I need some help with my African lungfish

[tpipes14]

Have you tested your water?

Yes

If yes, what is your ammonia?

0ppm

If yes, what is your nitrite?

0ppm

If yes, what is your nitrate?

I’m guessing around 10-15ppm

If I did not test my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.

Do you do water changes?

Yes

What percentage of water do you change?

71-80%

How frequently do you change your water?

Every week

If I do not change my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.

my African lungfish I got about nine months ago was very injured when I got him missing pieces of his tail legs and I I was able to heal him up all except for a very small dot on the tip of his nose that has done nothing but grow for the past eight months that I’ve had him


I have tested my water. Water quality is good and just cloudy because I just fed a good helping of silversides if anyone has any advice, please get back to me. He doesn’t seem to be an healthy or anything. He eats just fine and gets along with all the other fish just great.

 

[Ansorgii]

To me it sounds like he has an bacterial infection in that wound that keeps slowly eating his flesh away. I experienced it a few times with stingrays, for some friends it dissolved large parts of their tails until they figured it out. Luckily, if you can help him overcome the bacteria it will grow back since lungfish have insane regenerative capabilities.

This is how I dealt with these things in my stingrays: I added a lot of tanins to the water, to lower the bacterial growth and make reinfection less likely, and I used a pipette or tube (depending on the size) to apply 99% alcohol directly to the wound multiple times, until I saw it started to heal.

Don't worry, a few milliliters of alcohol on a big tank amount to no significant concentration, and the bacteria in your water will metabolize it right away, making your water look milky.

I hope this can help you and he will recover soon.

 

[tpipes14]

To me it sounds like he has an bacterial infection in that wound that keeps slowly eating his flesh away. I experienced it a few times with stingrays, for some friends it dissolved large parts of their tails until they figured it out. Luckily, if you can help him overcome the bacteria it will grow back since lungfish have insane regenerative capabilities.

This is how I dealt with these things in my stingrays: I added a lot of tanins to the water, to lower the bacterial growth and make reinfection less likely, and I used a pipette or tube (depending on the size) to apply 99% alcohol directly to the wound multiple times, until I saw it started to heal.

Don't worry, a few milliliters of alcohol on a big tank amount to no significant concentration, and the bacteria in your water will metabolize it right away, making your water look milky.

I hope this can help you and he will recover soon.

Thank you I’ll try this out

 

[danotaylor]

I haven’t used alcohol in this way before, but I’m an RN and for sloughy wounds we will apply hydrogen peroxide to oxidize infected & damaged tissue until the wound he is clean, then apply betadine as an antiseptic to aid in the regenerative process. No reason why this approach wouldn’t be effective either.
Using tannins to lower the pH to an environment that limits/prohibits bacterial multiplication is not something I have ever heard of in a controlled environment, but it makes sense since the low pH waters of the Amazon are almost entirely devoid of bacterial counts

 

[Ansorgii]

After applying alcohol to the wound, which typically looked a bit more spongey/open, the outer layer also fell off and revealed a smoother living looking skin/surface.

Other disinfectants might work just aswell, but with some you should use a carbon filter to get them out again. And depending on the tankmates, be careful of the elements used in them.

Tanins benefit nearly every fish (I am saying nearly because there is always an eception out there) and are essential in soft water environments as they stabilize it. They also allow fish to exchange ions and nutrients more easily with the water, inhibit fungal growth (very important when breeding fish) and overall just calm them down. I also observed fish growing way longer filaments in water with tannins, some my luna silver dollars grew them longer than their own bodies.

The only real drawback I can think of in a tank is the brown water taking away from some colours. But for every tank where crisp colours aren't the main focus I can only recommend adding them.