hopeless or not?

[black angel]

hi all
yesterday while at my local pet shop i found a full grown bristlenose and as it was quite dark i didnt get much of a look at him. i have been after a male for my female for a long time so snapped him up for £9.
i got a shock when i put him in my 16 gallon quarantine tank and saw that he has what i believe to be bacterial finrot. at first i thought maybe he had been fighting with another fish so left him quietly to recover. this morning i went to lok at him and he is in a mess. pics below can show you what i mean. his tail has fallen off and he has a white patch on his belly, a red ring of spots around his mouth and ragged red fins.
i keep the tank salted at .1% all the time any way, but wondered if i should raise it to either .2 or .3%.
i have anti bacterial meds by interpet but as i got him already sick i think it may be better just to keep the water clean and salted and hope for the best.
also, should i take him back to the shop to face certain death so i can get my money back or do i keep him and try to save him?
i think i would like to save him but i'm undecided. i know his chances are really poor but his chances of living at the store are 0.

he hasnt eaten anything either that i have seen.

 

[WILDER]

Or black angel poor thing he looks bad i'm afraid he might not be strong enough for the internal bacteria med, which looks like what he need to get him better, do the red spots around the mouth look like blood spots.

 

[black angel]

i didnt get a good look at the red under neath as he moved after i took the pic, but he has red raised spots in a line around the top of the mouth which you cant see.
if i take him back he will be killed but if i keep him i lose my money as he doesnt take back fish after they leave the shop, but i know for a fact that the fish left like that. will have to go argue with him tomorrow i suppose.
i could always take the pics in and negotiate with those instead of taking the fish back.
will go see if i can zoom in a bit on that pic.

 

[WILDER]

The fish does look like it's not going to make it, fight for your money black angel as that fish is bad, and that dosn't happen overnight, run this thread off on the computor. and show him.

 

[black angel]

ok will do. poor thing, i waited months for a bristlenose male and this happens, so unfair.

thanks for the help wilder.

 

[WILDER]

How's he doing black angel.

 

[Bloo]

Shucks that doesn't look good at all
How's he doing now ?

 

[black angel]

hes still alive. Cant really tell if he looks any better as i cant see underneath but i
went to the pet shop with the pics and i told him what had happened and he said *how did you do that?* i said *hang on a minute he left the shop like this and bacterial infections like that dont happen overnight*, so he looked at the pics and agreed he looked bad. i asked if he wanted him back to see if he wanted to try and get him better, but he said he looked hopeless and that he didnt want him back. But if i didnt want him then he would dispose of him, so i said well in that case i will keep him and then he offered to give me a replacement, so i picked a younger male.

so now the sick plec is still in quarantine with a salt level of .2% to help the wounds heal and not get anything like fungus. i'm going to add some bacterial meds to see if that might help, but every time i look in the tank i'm expecting the worst but he's still here. I put my hand in the tank earlier and lifted him up and he stuck to my hand with his mouth so he is still pretty strong.
i just want to give him a chance really.

 

[morgan]

He looks very poorly, I'm sorry. By the way Plecos don't tolerate salt do they? Or is it OK if it is an emergency?

 

[black angel]

i have used salt with bristlenose plecs before to a .3% solution. its only going to be for a short time and its now at .2% which should be enough to stop fungus.
thanks for the interest morgan.

 

[morgan]

Thanks, I just wondered in case my Pleco ever gets ill. Good luck.

 

[black angel]

he is still alive. the redness that i could see on the top of his mouth has faded and is now a white colour. his tail seems to be healing from what i could see but as he hides so well its really hard to see him. shame i cant see underneath him though.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi black angel

I'm glad you decided to keep the pleco. At least he will have a chance to recover.

Myxazin or Interpet's Anti-Finrot and Fungus medicine are both good medicines to treat bacterial infections with. I hope you will use one of them in addition to the salt since it looks like the infection has gone well past the beginning stages.

Good luck with him. I hope he recovers soon.

 

[WILDER]

How's he doing any improvement.

 

[black angel]

i am using interpet antibacterial but if it doesnt look any better after the course then will look at what you suggested inchworm, thanks.

wilder, i saw him eat some algae wafer tonight so thats a good sign. he is still red but theres more healing going on now too and i can see the start of his tail growing back.

still got hope