Wound not healing

[Johnywestn]

Hi all,

My Geophagus has had a wound that looks to be getting worse and worse. It had a really small scratch on the top of it's eye that eventually grew more and more. He's had this for over a month. I tried some Mela fix for a few days and it seems to be the same. Any idea on what is wrong with it why it doesn't heal? It's been eating fine and doesn't seem to be having any problems besides how it looks. Pleas help i don't want it to lose it's eye! it's in a 180 gallon tank with a few other predatory fish, but it's not being picked on, at least not that I can see.

 

[Lupin]

Isolate the fish in a hospital tank. Keep it barebottom and operate with a sponge filter or internal filter. Get a cotton and douse it with iodine solution. Apply carefully on the wound. I'm not a fan of Melafix. I would prefer the combination of iodine solution and clean water as a way to allow the wounds to heal quickly.

 

[Johnywestn]

Thanks. Right now I don't have a spare sick tank. Is there something I can do with it still in the tank it's in?

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

what you're doing in the main tank is not bad at all, but if you had a smaller steup you can control the dosages better and makes the more frequent massive WC's easier. About melafix, I used it a few years ago when my polleni was brutally injured in a scuffle with a dempsey, and the fish was at the point of near death. I used melafix and although I'm not crediting it for the recovery, the fish turned out ok, and is still alive today (see avatar)

 

[Sab_Fan]

having a QT tank - - say, a 10G - - really simplifies things. it saves money in the long run since you use fewer meds to treat a 10G than you would to comparably treat a 180G . . .

also, if only one fish needs treatment, treating the entire tank is a waste of meds (and $) and potentially detrimental to the main tank as a whole . . .