Swell on my Flowerhorn?

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heyits3lla

heyits3lla

Black Skirt Tetra
MFK Member
Feb 3, 2019
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Hello, my male Flowerhorn has been acting strange. He has a swell on his kok above his eye and two small holes on his head. He only moves when there’s food but he’s getting slower slower. He doesn’t like to swim to the other side of the tank which can be hard when feeding him. (The pellets float to the other side) could this be an internal parasite? I keep trying different foods but make sure not to switch them all the time so he won’t get stressed. What do you think could be the problem?
 
Well if you don't cure the hole in the head , I think we'll soon find that kidney disease is killing him. It's probably too late.

I'm not a flowerhorn guy but these are all signs of a fish in water that doesn't suit him.

Have you done any water testing?
 
Ulu said:
Well if you don't cure the hole in the head , I think we'll soon find that kidney disease is killing him. It's probably too late.

I'm not a flowerhorn guy but these are all signs of a fish in water that doesn't suit him.

Have you done any water testing?
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No not yet.. so there’s no cure? The swell above his eye is getting better though..
 
That sounds promising.

I was pretty worried about that business with the fungus because it commonly indicates a secondary symptom of internal bacterial inflection. Kidneys and other internal organs can be destroyed from the inside without clear visible signs until the fish swells up and dies.

You can kill the fungus; but if he became susceptible because of poor blood chemistry (do to ailing kidneys as a result of poor water) that will take longer to recover from and won't be as obvious.

I would look carefully for signs of Edema (visible as swelling) where his scales will start to stick out a little bit. It's hard to spot at first but you will notice under certain light that your fish looks rougher than it used to. I would be surprised if he doesn't have a little of this already.

From the photo I can't tell if the skin has actually peeled from his flesh or if that's just slime coat sloughing off in the water.

Either one should heal given good water quality and time.

So I'm not saying he won't recover from this and live on; but it has probably shortened his life a bit, at the very least.

I think this happens to a lot of fish and I think it happened to a lot of fish that I owned in the past.

Make sure you keep his water quality very clean, and at least test for ammonia and nitrates. If you think that your water quality is variable you should test for pH as well.

You should test your tap water to make sure you are not putting ammonia right into his tank from the tap.
 
Thank you so much for the advice! It really makes me feel like he could get pass this and gives me hope. I did notice where the bump was, it is producing a little bit of white slime. He tends to have white stringy poop but not ad often as before.
 
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On his kok there’s a small hole where the white slime is coming from. You can barley see the bump anymore which is a good sign. Underneath his kok, near the front of his face is the small hole where around it the skin was peeled. On the front of his face is where the skin peeled. Mostly from bumping into the walls all the time.

BC0E4ADC-2BDD-4805-982F-071D109E3270.jpeg
 
I hesitate to recommend treatment for a Flowerhorn, however for the Oscar fish, Metro+ is often used for this type of infection.

But generally it's the water that is the cause. High levels of ammonia and nitrates will bring this on. The other thing is poor nutrition.

So I would concentrate on the water quality and nutrition first. Metro+ may not be safe in your situation. I don't know every particular, and I am not a vet.
 
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