HELP: Sick Brachyplatystoma tigrinum

[krielikieli]

Hi all,

I moved my 8 inches tigrinus from its solitary tank into my 8ft tank. It didn't last long because the tank mates picked on it. I suspect it was either bichir or Synodontis decorus. The fins were shredded, the barbels cut, and there was a small lump under the jaw.

I moved it back to its original tank and treat it with melafix. After a few days I noticed the lump got bigger and I put some salts in. The lump didn't go away and there were white dots like pimple started to appear.

I read some books and article and I suspected it could be worms encased. So, I treated with praziquantel 4 days ago but doesn't look any improvement. The fish still eating but doesn't eat much. I maintain the water quality. I'm now trying Protozin.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[bluehairman]

Try soaking the food in the parasite medicine. If the parasite is under the skin medicine administered via water wouldn't help much.
Keep an eye on the wound, it looks like it could be infected.

 

[krielikieli]

Hi, Thanks for the advice.

I'm still medicating it with Protozin. Will do a full course as per the instruction.
Yup the wound is very susceptible to secondary infections. Therefore, I'm doing about 10-20% WC every day or every other day to maintain water quality.

Not sure to soak the food in medicine as it doesn't eat pellets. I've tried Hikari sinking carni with no luck. I feed frozen prawn n squid.

Anyone else have suggestions?

 

[bluehairman]

Are you feeding it feeders? You could gut load the feeders with medicated food. I'm not sure though because it might not be a parasite under the skin.

 

[TangoWRX]

Waterlife also do a med called Sterazin which is for internal paracites and worms. Protozin is for whitespot and fungus. Looks bad, I hope things inprove soon. It is also worth nothing as melafix/pimafix are all natural eg tea tree oil, you can use them at the same time or even with Protozin.

 

[Anna Robinson]

As Tango says, Melafix/Pimafix are natural and can be used with other medications (at least, API have tested to check that they are compatible with all their own medications - I can't guarantee they are compatible with other manufacturer's medications, but common sense suggests they are). However, it seems much more likely to me that these lumps are just infected wounds, or in some way related to the extreme stress the fish has been through. I'm no tigrinus expert, but surely it would be better to leave it to heal, rather than keep dosing it with strong medications like Protozin or Sterazin, with all their potential side effects, without even knowing what you are treating.

 

[krielikieli]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your advice. It hasn't got better. It looked better for a few days but now seems to get worse. I'm scared it's viral infection which has no medicine.

@Tango: do you think it is parasitic/worms?

I'm in dilemma now. Not sure what to treat. Can only guess and treat with medicine at a time and see if it gets better. Alternatively, like Anna said leave it and hope for the best.

So sad.

 

[krielikieli]

Are you feeding it feeders? You could gut load the feeders with medicated food. I'm not sure though because it might not be a parasite under the skin.

No, I don't feed feeders. Maybe I should? There's no medicated food available in Australia.