing me when I looked like poop, so I wanted to at least give this fish a fair shot to bounce back. Since I couldn't wait for my stressguard to come, I added quick cure to the tank after doing a good w/c. The fungus immediately dropped off the fish, but the fish remained "meh." By the next day it was acting slightly better and was actually responding to my presence...which was of course the littlest gill flare of displeasure. How could I euthanize after it could muster up enough energy to give me sass? So I continued with daily 25% w/c and treatment and eventually changing over to Stressguard when it arrived in the mail.
I was mortified when the firemouth's tail came completely off, but it was actually an improvement as the infected part fell off and new, healthy tissue started to show. I had doubts, and still do, that the tail will ever come back the same. But everyday, the little pink nub gets a teenie bit bigger so I have hope. We aren't completely out of the woods yet, but it looks like my little fighter is going to pull through. It has a healthy appetite, is swimming strongly and is ready to leave it's clear prison, and is healing quickly. We removed the jewel so when it's strong enough to come back to the other tank, it won't hopefully see it's nemesis again. And when the salvini leaves the 37 gallon (which hopefully will be this weekend) we can graduate to seeing if it can be in a larger tank solo.
Maybe I should have put the poor thing out of it's misery; but if it was willing to fight, I was willing to give it that opportunity. Below are photos of this little fish's journey, enjoy!
9/17
The first photo I took when I discovered the infection. I sent this to a friend asking for his input on whether or not it had a chance.
9/18
9/19
9/20
9/22
9/28
9/30
10/2
and today after I just turned on the lights. It's not much, but the firemouth makes it work and it ready to get out of there!
