When I got the fish it had been beat up really badly. The fins where all jagged or torn, I wasn't sure if it was fin rot or just nipped. The fish had a white cotton growth on its side in 2 places and a large blister on its bottom lip. I had already planned to put it in my hospital tank to try and get it better but I wasn't sure what to treat first. The fungus or the fin rot. I decided to no play around with the fungus cure or take the chance he had fin rot so I treated him with TC Tetracycline. The large fungus patches went away on the first dose of Tetracycline. The fish was very shy at the first treatment and was trying to eat but kept spitting the pellets. On the 2nd day of treatment he started to eat and ate 7 pellets in his first feeding. I would drop one in he was take it down spitting it a few times then ate it. I gave him another till the count went to 7 and he was no longer interested in food. I have been feeding him a pellet at a time since that day and now he is eating 2 at each feeding.
He is very active and is down right playful. He isn't bashful at all and if you approach the hospital tank he makes sure you see him by dancing back and forth and splashing water. Today I took him out of the tank to get a photo of his lip, after I put him back in the water he took his frustrations out on the heater by bullying it and trying to move it. He showed 0 sign of stress other then that. I have only had this fish for 6 days but he has so much personality I really want to get this guy better.
I have done 5 water changes in 6 days and the water is perfect. I have added salt after each change and today I got the Kanaplex in.
My question is should I use the Kanaplex or what? Has anyone seen something like this before? Is the blister or bump or what ever it is look like something you have seen? I am tempted to edge on the side of caution and use the Kanaplex but again I would like to know what others think. I can't express how different this Cichlid is from others I have, he is great and I don't want to take a step backward with him.
Here are some photo's of his progress.
Tail Rot
Before Treatment
After Treatment
I am still worried about the blister, lump or what ever you want to call it on his lip.
This thing is really hard to get a photo of but there it is out of the water and here are some shots of it in the water. Its not small when you conside his size as well. It covers 80% of the area under his bottom lip with 2 small white specs at the sides of his lips.
It tends to show up a lot better in the water then out and is lighter in color in the water. The problem is its on the very bottom of his bottom lip and you can only get a good view of it when he has his head up. This makes getting a good clear photo of it in the water impossible. Also video's don't show it well since he is dark purple and the light does not show on it since its under his bottom lip.
He also has a small white spec on his side over the back of his gill you can just make it out here.
