need help please something wrong with tsn

[jspatriots]

Just vame home to find my tsn looking real bad. It looks like his skin is peeling away or something. I tested the water and the ammonia is 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 5. Temp is 78. There are no new additions to the tank and i dont feed live so i dont know where it came from. I dont have a hopsital tank big enough for him so i am lost right now as to what to do. no other fish show any problems

 

[tscharf]

good looking tsn. my tsn has a small spot on his head like that where he scraped it against a filter during feeding. something might have spooked him into hitting his head pretty hard. is there anything sharp in there that could have done this? id say do some water changes and make sure there nice and clean and add some aquarium salt to help with the healing process. i really hope he pulls through he looks like hes got beautiful colors. how big is he? if you really need a medical tank for him run to walmart, but eaither a kitty pool or one of those large tuberwar containers and through an airstone and filter in it, ive used those as medical tanks before

 

[jspatriots]

he is about 15" or so, the only thing that he could have scraped against is a large piece of drift wood i have in there. Gonna do a wc right now and if i have to ill head to walmart thank you for your quick response

 

[tscharf]

make sure you use the water from ur exsisting tank for ur med tank, u dont want to use tap water in ur med tank, u prolly already knew that but just makin sure.... keep us posted.

 

[SpeshulEd]

Could he have burned himself on a heater? I've seen that before at the LFS - cat laid next to the heater and had a big white line/burn spot going down the side of him. They were medicating him. Then the next time I went in about a month later he was all better and back for sale.

 

[bigcol]

Yeah that does look like a heater burn. I wouldnt recommend the aquarium salt, as tsn are scaleless and dont apreciate salt at all, i had 1 that hit himself really bad and was advised by my lfs to give him a short salt bath so i did, it done him more harm than good. Ur tsn also looks like it has a very bad open wound so the salt wouldnt help matters, good water changes and removing any sharp objects from the tank should do the trick. Tsn are a very shy fish they dont really associate themselves with other fish untill they get alot bigger, thats just from my experience btw, mine was roughly 10" when i put him down and even then he would just sit alone al the time, so be carefull who his tank mates are. Hope this helps

 

[jspatriots]

Could he have burned himself on a heater? I've seen that before at the LFS - cat laid next to the heater and had a big white line/burn spot going down the side of him. They were medicating him. Then the next time I went in about a month later he was all better and back for sale.

Thanks for the reply, but there are no heaters located in the tank. They are in the sump. I have removed the drift wood. He is swimming around and acting normal so hopefully it heals. What type of meds should i get for him

 

[SpeshulEd]

Ahh, good deal. I didn't know so thought I'd throw out the idea. It must have been the driftwood then.

I think I have also heard not to use salt with scaleless fish. I've never had issues with my cats, so I've never had to medicate yet.

I hear lots of people suggest melafix for different things, but again I have no experience. I think thats mostly for a bacteria infection...however, with a bump like that, it may help bacteria from getting inside the wound.

If no one comes in this thread and helps out, I'd try also posting it in the Freshwater Diseases and Health Issues forum - you might get some more advice there.

Good luck, and for the time being, I'd do large water changes, to keep the water as clean as possible to prevent infection.

 

[tscharf]

w/e you do, if you treat him with medicine make sure its in a medical tank. ive heard of salt sometimes being used with cats but your right not as much as with fish with scales.

 

[justonemoretank]

I use marine salt mix in my pond with RTC to raise hardness (along with baking soda and epsom salt). Dosage is a teaspoon of the marine salt mix per 20 gallons. I have not noticed any problems with the salt. However, I'm not sure that salt would help this situation, unless it was epsom salt, which will reduce swelling. I'd avoid adding salt unless I saw a real reason -- I'm just thinking that salt really hurts us when we have a cut on our hand, or something, and salt gets into the cut. So it couldn't feel very good for the catfish! I'd watch the area, and add a mild antibacterial (like melafix) to ensure no infection begins. If you begin to see redness or swelling, I'd add epsom salt and start using a real antibacterial, like Maracyn. Good luck to your guy!