May have to put my acara Jazz down. Opinions.

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Update

Next round Lifeguard All in One. No salt today. Jazz got her first Metro feed via syringe.

Red mouth ring is gone. The black spot is still there but no longer raised. A strange mass was floating in the water. At first it looked like a leech! It's a dark pouch shape with black and red worms hanging out of it. Jazz either hucked it up or pooped it out. The worms look like undigested (rotted?) blackworms she ate some time back. Some are black and some red. None are moving. Blackworms are the only food I could get her to eat prior.

She's resting at the bottom with decent energy all things considered. Fans fins and they are open (no clamping). Metro feed will continue.

Will take a pic of the weird mass.
 
The 2 weird masses that were on one of the silk plants Jazz rests on. There's a red worm like thing in the circle but it was hanging out of the mass. The little pink balls are the threads rolled up.

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Some of the threads are black, some red. None are moving and they were inside the masses. Nothing was hanging out of Jazz.

I'm thinking these are undigested/rotten blackworms in her gut. I've had ongoing issues with her eating too many and cut back. Started tricking her with pellet mixed in because she refuses to eat anything else.

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Update, a poor one. After briefly improving once more she's gone south again. This has been the pattern. Up/down/up/down. The latest:

The black spot is raised again and now she's got another one on the same side. The orange piping on her top fin is now black for the first time. So this tells me she's going fast. Belly color is washed out but scales up top still blue. Her fins are intact with no red streaks at all. She's back to head standing at a backwards angle by the airstone. Her eyes are clear but I'm noticing a slight pinkness to one eye under bright light. She is still responsive and swims normal in short bursts. Her eyes move and she recognizes me. I've been giving her metro feed the last couple of days but stopped the other med.

Several weeks ago I was treating her for swim bladder. She was in a bucket in the sink. Bucket was over the drain and covered. Somehow she leaped out, got underneath the bucket full of water and flopped into the garbage disposal. To this day I don't know how she did that. She's never been right since then either. At times she would bend her body then straighten up. It aggravated the swim bladder issues even more. The black spots are on the same side
she landed on the blades. I'm convinced she has long term internal damage. This was during the time she suddenly developed popeye on that same side.

I won't bother her too much other than fresh water so she can live out her last days. I very nearly became a Vet and times like this I wish I had.
 
Another factor in this is she did sustain a couple of nicks and a missing scale from the blades. Likely some bacteria got into her that way when I lifted her out of the disposal. Like small open wounds hard to see. She only survived because there was just enough water to keep her scales damp. I revived her by putting the bubbler under her gills because she was stiff and not breathing. I also waved her back and forth to get more oxygen over her gills.

She's still hanging in there but it's still a long shot at best.
 
Just thought I'd give an update.

Not a whole lot going on. Jazz is still alive. She's slightly better and I emphasize slightly. No longer laying on her side like a potato chip she now sits in an upright position. Body massages have helped to straighten her sides out (she was getting crooked). I had her at room temp (76) then she went down so I bumped it up to 81 and then 84. She seemed to respond but then went sideways (literally) so I've gone back to lower temps which appear to have helped. She still won't eat on her own. Nothing I do makes a real difference for any length of time. Every 2 days I feed her with vitamin laced pellets. Metro feed ineffective. Salt helps her some. I have some leftover kana-cure med I may try again. Just throwin hail Marys right and left.

Because of the situation with some other fish I'll need to set up her tank soon. I may just put her in to see if being around other fish stimulates her appetite.
 
Wow can’t believe she’s still alive. It’s amazing to what lengths you go to for your fish
 
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