Fish ulcer, can anyone give advice

[H20lover99]

Fish ulcer on side of body. Eating yes pooping yes. I've done doxycycline treatment for fish. Along with salt baths. Dosent appear to be acting any different maybe less active but is still aggressive towards other fish. Just a slight activity difference is all. Any suggestions on this. Please do not ask questions like wat are your water parameters lol. I change the water at least once a month or 3 weeks. Recently I change it once a week since hes sick. About 30%. Just give me the most common denominator here cuz that's usually what it is. One thing I have noticed is bc of the aggression I have to watch the ornaments I used (sharpness) I did remove a new ornament I put in there recently thinking it would be okay but since then I have removed it.

 

[Colin_T]

How long has it had the sore for?
What other fish are in the tank?

If you used doxycycline in the aquarium, you probably wiped out the beneficial filter bacteria so you need to monitor ammonia and nitrite levels for the next month.

If you have any ammonia or nitrite in the water, or the nitrates are high it will make it harder to treat the problem. Ammonia and nitrite need to be 0ppm and nitrate needs to be less than 20ppm.

You need to do water changes more often and bigger water changes wouldn't hurt (50-75% each week or at least once every 2 weeks). You need to gravel clean the substrate every time you do a water change (not sure if you do).

What sort of filter is on the aquarium?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

Is there carbon in the filter?
If yes, it will remove the medication you used so that won't be able to help the fish.

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You can try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean every day for a week and see if it helps. You should also wipe the glass down and clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last week. If it doesn't help you will probably need to treat the fish in a separate container that has no gravel in. A general broad spectrum liquid medication would be the first choice rather than an antibiotic. However, if you remove the fish for a few weeks to treat and then put it back in the main display tank, it could get attacked by other cichlids (assuming there are more in there) due to the change in territories in the tank.

 

[H20lover99]

Ahh I'd say about 3 weeks now. And all of thoses things are good. I do the gravel and the filter things. It's a 20 gallon tank with 2 convict cichlids only. Please dont bash me. I know it's not ideal. But I already have a hospital tank in use from another fish I permanently displaced so the only other option there would be is to get more tanks and that's a no or give one to someone else who I know wont care for them like I do. Ppl treat fish like crap. So I'm gonna treat them with a general cure. I'm thinking wasting disease. I dont like the sound of that. Lol like are you wasting away cuz I'm not giving you enough attention!!! I want my fish to have happy lives lol

 

[Colin_T]

You should do a 75% water change each week due to the volume of water.

An established filter should be cleaned at least once a month.

Wasting disease (Fish TB) doesn't normally produce sores in that area. It's more likely to be a wound that isn't healing due to a dirty environment allowing re-infection or a drug resistant bacteria. Try the broad spectrum medication and doing some more water changes and see if it helps.

 

[Lcc86]

Ahh I'd say about 3 weeks now. And all of thoses things are good. I do the gravel and the filter things. It's a 20 gallon tank with 2 convict cichlids only. Please dont bash me. I know it's not ideal. But I already have a hospital tank in use from another fish I permanently displaced so the only other option there would be is to get more tanks and that's a no or give one to someone else who I know wont care for them like I do. Ppl treat fish like crap. So I'm gonna treat them with a general cure. I'm thinking wasting disease. I dont like the sound of that. Lol like are you wasting away cuz I'm not giving you enough attention!!! I want my fish to have happy lives lol

Big regular water changes will help them have happy lives, especially as your tank is on the smaller side so more susceptible to swings in parameters. People only ask questions in order to be better able to help you help your fish, there's lots of knowledgeable people here (not me lol) who can assist!

 

[H20lover99]

You should do a 75% water change each week due to the volume of water.

An established filter should be cleaned at least once a month.

Wasting disease (Fish TB) doesn't normally produce sores in that area. It's more likely to be a wound that isn't healing due to a dirty environment allowing re-infection or a drug resistant bacteria. Try the broad spectrum medication and doing some more water changes and see if it helps.

The broad spectrum med? Is that also the api cardboard container products? Is that how its labeled? (Broad spectrum) ? Also, my tank is well established with bacteria. I recently just took the filter out and just left it out getting ready to dose the tank. I already put some meds in there last night. I think it's called general cure api. Wonder if that the same thing. But he looks a little worse today I'll send a photo. What about salt baths? And im just treating both fish in there only 2.

 

[H20lover99]

Fish ulcer on side of body. Eating yes pooping yes. I've done doxycycline treatment for fish. Along with salt baths. Dosent appear to be acting any different maybe less active but is still aggressive towards other fish. Just a slight activity difference is all. Any suggestions on this. Please do not ask questions like wat are your water parameters lol. I change the water at least once a month or 3 weeks. Recently I change it once a week since hes sick. About 30%. Just give me the most common denominator here cuz that's usually what it is. One thing I have noticed is bc of the aggression I have to watch the ornaments I used (sharpness) I did remove a new ornament I put in there recently thinking it would be okay but since then I have removed i

The broad spectrum med? Is that also the api cardboard container products? Is that how its labeled? (Broad spectrum) ? Also, my tank is well established with bacteria. I recently just took the filter out and just left it out getting ready to dose the tank. I already put some meds in there last night. I think it's called general cure api. Wonder if that the same thing. But he looks a little worse today I'll send a photo. What about salt baths? And im just treating both fish in there only 2.

Big regular water changes will help them have happy lives, especially as your tank is on the smaller side so more susceptible to swings in parameters. People only ask questions in order to be better able to help you help your fish, there's lots of knowledgeable people here (not me lol) who can assist!

Brandeeloraemarol okay update everyone. I just got home. my fish looks better he now looks like the orginal photo I sent of him, Aka I woke up last night he looked worse. Unfortunately I feel bad for just throwing meds at them. But I worry more about his issue then him being resist to all theses drugs. The general cure must have worked a little I stopped at petsmart and they were out of it so I just threw in some tetra brand broad spectrum tablets. Fingers crossed. Also the box says just use tablets for 5 days once a day then wait a day to do a water change. That sound good? Also give advice on salt baths too plz

 

[Colin_T]

A broad spectrum medication is one that treats bacteria, fungus and protozoan infections. Anything that treats bacteria and fungus should do the job.

API General Cure contains Praziquantel and Metronidazole and probably won't do anything for this.
Praziquantel treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
Metronidazole treats internal bacteria and protozoan infections.

The filter should be left in the aquarium during treatment but remove the carbon from it so the carbon doesn't remove the medication. If you use a medication that wipes out beneficial filter bacteria, you can remove the filter media/ materials from the filter and put them in a bucket of tank water until treatment s over. Then put the media back in the filter. However, the filter should remain running during treatment so you don't get ammonia or nitrite readings and to help circulate the water. It's also a good idea to increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using medications or salt because they reduce the oxygen level in the water.

I don't know about the Tetra medication. Just follow the directions on the packet.

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Don't give fish salt baths. It stresses them out chasing them, catching them, and putting them in a container with salt water. Then catching them out and putting them back in the main tank, which has the pathogens in.

If you want to use salt, add it directly to the main tank so the entire tank gets salt. You can use salt with medications.

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for 2 weeks.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water (2 litres or 1/2 gallon) and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt water over a couple of minutes.

 

[plebian]

Ahh I'd say about 3 weeks now. And all of thoses things are good. I do the gravel and the filter things. It's a 20 gallon tank with 2 convict cichlids only. Please dont bash me. I know it's not ideal. But I already have a hospital tank in use from another fish I permanently displaced so the only other option there would be is to get more tanks and that's a no or give one to someone else who I know wont care for them like I do. Ppl treat fish like crap. So I'm gonna treat them with a general cure. I'm thinking wasting disease. I dont like the sound of that. Lol like are you wasting away cuz I'm not giving you enough attention!!! I want my fish to have happy lives lol

I want my fish to have happy lives lol

But you keep two convicts in a 20 gallon? Seriously?

 

[H20lover99]

My response to this would be to long and the effort to respond is lacking.