Well its been about 6 days since I noticed that my smallest peacock eel had a wound on his tail that was covered in fungus! So I placed him in a 5g hospital tank (he is only 3-4" long) and treated him with maracyn and 1 table spoon of salt per gallon which was added over a period of 5 days.
His tail where the fungus IS at is falling off. He is still moving around and acting healthy but STILL isn't eating. I'm offering frozen and live and he has yet to touch a thing though he isn't too thin ATM. I just found out today that I actually used the wrong medication (feels dumb) so I'm not sure where I should go from here....
Do I get the right meds even though the infected area is falling off? I know with his tail falling off and the large tear in his skin where it is coming off at puts him at high risk for infection but won't salt prevent that? If not, what do I need to be adding? Even though his five day maracyn treatment just finished, should I continue using it? It says you may treat the five day once more if needed. It doesn't say if I should do a PWC first though...
The last thing I am trying so hard to figure out is what caused this wound. The funny thing is that before I got this little guy, I had another die to a wound on his tail that looked JUST like this one. Same spot, same shape, ect. This seems really odd to me but I really need to figure out what happened so I can prevent it from happening again. I have removed all ornaments except for a cave that there is just no way it could cut them. The ornaments I took out I doubt would have cut them especially on the tail... Still I took them out just in case. The fish in the tank are:
1 Angelfish (3")
2 Peacocks (1 is 3-4" while the other is 6-7")
1 Long Finned Red Minor Tetra (I know he is schooling but he was the only one in the tank and I have yet to see another
He is approx. 1.5")
3 Albino Cory Cats (all about 2")
1 Spotted Cory Cat (again, have only seen one and have yet to see another. He is 2.5")
2 Sunburst Platties (2" each)
2 Redtail Dalmatian Platties (One is 2" the other 1")
1 Rubber Lip Pleco (approx 2.5")
1 Male Golden Canas Apple Snail (Approx. 3")
1 Female Florida Apple Snail (approx. 3")
Nothing in there seems like it could have caused such a large bite wound. After the first one died, we thought it was the ghost knife so we took him back to the store after no luck in finding a home large enough for him Anyways, the bite/cut extends though both sides of his body (making it appear to be a bite). Its about .5" long. Starts off like the tip of a triangle and spreads...well like so > but heads to the top of the peacock instead of down to his tail. I know that makes little sense but the fungus prevents me from showing you exactly whats going on.
Here are some thoughts I've come up with...
Perhaps the larger peacock is biting the smaller ones? Then again, they don't appear to have much jaw power as they swallow their food whole....
Maybe they rubbed up against the pleco? However, what are the odds of the two small peacocks both rubbing up against him and both doing so with their tails???
Possibly a ornament? Again, what are the odds of them both getting the same wound in the same spot. And on top of that, what are the odds of a ornament cutting in such manner and go all the way through?
They aren't burrowing through the gravel so I doubt it would be that and to top that off, the gravel is smooth.
So does ANYONE have any clue?! Its really frustrating as I don't want this to happen to the same or the other peacock. Its bad enough its happened twice now Worse that I can't pin point the problem. Any help is VERY MUCH appreciated!
His tail where the fungus IS at is falling off. He is still moving around and acting healthy but STILL isn't eating. I'm offering frozen and live and he has yet to touch a thing though he isn't too thin ATM. I just found out today that I actually used the wrong medication (feels dumb) so I'm not sure where I should go from here....
Do I get the right meds even though the infected area is falling off? I know with his tail falling off and the large tear in his skin where it is coming off at puts him at high risk for infection but won't salt prevent that? If not, what do I need to be adding? Even though his five day maracyn treatment just finished, should I continue using it? It says you may treat the five day once more if needed. It doesn't say if I should do a PWC first though...
The last thing I am trying so hard to figure out is what caused this wound. The funny thing is that before I got this little guy, I had another die to a wound on his tail that looked JUST like this one. Same spot, same shape, ect. This seems really odd to me but I really need to figure out what happened so I can prevent it from happening again. I have removed all ornaments except for a cave that there is just no way it could cut them. The ornaments I took out I doubt would have cut them especially on the tail... Still I took them out just in case. The fish in the tank are:
1 Angelfish (3")
2 Peacocks (1 is 3-4" while the other is 6-7")
1 Long Finned Red Minor Tetra (I know he is schooling but he was the only one in the tank and I have yet to see another
He is approx. 1.5")3 Albino Cory Cats (all about 2")
1 Spotted Cory Cat (again, have only seen one and have yet to see another. He is 2.5")
2 Sunburst Platties (2" each)
2 Redtail Dalmatian Platties (One is 2" the other 1")
1 Rubber Lip Pleco (approx 2.5")
1 Male Golden Canas Apple Snail (Approx. 3")
1 Female Florida Apple Snail (approx. 3")
Nothing in there seems like it could have caused such a large bite wound. After the first one died, we thought it was the ghost knife so we took him back to the store after no luck in finding a home large enough for him
Anyways, the bite/cut extends though both sides of his body (making it appear to be a bite). Its about .5" long. Starts off like the tip of a triangle and spreads...well like so > but heads to the top of the peacock instead of down to his tail. I know that makes little sense but the fungus prevents me from showing you exactly whats going on. Here are some thoughts I've come up with...
Perhaps the larger peacock is biting the smaller ones? Then again, they don't appear to have much jaw power as they swallow their food whole....
Maybe they rubbed up against the pleco? However, what are the odds of the two small peacocks both rubbing up against him and both doing so with their tails???
Possibly a ornament? Again, what are the odds of them both getting the same wound in the same spot. And on top of that, what are the odds of a ornament cutting in such manner and go all the way through?
They aren't burrowing through the gravel so I doubt it would be that and to top that off, the gravel is smooth.
So does ANYONE have any clue?! Its really frustrating as I don't want this to happen to the same or the other peacock. Its bad enough its happened twice now
Worse that I can't pin point the problem. Any help is VERY MUCH appreciated!
