What Med to use???

[West1]

My 11" GATF ran into the tank a few times to hard last night. His upper lip is jacked!! What kind of meds should I use when I put him in a Large Rubbermaid tub (I figure it would be a level softer than glass) by himself and treat his wound??

Thanks for the info

 

[joel]

never had a GATF before but i like melafix for open wounds or even some pennicilin.

 

[West1]

My 11" GATF ran into the tank a few times to hard last night. His upper lip is jacked!! What kind of meds should I use when I put him in a Large Rubbermaid tub (I figure it would be a level softer than glass) by himself and treat his wound??

Thanks for the info

I was reading about Melafix and seen this Quote... Is this okay to treat a GATF with these directions??
Mainly the wound treatment.... Yay/Nay??



Directions For Use
Shake well before using. Remove activated carbon, if possible.
Dose: Add 5ml per 10 U.S gallons (38 L) of aquarium water. As a disease or wound treatment: Dose daily for 7 days. After 7 days, make a 25% water change. Treatment can be continued if necessary.

 

[andregurov]

Why do anything different than treat with water changes, heat, and salt? MelaFix may have its proponents (of which I am NOT one), but if you keep proper husbandry efforts & good, clean water I can't think of one reason to dump more stuff in.

There is no reason to treat with an antibiotic (like tetracycline) unless there is an obvious bacterial infection.

What size is this rubbermaid? An 11" GATF won't be much fun to move or keep contained in a small tub. Is there sufficient reason to move him? And is your "tub" already cycled?

 

[unknownuza13]

I agree with everything Andregurov said. My gatf has banged himself quite a few times in the past and has healed to 100% very quickly just by having pristine water conditions. I never treat my tanks with anything but aquarium salt. I wouldn't move him from his tank either as he might freak out even worse once you get him in the tub. When I was moving mine from a 120 to a 240 he immediately went belly up when I put him in the tub I was going to acclimate/move him to the bigger tank.

Keep the water clean he will heal in no time.

 

[West1]

Why do anything different than treat with water changes, heat, and salt? MelaFix may have its proponents (of which I am NOT one), but if you keep proper husbandry efforts & good, clean water I can't think of one reason to dump more stuff in.

There is no reason to treat with an antibiotic (like tetracycline) unless there is an obvious bacterial infection.

What size is this rubbermaid? An 11" GATF won't be much fun to move or keep contained in a small tub. Is there sufficient reason to move him? And is your "tub" already cycled?

Well... lets make a long story short. My 300 is in storage and I have a 50gl runing with 1 fish (a bottom dweller). I ran across a GATF and threw it in. My 300 will be coming out in about another 2-3 weeks (1st day re-modeling is complete enough to set it up). I am going to move the B. Dewller to another tank and use the water and filter from the 50gl into the rubbermaid (I think it is also 50gl, but a longer 50 that a deeper 50). N-e-ways the upper part of the goliath is in bad condition and realy freaked out the last 2 night badly!!
So.. here I am suffering from a bad desicion I made about a fish I have been trying to get my hands on. Was told and thought I could keep him in here for a little while, guess not. It has been 1 week since I got him. He was all good and calm when I got him (probly scared or something), after 4 days, I turned on the lights and took off the blanket and he was chill. Till yesterday morn.
Salt will help him as far as stress and he needs something more than salt to help heal. He has not eaten since I got him, now even more so that he is bashed up

Oh, yeah... knowing he is in a small tank, I do 30-40% daily changes
Water conditions are fine

 

[West1]

Here goes a painful pic of him yesterday mor.
I was told it is worst today, just have not had a chance to go since im at work


He went hay-wire in a split sec. When the pic was taken, before I turned on the light to take the pic, he was raming into the glass as to braek it

 

[andregurov]

I'm glad to hear that you have found a fish you have been looking for. Obviously, a 50 g tank for any 11" fish is hardly ideal, much less an open-water predator that has a known aquaria history of needing LARGE tanks. But my preaching will not help any now.

So, don't reinvent the wheel if you don't need to. Why not tape dark paper to the sides of the 50g, so the GATF can "see" there is something there, and then just leave him to treat with salt and water changes. Move the bottom dweller, not the GATF; trust me, it will be much easier.

I hope you got the GATF cheap, otherwise you should have gotten a large temporary tank/vat to hold him in the interim. Be certain to keep up the water changes and check your parameters daily. If they are good, you'll be astounded how quickly damage heals on these fish!

EDIT: After seeing that pic, that is very bad. I would recommend a contact antibiotic (NOT AN ANTIBIOTIC BATH!!!), but take great care in using it on that type of damage. I hope this turns out well for you, and perhaps the GATF's upper mouth will regrow. Now I would go sternly reprimand whoever told you keeping that fish in a 50g was a good idea.

 

[West1]

I'm glad to hear that you have found a fish you have been looking for. Obviously, a 50 g tank for any 11" fish is hardly ideal, much less an open-water predator that has a known aquaria history of needing LARGE tanks. But my preaching will not help any now.

So, don't reinvent the wheel if you don't need to. Why not tape dark paper to the sides of the 50g, so the GATF can "see" there is something there, and then just leave him to treat with salt and water changes. Move the bottom dweller, not the GATF; trust me, it will be much easier.

I hope you got the GATF cheap, otherwise you should have gotten a large temporary tank/vat to hold him in the interim. Be certain to keep up the water changes and check your parameters daily. If they are good, you'll be astounded how quickly damage heals on these fish!

EDIT: After seeing that pic, that is very bad. I would recommend a contact antibiotic (NOT AN ANTIBIOTIC BATH!!!), but take great care in using it on that type of damage. I hope this turns out well for you, and perhaps the GATF's upper mouth will regrow. Now I would go sternly reprimand whoever told you keeping that fish in a 50g was a good idea.

Thanks, Im going to do that. This is a $450.00 mistake/...
I think I'm going to tape the whole tank up with paper (cant be mad, just have to make the best of things...)

I appreciate your help

I will post an update pic tomorrow (kind of scared since I was told it was worst that this)

 

[cichlaguapote]

Wow that's really bad.. hope he heals up..