Flowerhorn Duck lip and eyeball missing

[IckyIcky]

Hi guys. I went on a small vacation for a week whilst my dad took care of my flowerhorn. One of them- Named Platinum was always a healthy and generally lively and very agressive flowerhorn. he was known for being fiesty. I came back today (30 minutes ago) and came to check on all my flowerhorn and realised my baby boy Platinum had become all... broken... His lips were messed up and his eye was just this gelatin of distinergration. I have no idea waht happened, no idea what caused it all. I'm utterlydestroyed and have no idea what to do. This was him before.
This is him now.. ) :

It's destroying me, I can't bare to look at him suffering. I have no idea what happened within the week. He doesnt' deserve this. Please, anything will do. I have methyzondole or whatever you call it on hand already. I'll get any other medication required.

 

[Bbuckley]

Hi guys. I went on a small vacation for a week whilst my dad took care of my flowerhorn. One of them- Named Platinum was always a healthy and generally lively and very agressive flowerhorn. he was known for being fiesty. I came back today (30 minutes ago) and came to check on all my flowerhorn and realised my baby boy Platinum had become all... broken... His lips were messed up and his eye was just this gelatin of distinergration. I have no idea waht happened, no idea what caused it all. I'm utterlydestroyed and have no idea what to do. This was him before.View attachment 1455364
This is him now.. ) :View attachment 1455365

It's destroying me, I can't bare to look at him suffering. I have no idea what happened within the week. He doesnt' deserve this. Please, anything will do. I have methyzondole or whatever you call it on hand already. I'll get any other medication required.

Oh my I'm so sorry this has happened, I understand how you feel as years ago I kept a red sevrum he was the star of my tank. He got in a fight one night and I found him in a very similar state.

Is he kept alone or with other fish? Is there a chance he's caught his eye on something and it's caused infection to set in?

??I've got all my fingers crossed for you and really hope you manage to get this sorted, sorry I couldn't offer more advice on medication hopefully some one will come along soon who can help more.

 

[Deadeye]

kno4te
Columnaris. I don’t remember the exact treatment, but it can be deadly.
The eye could have been popeye from the infection, and you caught it just after it popped.
I would say antifungals and antibacterials plus some epsom salt would help.

 

[kno4te]

That’s rough looking. If the mouth cannot close and overall not active then I’d personally euthanize the fish. If ur want to treat then kanamycin and furan2. Works better if caught early. For future prevention check the water and make sure the tank is cycled and nitrates are down below 20ppm. Best of luck.

 

[Rocksor]

You need to reduce the temperature of the water to around 75F to slow down the growth of the columnaris. Just turn down the heater. Dissolving 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons will also slow down its growth.

 

[dogofwar]

As an aside, when I go on vacation (or work trips), unless they're more than 2 weeks I simply turn down the heaters, do some big water changes and go.

The relative risk of fish not being fed is much lower, in my experience, than having others care for them other than, maybe, making sure that the power is on, nobody's died or jumped out and anything catastrophic.

 

[Kolton13]

So. my gulper cat died a few weeks ago from slime coat. seeing im suffer broke me aswell. At that point when I got home there was nothing to do. You can try but theres no recovering from losing maybe both atleast 1 eye. Best of luck my friend.

 

[IckyIcky]

Thanks for your reply everyone. I resorted to asking a flowerhorn enthusiast who was a really popular breeder in a group I was in. My dad and I cared for the flowerhorns, I just tended to them and told my dad when something was wrong/how to feed and traught him the temperature. He loved the flowerhorn. Truly. This one especially. He attended to the fish for the week whilst I was gone and said he cleanaed the water tank 2 days ago and that the fish was fine. I find that hard to believe, but I don't know if it's true. This is my first flowerhorn death within my first year of working with them. This little guy wasn't even a year old yet. He was only about 9 months old. He was also my future breeder.

Whilst I was discussing the medication with the other breeder, 5 minutes after I had posted about this (No replies yet, so I was completely clueless) He went into shock or something. He jumped out of the water again and again, and then slowly he started to turn around and lost his balance unable to swim. His gills were still moving as he went upside down, but slowly it started to move slowly, super slowly.

I did a Metro inside of a small 3ft tank with methylene blue and salt and put a barrier up with an airstone in front of him to keep him upright. His gills had seemed to stop moving at this point but the person I was talking with reassured me that he still saw him moving slightly. Fingers crossed. It's the next morning now and some colour has stripped off of his fins.

I checked one last time, and he's gone. I had a dream where he came back to life and was fine, lively. I woke up to much disappointment. Hopefully that was him telling me I tried hard enough, and that he's swimming happily in the fish afterlife. Corny it sounds. Haha

Thanks everyone though, I've learnt from the comments you've written about better treatment ect, I'm glad I'm not alone and can relate to some. : )

 

[IckyIcky]

He also had another fish next to him in a barrier.... She was with him whilst he was sick in the barrier. Anyone know what I should try do to treat her? Surely the bacteria must have passed to her. I hope not at least...

 

[Deadeye]

I’m so sorry. You did your best, crap happens to everyone. I’ve lost so many pets, it always sucks.
I would treat the other fish like it has columnaris and medicate just to be sure. Do some water changes too.