flesh eating disease on my cichlid????

[niqolas619]

Alright, on Monday, I noticed one of my fish had a small white-ish bump on his side, so I took him to my LFS to see what they thought it was. They couldn't exactly tell, so they gave me some Melafix (general antibacterial by API) and Coppersafe (external parasitic medicine). I quarantined the fish to a 10 gallon tank that day.

I look at my fish all the time, so if this was present much before Monday, it must have been in a far less conspicuous manner. The tank that he was in was a 55 gallon mbuna tank. I have plenty of filtration and do water changes about once a week - whenever the nitrates get about 15 or 20 ppm. My ammonia and nitrites are always at 0. This fish was one of three that I added about three weeks ago. All other fish in the tank look and act fine. I'm hoping I caught this (whatever it is) before it spread to my other fish.

Ok, so what is the deal with this fish? Have any of you ever seen this before or know what it is? I did a little research through google and came up with (possibly) flexibacter or columnaris. The fish seems much more subdued now - just kind of chillin out and moving pretty slowly. He does still try to eat, but a lot of times he spits the food back out right away.

Any and all help anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

ps - I've just been following the application instructions on the bottles - 5mL of the antibacterial everyday and 5 or 6 drops in a bag with the fish every 2 or 3 days.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q251/niqolas619/sick3.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q251/niqolas619/sick2.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q251/niqolas619/sick1.jpg

[Rue]

...not sure...but it does looks like a bacterial infection from what I can see...

Some people swear by Melafix and Pimafix and they're likely fine for easy to treat maladies...

...but you might want to go a bit more hardcore with this guy...heat the tank up to about 80F...add salt (1 tbsp/5 gallons) and use an antibiotic...

[niqolas619]

you might want to go a bit more hardcore with this guy...heat the tank up to about 80F...add salt (1 tbsp/5 gallons) and use an antibiotic...


Thanks for the response. I forgot to put in about the salt - I have put salt in the tank with him and the temp is about at 80 degrees.

This just sucks because the area looks terrible so I feel like he's not gonna make it, but he seems to still be cognizant of his surroundings and moving with ease...although at a little bit slower pace.

[cocoa_pleco]

ewwwwwwwwwww, looks painful.


could be a popped cyst too. definitely bacterial.

ive seen fish with literally half their face gone. one of my friends large cichlids got owned with a rock and he lost literally 40% of his left face, and his eye was still there. you could see nerves and everything. with melafix and pimafix, the fish is still around today and just a bit ugly.

i can give you some good advice though. if blood is expelled from the fishes wound, it is extremely extremely serious, and go into hardcore meds. it there is little to no bleeding, you can back off a bit, but still use meds. for your cichlid, id say go full on since its in his lower cavity.

[niqolas619]

ewwwwwwwwwww, looks painful.

That's what I thought. I really feel bad for the guy, though, because he seems oblivious to the situation. I hope he makes it, but right now, I'm doubtful.


i can give you some good advice though. if blood is expelled from the fishes wound, it is extremely extremely serious, and go into hardcore meds. it there is little to no bleeding, you can back off a bit, but still use meds. for your cichlid, id say go full on since its in his lower cavity.

There has been absolutely no blood, as far as I've seen. Do you think what I've been doing with the meds is sufficient, or should I do something else? The Melafix says to do a 20% water change after 7 days, should I do this more often? He is in a tank by himself, so whatever I do, it will just affect him.

Thanks for the help, cocoa.

[cocoa_pleco]

id say more often, since the bacteria will have trouble finding a life source in clean water.

no blood is a good sign. that means no major veins or arteries are cut depleting the fishes oxygen source. he has a good survival rate then

[jweintraub]

I went through the same thing with one of my Lombardoi's (Kenyi) a few months back and used nothing but StressCoat and constant water changes.

[Lady Hobbs]

I used Metafix on a bala sharks fungus and again on a large wound on an angelfish. Neither time it did squat. It may help for some things but for the things you really need to get after, go for the medication. Nip the problem in the bud before it gets any worse.

And do your water changes regularly. Don't just rely on what your nitrates read. Oxygen is depleted in tanks even when there are 0 nitrates and water changes will not only replace the oxygen, it will get rid of all that pee water they are swimming in, will get rid of free swimming ick and give you healthier fish.

I would also add tank salt.

[niqolas619]

I went through the same thing with one of my Lombardoi's (Kenyi) a few months back and used nothing but StressCoat and constant water changes.

Jeez - that's even nastier than what's on my fish. Did your fish act any differently during the time he had the sore? Now that he's recovered, how did the wound heal up? I assume there's at least a coloration difference, but did the wound completely close? How long did it take?

Sorry for the bombardment of questions, I'm just a little stressed about this guy. Between what you and cocoa said, I'm getting a little more confident that he could pull out of this. Thanks for the help.