pH- 7.8
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate- 5ppm
Specific Gravity- 1.004
72 Gallon
Temp- 79 F
Feeding frozen bloodworms (nightly), oysters. snails (every three days)
Inhabitants- 3 2 inch GSPs
40% water weekly, (done last night)
Additives- prime, and flourish excel(daily)
(Fishless cycle about 8 months ago)
I cant put up pictures, sorry.
My larger GSP recently developed a relatively small red spot on his stomach. It has been a week now, and it seems to be getting worse. The ulcer is swelling, and red around the edges with white necrotic skin in the center. I dont have a quarantine tank for him, so I take a large Tupperware container, fill it with tank water, net the fish and put him inside while it floats in the tank. I dose him with melafix and binox (treatment for fungus and bacterial infections). I'm not sure im doing the right thing, I dont know if the "ulcer" is healing. Is the white part the healing skin?
Has anyone experienced this?
What should I do?
Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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lydia rose
- Puffer Fry
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bigfatfish
- Fahaka Puffer
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GSPs "Flash" & "Lionel" - in a 55 UK Gallon Bow front Marine Tank with sump. - Location (country): United Kingdom
- Location: Devon, UK
Re: Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
Could it be a bite from one of the others? All I can suggest is treat with melafix & keep your water in tip top condition. Don't think keeping him in a small container will do him any good - the ammonia etc will build up too quickly. If you aren't able to separate him properly, then treat the whole tank with melafix. Good water parameters is the best thing for healing. My new GSP had a massive bite wound on his side from the lfs, but now it has healed to a white scar. Another suggestion - perhaps a parasite under the skin? I think everyone will want pictures though!
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El Scorpio
- Fahaka Puffer
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Re: Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
I know what this is; my GSP I had two years ago had this exact same thing, unfortunately he died from it before I could figure out what it was. It's a bacterial infection in the skin; the ulcers themselves are a break through all layers of skin, the white skin in the center is necrotic (dead) tissue. The ulcers will swell due to inflammation of the healthy tissue around them. It's caused by opportunistic bacteria already in the water infecting skin that has been damaged, possibly by an ornament or rock or perhaps a bite from the other GSP.
This is a common disease and is a very treatable even in severe cases; it isn't a death sentence for your GSP.
Your water chemistry looks okay; the pH is perhaps a bit low for GSP's but as long as it is constant it shouldn't be a problem. Could use more salt too, but worry about that later. Do NOT isolate the affected fish, treat the whole tank. Binox is an antibiotic so continue that treatment. If it doesn't work, see if you can find some KanaPlex by Seachem. It's a bit tricky to find so you might have to order it, but this stuff is awesome; I've brought back bettas with dropsy infections back from the brink of death with it. It's like magic pixie dust for fish, I kid you not.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
This is a common disease and is a very treatable even in severe cases; it isn't a death sentence for your GSP.
Your water chemistry looks okay; the pH is perhaps a bit low for GSP's but as long as it is constant it shouldn't be a problem. Could use more salt too, but worry about that later. Do NOT isolate the affected fish, treat the whole tank. Binox is an antibiotic so continue that treatment. If it doesn't work, see if you can find some KanaPlex by Seachem. It's a bit tricky to find so you might have to order it, but this stuff is awesome; I've brought back bettas with dropsy infections back from the brink of death with it. It's like magic pixie dust for fish, I kid you not.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
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J-P
- Former Staff Member
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Re: Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
becareful with antibiotics. Research carefully because they can crash your biofilter.
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
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El Scorpio
- Fahaka Puffer
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Re: Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
+1 to JP, indeed many antibiotics can kill the beneficial bacteria in your tank and cause an ammonia spike, which in turn can cause a pH crash. A lot of people say that erythromycin is bad about that.
This is another reason why I like KanaPlex so much, the preferred method of treatment is to soak it in the fish's food. Even though Seachem swears up and down that KanaPlex won't harm your biofilter, it's still much safer and effective to soak the stuff in the fish's food then feed it to him.
This is another reason why I like KanaPlex so much, the preferred method of treatment is to soak it in the fish's food. Even though Seachem swears up and down that KanaPlex won't harm your biofilter, it's still much safer and effective to soak the stuff in the fish's food then feed it to him.
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J-P
- Former Staff Member
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Re: Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
yea.. they said that about Paraguard too. Guess what happened?
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
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El Scorpio
- Fahaka Puffer
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Re: Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
It worked as advertised by the manufacturer without any adverse effects?J-P wrote:yea.. they said that about Paraguard too. Guess what happened?
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
Sounds like not.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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J-P
- Former Staff Member
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Re: Ulcer on my GSP! Plz help!
LOL!! of course not. Tank crashed, and ended up cycling it again.
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZR55G ... pqlgec1A2Q