helfrich w/ hole

[youareafever]

im so sad...

today i was looking at my helfrich and noticed something bad....it has a hole on the left side of its body!

something must have taken a swipe at it or something because it appeared over night . good thing though is its still swimming around normally, breathing normally and eating normally, but even at that i'm worried an infection may settle in.

should i leave my helfich in the tank and let it heal on its own or put it in QT and treat it with maybe an antibiotic like maracyn II? im not sure what will be good for it.

here are some images.

 

[returnofsid]

WOW!! What else is in the tank? I'd be looking for a Mantis Shrimp. If you have a QT tank ready, I'd move it. The less stress it has from fellow tankmates, the better. With a wound like that, I wouldn't be surprised if other fish start picking on it.

As for antibiotics or wound treatments, I think I'd look at Melafix.

You definitely put this in the right forum. Hope Lee chimes in quick. He'll have much better advice than me.

 

[leebca]

Like so many things in this hobby, the answer is, "It depends."

If the fish is getting the proper nutrition, is in high quality water, is in a great environment, and the injury is not a result of some other marine life form, then the fish will heal on its own where it is.

If any of the above is 'off' or doesn't apply, the fish should be moved and given an antibiotic treatment. A topical antibiotic like NITROFURAZONE (in Aquatronics’ Furacyn, in Spectrogram), would be my choice.

 

[youareafever]

^thanks for your advice guys, i checked this morning and my helfrich is still swimming around normally and breathing normally too. im almost 100% positive also that there are no mantis shrimp in my tank, though i do have a couple of crabs....one red mithrix and a hitchhicker rock crab i've been meaning to get out for the past couple of months.

as for its tank mates, i dont think i have anything to aggressive...
potters angel
2 bangaii cardinals
2 lyretail anthias
green mandarin
false perc
and kole tang

i think i will leave him in the tank for now and use vitamin C as a immune booster in its food. his wound seems some what smaller today. thanks for you help again.

 

[Sascha D]

Yeah I doubt it was anything in your tank as well. It could be he got startled and impaled himself on a rock, but to me it looks to be the start of an ulcer.

 

[youareafever]

i see u are from honolulu. you should check out www.reefhawaii.com

 

[Sascha D]

Thanks I'll keep it in mind

Truthfully I only have the attention span for one forum though.

 

[youareafever]

just to update, the helfrich has healed completely maybe thanks to supplementing vitamin C. but i am very happy it pulled through.

 

[leebca]

The ability of a fish to heal itself is very good, especially when provided proper nutrition. I can assure you that Vitamin C was not the reason for the fish to heal itself. It takes a lot more than Vitamin C.