possible HITH/infection? picture

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sandman503

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2009
51
0
0
oregon
picked this RBP up off CL, the guy was giving it away and warned me that it needed some TLC. got to his house and it was in a small tank that was filthy. got it home and began treating it with perfect water conditions, heat, and salt. a month went by and no results, moved to melafix, nothing. just treated for fungus and i now feel like im just throwing my money away because i have no idea how to cure this dude. ive had him for about 3 months, he is eating and swimming around and seems real happy. what does it look like hes got? what do you guys recomend as a treatment?

 
I would have thought bacterial in need of antibitics but pm a mod called Lupin and ask him direct, he seems really good with this sort of stuff. this looks bad enough to warrant a pm instead of waiting. melafix is good at keeping infection off and flesh/fin regeneration but not so good for embedded infections.
 
I got your PM. What are the water parameters right now? How high is the temperature? If you're still in contact with the previous owner who is an idiot, please ask him how long has this pacu been in this condition. You know from the sound of your post, the pacu's condition is not as detrimental as it seems to be despite the mangled appearance. It isn't fungal infection at all. It just looks like to me the skin eroded possibly by high levels of ammonia (which would have destroyed it eventually) or deep skin damage by injuries and infestation of bacterial infection afterwards resulting in permanent skin damage. In your situation, I do not think the skin will heal nicely like before. As long as it is happy and doing well, then the skin issue is moot.
 
my water params are:

PH: 7.1
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 2.0

my temp right now is at 80-82
ive been doing 25% water changes every other day since i got him and right now he is alone in a 55 gallon "hospital" tank.

when i picked it up i asked him how long it had been since he did a water change and he said he wasnt sure but its been a few months. the tank was a 20gallon long and he was running a UGF and an HOB.
wish i grabbed a water test from the tank he came from, ooh well. not still in contact with the previous owner.

any recomendations on a specific medication?
 
What test kit do you use that says 2.0 for nitrate? You could try tetracycline as treatment if you're worried it is bacterial infection. Most of the bacterial infections involve gram-negative bacteria so either tetracycline or broad spectrum antibiotics like Maracyn 2 will do the job but I warned you earlier, don't expect too much difference in the condition.
 
i used APIs master test kit 0 is yellow and 5.0 is orange and the test fell somewhere between there so maybe its 2.5

i honestly dont care if he looks gnarly his whole life, thats fine, i just want him to survive and ultimatley be healthy.
 
lupin, thank you..... i tried everything before starting this thread. went out and bought maracyn 2 and have been treating for 3 days now and its already starting to look better.
 
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