Well I think I dodged a bullet.
After coming across this video I figured I would throw everything I had at the problem and hope for the best. It would be a couple of days before I could get the medicine I needed so I was going to make do with what I had.
The video talks about removing the fish and scraping off the lesions with a razor blade (which I was prepared to do) but they all came off by rubbing my finger tip over them. This left open sores that I treated with hydrogen peroxide and placed him back in the tank. I was surprised at how well he took it. He was much calmer than I was. I never tried anything like that before and I’m sure it bothered me more than it did him.
My daily treatment schedule has been:
Fin level water change.
Dropped the temperature to low 70’s.
Threated the tank with salt, 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.
Treated with Melafix AND Pimafix (if I had it, I was gonna USE it).
Fed him one pellet at a time after soaking it in metro. He never did lose his appetite.
After two days the external lesions looked like they were almost healed but I was still bothered by the one in his mouth that wouldn’t allow his mouth to close. Although it looked like it had improved a little I took him out of the tank again. I again ran my finger tip around the area below his lower lip to remove any dead tissue. I then opened his mouth and did the same thing inside his mouth. I then followed with a good hydrogen peroxide application ALONG WITH Neosporin I had punched that day. My wife thought I had lost my mind.
This morning you couldn’t even tell there was an issue. Even his mouth was almost back to its original closed shape.
Today was the first day I didn’t do a water change. I think I’ll continue with Melafix and metro treated food for two or three more days then do another water change.
Thank god! I really hated the thought of losing him. He’s already got quite the personality.
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