Infection on West African Lungfish

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Wiggles92

Dovii
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2009
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Pennsylvania
My week just keeps getting better... :(

My west African lungfish has what appears to be some sort of infection on its side. I just noticed the infection today; I previously saw a bit of discoloration of its slime coat there a few days ago but thought nothing of it...

I keep it in a 20 gallon long with an Aqueon QuietFlow 10 Power Filter (100 gph) for filtration. The aquarium that it's in was cycled when I introduced it back in September 2010, and it has no tankmates. The water temperature is currently at 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The water parameters are looking pretty good (nitrates <10 ppm, nitrites 0), and I do 20% water changes on a weekly basis. I haven't observed any changes in behavior. The lungfish still eats every time I feed it (every other day); it gets thawed fish fillet, sinking carnivore pellets, and algae wafers.

picture.php


You can see the infection on the left side of the lungfish; the other off-colored marks on it are just its slime coat shedding from pulling it out of its aquarium in order to photograph its infection.

Any idea as to what is wrong with my lungfish?
 
Is your tank decorated? With what? Only injuries and parasitic infestations can initiate a bacterial infection.

Is it the white circle mark?
 
Lupin;4894033; said:
Is your tank decorated? With what? Only injuries and parasitic infestations can initiate a bacterial infection.

Is it the white circle mark?
Click to expand...

It has a gravel substrate on one side and sand substrate on the other side. I also have a bubble wand buried under the sand side. The aquarium is decorated with just a fake Triceratops skull; it's on the gravel side of the aquarium. I have the heater inside of the fake skull to prevent the lungfish from getting burned on it, so I'm pretty sure that the infection is not the result of a burn.

The white circle mark is the infection. It's got a rough texture in the center, and it is somewhat transparent which is concerning.
 
IMO, get rid of the gravel and stick to either pure sand or barebottom as a precaution. I dunno about handling lungfish but I would have recommended topical treatment of hydrogen peroxide, then betadine and Biobandage for that patch.
 
Lupin;4894899; said:
IMO, get rid of the gravel and stick to either pure sand or barebottom as a precaution. I dunno about handling lungfish but I would have recommended topical treatment of hydrogen peroxide, then betadine and Biobandage for that patch.
Click to expand...

Alright, I'll pull out all of the substrate, and I'll acquire the necessary items to treat it.
 
Mine recently got stuck inside a fake stump I had in the tank. Took me 40 mins to get him out and he is very badly injured from the event. Skinned a 1 inch band all around his mid section. Poor guy seems to be recovering, but is still having a few issues with eating right now. I could put up some pics, but it just makes me more depressed. At least he did not drowned as I caught him in time. Hope your guy gets better too man.
 
Careful not to leak any of the topical treatments on eyes, gills and mouth though.
 
kevinfleming21;4895314; said:
Mine recently got stuck inside a fake stump I had in the tank. Took me 40 mins to get him out and he is very badly injured from the event. Skinned a 1 inch band all around his mid section. Poor guy seems to be recovering, but is still having a few issues with eating right now. I could put up some pics, but it just makes me more depressed. At least he did not drowned as I caught him in time. Hope your guy gets better too man.
Click to expand...

I hope that yours gets better soon; it sounds a lot worse off than mine. At least mine still eats a ton; yours is having trouble eating which doesn't bode well.

Lupin;4895321; said:
Careful not to leak any of the topical treatments on eyes, gills and mouth though.
Click to expand...

I'll be sure to be careful. I might just hold his head in some tank water in a bucket when I apply the treatments in order to avoid getting them on him; at least then it will be very diluted if it comes any where near those parts of the body.
 
Well, when I went to pull the lungfish out of its aquarium, I noticed that it had developed some sort of fuzz (fungal ?) on the infected (?) area and the affected area had become inflamed and raised up. So here's what I did:

  1. I dried off the affected area plus some of the area around it.
  2. I removed the fuzz without taking pieces of the lungfish with it.
  3. I applied hydrogen peroxide solution (standard 3% solution) to the affected area and the surrounding area.
  4. I rinsed the lungfish with clean water.
  5. I applied Mercuroclear (Rite Aid lacked Betadine or any other iodine-based disinfectant; this stuff said it was an alternative to using iodine) to the affected area and the surrounding area.
  6. I rinsed the lungfish with clean water.
  7. I placed the lungfish in its hospital aquarium that contained clean water.
Does this treatment sound alright to you?

Here are some updated pictures from after the treatment:
picture.php


picture.php
 
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