*Long post warning* 
So my beloved Kamfa-Red Texas is in the process of (hopefully) recovering from a pretty gruesome wound that I'm going to present as kind of a photo journal I've been taking each day during the process.
Background: Drakaris is about 10.5" and resides in a bare bottom 115 gallon that's kept quite pristine -- 45% water change every 6-7 days, plus twice a day (before feeding) his waste is siphoned out, with the total ~12 liters taken out replaced. Water parameters are a very consistent 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and nitrates 10-20 depending.
In the ~1.5 years I've had him he's never had any real health issues except a rare scrape now and then, all of which healed up pretty quick and nicely. However, he also has a suspected tumor near his right eye, since about 4 months ago, which I at first thought was related to his current injury, but now I'm really not sure.
Day 1: After a water change I noticed he had a small open wound near his right pectoral fin. But it looked a bit strange, kind of round-ish, more like a pimple had popped, with a bit of loose skin still there. I didn't take any pix because I thought it wasn't serious and would heal fast as usual. I didn't add any treatment because I just added some aquarium salt during his water change, thinking that would be enough.
Day 2: But the next day it was noticeably swollen, so I decided to dose his tank with some 'OF Flowerhorn Internal Bacteria & Ulcer Away', as I was thinking the wound was some kind of ulcer.
Day 3: Unfortunately by the next day it got much bigger and redder, looking like it would burst. I'm not sure if the Ulcer Away medicine didn't work, or whether it was pushing the bad stuff out so to speak.
Despite the kinda gross wound he was otherwise acting totally normal -- eating like pig as usual, doing half loop to loops when I approached the tank and even doing his daily artwork with his rocks. I also started feeding him some higher protein pellets to hopefully give him some more healing power.
Day 4: The next day though the wound got almost volcanic looking and then burst open -- I really thought he was a goner, and that it would keep growing and he would explode or need to euthanized. But I thought to give it another day or two and treated him with 'OF Fungus & External Bacteria Away' (which gave the tank a green color). That night I went to bed with a heavy heart -- Drakaris is the coolest, most loved fish I've ever had (and that includes 2 lovely Asian Arowana who will never, ever have even half the character he has).
Even my hound dog was worried about Drakaris...
Day 5: As I was taking off his tank cover (velcroed fabric to block out light) I was half expecting him to be dead or half dead -- but surprisingly the wound was MUCH better!
I was so happy to see this, but knew he wasn't out of the woods yet.
Day 6: Continued with same treatment, more improvement.
Day 7: In some ways the wound looked better but then coming out of it was something weird that looked kind of like half a Hikari foodstick (but of course wasn't, I'm not sure what it was frankly). So I did a 40% water change, then treated again with the OF Ulcer Away med.
Day 8: The 'food stick' like thing was gone, wound was looking much better, but decided to add a half dose of the 'OF Fungus & External Bacteria Away' to be safe.
Day 9: A bit of skin still hanging around the wound but overall looking pretty good, I hope it continues to improve, with no recurrence, will update later.
If you're still here you are probably sick of seeing pix of this fish, but I hope at least some find the info/pix useful.
Likewise if anyone has a better idea of what actually hit him I'd love to read your thoughts. Fortunately I really don't have much experience with serious fish injuries, this is by far the worst and I've never seen similar in any fish I've owned.
So my beloved Kamfa-Red Texas is in the process of (hopefully) recovering from a pretty gruesome wound that I'm going to present as kind of a photo journal I've been taking each day during the process.Background: Drakaris is about 10.5" and resides in a bare bottom 115 gallon that's kept quite pristine -- 45% water change every 6-7 days, plus twice a day (before feeding) his waste is siphoned out, with the total ~12 liters taken out replaced. Water parameters are a very consistent 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and nitrates 10-20 depending.
In the ~1.5 years I've had him he's never had any real health issues except a rare scrape now and then, all of which healed up pretty quick and nicely. However, he also has a suspected tumor near his right eye, since about 4 months ago, which I at first thought was related to his current injury, but now I'm really not sure.
Day 1: After a water change I noticed he had a small open wound near his right pectoral fin. But it looked a bit strange, kind of round-ish, more like a pimple had popped, with a bit of loose skin still there. I didn't take any pix because I thought it wasn't serious and would heal fast as usual. I didn't add any treatment because I just added some aquarium salt during his water change, thinking that would be enough.
Day 2: But the next day it was noticeably swollen, so I decided to dose his tank with some 'OF Flowerhorn Internal Bacteria & Ulcer Away', as I was thinking the wound was some kind of ulcer.
Day 3: Unfortunately by the next day it got much bigger and redder, looking like it would burst. I'm not sure if the Ulcer Away medicine didn't work, or whether it was pushing the bad stuff out so to speak.
Despite the kinda gross wound he was otherwise acting totally normal -- eating like pig as usual, doing half loop to loops when I approached the tank and even doing his daily artwork with his rocks. I also started feeding him some higher protein pellets to hopefully give him some more healing power.
Day 4: The next day though the wound got almost volcanic looking and then burst open -- I really thought he was a goner, and that it would keep growing and he would explode or need to euthanized. But I thought to give it another day or two and treated him with 'OF Fungus & External Bacteria Away' (which gave the tank a green color). That night I went to bed with a heavy heart -- Drakaris is the coolest, most loved fish I've ever had (and that includes 2 lovely Asian Arowana who will never, ever have even half the character he has).
Even my hound dog was worried about Drakaris...
Day 5: As I was taking off his tank cover (velcroed fabric to block out light) I was half expecting him to be dead or half dead -- but surprisingly the wound was MUCH better!
I was so happy to see this, but knew he wasn't out of the woods yet.
Day 6: Continued with same treatment, more improvement.
Day 7: In some ways the wound looked better but then coming out of it was something weird that looked kind of like half a Hikari foodstick (but of course wasn't, I'm not sure what it was frankly). So I did a 40% water change, then treated again with the OF Ulcer Away med.
Day 8: The 'food stick' like thing was gone, wound was looking much better, but decided to add a half dose of the 'OF Fungus & External Bacteria Away' to be safe.
Day 9: A bit of skin still hanging around the wound but overall looking pretty good, I hope it continues to improve, with no recurrence, will update later.
If you're still here you are probably sick of seeing pix of this fish, but I hope at least some find the info/pix useful.
Likewise if anyone has a better idea of what actually hit him I'd love to read your thoughts. Fortunately I really don't have much experience with serious fish injuries, this is by far the worst and I've never seen similar in any fish I've owned.
