Amonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-5
pH-8
10 gallon tank
penguin filter
1 fish 2 inches long
Salt, prazi, and prime have been added
Feed it peas and omega sinking pellets


Today I noticed a wery light yellow mushy skin type thing on Teresa's tail. It is holding her two tails together at the top.
What is it? What do I do?
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn71/cg.../teresatail.jpg

little peanut I can't diagnose your fish ..but I just wanted to say good job at noticing your fishes tail.....and how you answered the questions in the white box and your picture diagram is amazing !!!..good work kiddo very informative

Hi LP. Great work on giving us all the details, QTing your fish + a wonderful pic as Hi-D says. It helps so much.

It looks like this/these may be the beginning of a little bacterial cyst or sores. Hopefully the salt will take care of these. If you see any red in the area at all you should post back for more advice

Thanks Trinket

The light yellowish mushy skin type thing on her tail looks like it is getting bigger. We havn't seen any red. How long will it take to go away? Should it be getting bigger?

Well no little peanut, it shouldn't be getting bigger...if the salt is not keeping it in check you may be wise to dab it with a topical application of something like Bio-bandage gel. It would mean lifting the fish above the tank out of the water for 30 seconds carefully while Mom dabs on a bit of gel. Bio-bandage is especially good for bacterial cysts on the tail as there is no danger of any meds getting in the eyes or gills. Of course you do need 2 people to try this.

Topical applications are compatible with all water born meds so you can replace the fish safely in the prazi and salt with the waterproof antibiotic gel on.

OK My mom will go to the store well I am at school to buy it, and she will help put it on

Great and good luck! Stay calm and you'll do fine

Oh and I have just noticed someone called you has a birthday today !! YAY

Hi Little Peanut!

Best of luck with Teresa! I hope she recovers soon!

And Happy Birthday!!! Today is my birthday, too!!! But you're a bit younger than me!!

I hope you have a great one!!!!

Debbie

This is Little Peanut's mom replying. I've looked locally for bio-bandage, or similar, but can't find it. Looks like I'll have to order it online, but it could take up to a week to get here. Is there anything else I could try?

Oh, and happy birthday Debbie! Cake and presents for us tonight. Hope you get some too!

You might be able to dab it with a cotton swab dipped in some hydrogen peroxide, but let's wait for a confirmation from Trinket or someone who knows for sure.

Enjoy the party! I hope Little Peanut gets everything she asked for!

Debbie

Yes exactly Debs. HP will do fine. It's a disinfectant-wipe out all nasties- application that will do. The bio-bandage contains the added antibiotic which seeps into the surrounding area and so has slightly longer lasting healing properties perhaps but HP is fine.
Biobandage is hard to find, I was very lucky to have someone very kind send me some recently... useful stuff

Thanks for all the advice, Debbie and Trinket! I have ordered the Bio-Bandage online, but we may try swabbing some HP on her tail this afternoon.

Teresa is doing fine otherwise, swimming and eating like a goldfish. She terrorized some broccoli a couple of days ago, and even caught some sinking pellets before they hit the bottom of the tank this morning.

Little Peanut is plotting how to get more fish with her birthday money. She has already made space in her room for more tanks!

[quote name='cometgirl' date='Apr 15 2008, 04:57 AM' post='762614']
Thanks for all the advice, Debbie and Trinket! I have ordered the Bio-Bandage online, but we may try swabbing some HP on her tail this afternoon.

Teresa is doing fine otherwise, swimming and eating like a goldfish. She terrorized some broccoli a couple of days ago, and even caught some sinking pellets before they hit the bottom of the tank this morning.

Little Peanut is plotting how to get more fish with her birthday money. She has already made space in her room for more tanks!



[/quote

aww a spudding goldfish addict in the making ..ecspecially when you plot ...and make room for more tanks

I'm glad that the Little Peanut had a great birthday!
Plotting for more goldfish and even making room! Wow! What a way to get kids to clean their rooms!!
Good to hear that Teresa is doing so well!!





Debbie

We applied the Hydrogen peroxide to Teresa's Tail.

Good work!!

I was looking at Teresa this morning, and her tail seems to be getting worse. I've tried to take another photo. You can see it here:

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn71/cg...teresatail2.jpg

Her tail seems to be coming apart at the top where the fuzzy growth is. Sorry it isn't really clear, but you can kind of see how the top of her tail is now folded down. There is a second fuzzy growth at the bottom of her tail.

The bio-bandage arrives Friday, and we tried swabbing with HP yesterday, but it looks worse today, if anything.

She is eating fine, the water parameters are all fine. We are still salting to .3% and adding prazi every 3-4 days. There is no redness that I can see on her tail.

Hmm. In this pic it is looking fuzzy isn't it? In the original pic it looked more like the beginning of a small blister type thing but here it definitely looks more fuzzy and fungal doesn't it.

HP isn't much good for that. Biobandage may be if its bacterial. These kind of fuzzy spots can be either fungal or bacterial (also one parasite causes these, but its killed in salt so you have that covered). Fungal ones cannot be helped much except by curing the original primary problem (fungus is always secondary) so the fish can heal itself. Sometimes you can gently rub off a loose fungus with your fingers, not always though.

If it was a flex infection (bacterial) she would be bottom sitting or showing signs of stress.

I would still focus on the salt and prazi regime for now. She is eating well and behaving good so I think it may be "worse before better" and she needs a little more time. Salt does also help slough off mild fungus.

OK we will wait and keep an eye on it
Thanks Trinket

Parts of Teresa's tail and front fins are turning red . Her left tail seems to be shrinking or she is crumpling it up. She is swimming faster and more franticly than usual.It also looks like she is rubbing against the few things in her tank. There also seems to be a red streak on her tail. She has also lost a few scales. What do I do?

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn71/cg...otos/Ttail1.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn71/cg...otos/Ttail2.jpg

Teresa's tail is still looks red. Should I worry?

Can you get some antibacterial food into her asap?

The red indicates she is struggling with the bacteria and it is getting the better of her.
Since speed is of essence, get anything you can find. Jungle anti-bacterial food is sold in most stores and is very good.

Don't worry, the prazi and salt are helping her and that must be continued. Check your water is totally ammonia /nitrite free every day as any tiny amount of ammonia will aggravate her condition a lot.

We will try to find some anti bacterial food to give her

Should I put the biobandige on her tail when it comes today?

Absolutely

But only once. Remember its stressful leaving the water and that stress must be kept as low as poss to help her fight this.

OK
My mom ussaly has a little watter cuped in her hands when I put the stuff on her. Pluss she stays calm in small amounts of water even when she can't swim around.

That sounds good.
You are doing great with her. New fish almost always come needing fixing up a bit

My mom feed Teresa the anti bactirial food, and her red is going away.

Good job. Here's hoping for a complete recovery soon then

We feed Teresa the anti bacterial food again and the only red is a few spots on her tail

That's great news Little peanut. Did you also apply the biobandage once?

We haven't done it yet but we will after my mom finishes her second cup of tea

We put the bio bandage on Teresa.

Great stuff. How is the little trouper today ?

She is doing great . Her tail looks like it is ripping a bit at the top. The yellow stuff is still there but it is going away. She is swiming around faster than before and eating very well. We have been doing the prazi for a week now. Should we stop the prazi now

Here is some photos

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn71/cg...otos/TTail4.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn71/cg...otos/Ttail3.jpg

She looks a speedy little thing for sure and much better. It will be nice to see that tail healed up 100% and her top dorsal fin standing upright again..all in good time.

You can take a 3 or 4 day break from prazi now after the first 4 days. You need a 3-4 days with & 4 days without routine X3 for best results with that. Its efficiency wears out after 4 days max usually you see and a short break allows for any larval forms to re-emerge and be zapped by the next 4 day course

OK I will take a 3 or 4 day brake from the prazi

The bacterial food says to give it for 5 - 10 days should we stop at five or go to ten?

It depends on how he's doing. Go for five days and see how things are.

Debbie

Mom here. Little Peanut has finally been convinced to go to bed.

Thanks Debbie, we will see how she is after the 5 days.

She's gone to bed? But Finding Nemo isn't over yet!! Just a few more minutes Mom, please???

Sweet Dreams, Little Peanut!!

Debbie

LOL

We have now fed her the anti bacterial food for ten days. Her tail is still disentigrating, but the fungas has gone away. There is still a bit of red on her tail where it is tearing.

I think if your water is good and you run the prazi for 3 times, with the breaks -that tail will heal up nicely. It can take a very long time. Months even. I would keep the salt at 0.1% as well. There have been a few things she has been dealing with in combination which is going to slow down the overall healing time. Be patient. Check your water daily and make sure there is no ammonia or nitrites which delay and can stop healing. pH must be stable too.

Thanks for all your help, Trinket. We are still fairly new at fish keeping, so worry we are doing the wrong thing.

We will keep her water pristine, bring the salt down from .3% to .1%, and be patient.

I'm confident she is doing better then when we first bought her, since I took lots of photos of her tail in the beginning, and now she swims too fast for me to get a good shot!

Just an update. I am trying to be patient. Teresa is definitely perkier than she was, but her tail still seems to be deteriorating. I have another picture here which shows a new fuzzy white spot on the other side of her tail. There also seems to be white fuzzy lines going across her tail, and even on her anal fins now. That is how the last thing started, before her tail just ripped away.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn71/cg...sa/moretail.jpg

We did 10 days of the Jungle antibacterial food, and three weeks of salt at .3%. Also we have done almost a month of PraziPro treatments with breaks. I now have the salt at .1%. She is eating fine, but that top fin is still a bit clamped.

Any body there?

Yes I'm so sorry for the delay. I'm here. She doesn't look too bad. Her body is thickening out nicely and she has a very strong color to her which means good immunity. How are your water params- any tweaks of ammonia or nitrites can produce these white patchy areas and finrot.

All good?

When I tested yesterday, water was at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0-5 nitrate.

However, we do have a problem with water quality out of the tap. The nitrites out of the tap are running at between 1.0 and 2.0. I have a tub and extra filter where I treat the tap water with a nitra-zorb pouch before I add it to the tank. We did a 6 gallon water change on her tank a couple of days ago, and the new water still had between .25 and .5 nitrites. I added some extra Prime to that water, and the nitrites were back to 0 within 24 hours.

We also rinsed the filter out in the old tank water, and there seemed to be lots of pale green algae-ish looking stuff coming off the floss we have in there. Then when I started the filter back up again, the water turned really cloudy. I added some extra floss to the filter, and that cloudiness cleared up within an hour.

I guess I am going to have to pre-treat the water longer, and keep recharging the nitra-zorb to get that water perfect before I add it.

Thanks again for all your help. We really want to do all the right things for our fish this time. I swear I learn at least three new things from this list every day!