wounded discus

[eds]

my white diamond that i purchased three weeks ago has a wound. im not sure how it occured. it looks almost like an ulcer, about 4mm in diametre. in the last two hours stringy white stuff is threading away from around the wound site and off his fins. not sure if this is slime coat. just wondering what i should do. ive been advised to use melafix and another has said to use 1 teaspoon of salt per 40l. what else could i do, or any other suggestions?

[Merrilyn]

Hi Eds, I don't like melafix on discus at all. It's an excellent product for most fish, but I just don't like it on discus.

Try the salt treatment. It could help.

Any chance of a pic of that wound. It sounds like it could be bacterial. Is there a red ring around the wound, or any red streaks?

[Woll]

hi ladyred, there is some red around the area and down some of the tail fin. The wound looks more like a patch of white mould or something. Thier is also some pale white stuff coming off him( we can only see that because he like to swim under the filter return and the wsmall bubbles have got stuck to it). we have isolated him but we dont know what to treat him with. Thanks, Woll.

[Merrilyn]

I'd still like to see a pic if possible. But it does sound at least like a bacteria has infected the wound. Do you have any antibiotics. Like tetracycline or Metro. If not, then use a salt treatment, but increase the dose to 2 teaspoons of salt per 40 litres of water, till you can get tetracycline from the fish shop tomorrow.

[Woll]

i have some metrogyl tablets, they are 200mg tablets, at what rate would i use them at? and how often/how long should he be treated? Should i use the salt treatment aswell? Thanks

i wont be able to get a pic up here until late sunday night or monday arvo.

[Merrilyn]

Try it at 250 mg per 40 litres of tank water. Repeat dose 12 hourly with a 30% water change before each new dose.

Metro has a half life of 8 hours, so dose the whole tank each time, not just the new water.

[Woll]

he didnt make it :( He died on sunday morning, woke up and found him hiding in the corner:(

[Merrilyn]

Sorry to hear that Woll. It's hard to lose a fish. :(

[Woll]

yeah, its sad, still not 100% sure what killed him. I will have to start looking for another white diamond to replace him now... Will be hard, was a very nice fish and i havent seen many good shaped white diamonds.
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