# Will My XIngu Heal??



## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

The ammonia burn is really starting to show. I dont know if my xingu will make it right now







. In the pix, basically all the skin below the white line on the right side of his body is burned really bad







. Its all white and his eyes are still sunken in. I added some Melafix and aquarium salt today. Do you guys think he'll recover completely? Will he even survive? Is there anything else I can add to help him out?

Xingu's Ammonia Burns


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## WebHostExpert (Jan 16, 2003)

use maracyn, copper safe, and salt.
double dose of maracyn the first day, reg dose everyday after that for 5 days not including the first day.
Regular dose of copper safe.
Regular dose of aquario salt.

change 30% of the water after 3 days. replace the salt that was taken out by the water change. do another water change after the six days at 30%
up the temp to 82F.

and yes he will make it.


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## RhomZilla (Feb 12, 2003)

MAD piranhas said:


> use maracyn, copper safe, and salt.
> double dose of maracyn the first day, reg dose everyday after that for 5 days not including the first day.
> Regular dose of copper safe.
> Regular dose of aquario salt.
> ...










I was gonna say the same thing, but he beat me to it.


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## oburi (Jul 11, 2003)

dude is there a hook still in your rhoms mouth...







?

it kinda looks like it in that first pic, hope he heals up.

Oburi


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## Vampor (Feb 15, 2003)

keeping my fingers crossed...


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

He doesnt look bad to me at all. I would just use salt at 1 tbl spoon per 5 gallons and do 5% daily water changes.


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

Sunken in eyes means your fish is too skinny. Boost up the feeding. The burnt body will heal. Depending on how deep the burn is, sometime you wont get back the true colors but and you will have a blck spot. Then again rhoms are black so


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

Whoa!!! There is no reason to mix meds and no reason to use CopperSafe because the ailment is ammonia burn and NOT a parasitic infestation. Keep up with the water changes and add salt. Monitor for secondary bacterial infection and if it doesn't show any improvements in a week, then I would resort to antibiotics. It doesn't look too bad.


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

On a additional note, most medicines out there are not fit for piranhas. The best solution is clean water and 1tsp/3g. If worse comes to worse, penicellian and tetracycline will have to do. It will kill all bateria (good and bad) making your tank sterile.


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

Thnx everyone. I was really worried cause it seems like his fin on his right side is paralyzed. Its really badly shredded and he doesnt move it at all and only moving the left fin to swim. This morning however, I caught a glimpse of him finally exploring the tank a little bit. For the past 2 days he's been pretty much hiding. Hopefully he will start eating soon. I bought some large feeder goldfish for him and the idiot didnt tell me they had ich. I didnt see it till I threw them in the tank and saw them covered in ich so I scooped them out asap







. Now I gotta go get more from another pet store. Hopefully he'll eat cause he's super skinny at the moment


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

My 2 cents worth......DonH is right, but looking over the photos, bacterial columnaris comes to mind. DonH any opinions?


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

hastatus said:


> My 2 cents worth......DonH is right, but looking over the photos, bacterial columnaris comes to mind. DonH any opinions?


I agree... The tattered pectoral fins can be a sign of columnaris. If the body wounds start to change to a yellowish tinge, then it's without a doubt a columnaris bacterial infection. Saprolegnia (true fungal infection) also comes to mind. Both are very opportunistic and will invade any open wound left by ammonia burn.

There was a good pic of a rhom with a pretty bad columnaris infection on the pfish board. It was in the buy/sell thread authored by chomper (I think) regarding the rhom he purchased from Jon Rare. I tried to link to it but for some reason the site is down.

Fortunately, if caught early, both are easily treated with salt at treatment levels and good, clean water.


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

thnx again everyone. Donh, will 1 table spoon of salt per 5 gallons of water be too much salt? how much salt should I put in? So far im putting in 1 table spoon for 10 gallons of water and using Melafix. Is this ok?


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

1 tsp/gallon (3 tsp = 1 tbsp) a day for 3 days. If you have a 100 gallon tank, than one pound of salt each day for 3 days. Do a 20-30% water change every 2-3 days and replace the amount of salt lost. Leave the salt in there for two weeks. Good luck. I have never used Melafix so I can't comment on its use.


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

Thank you soooo much DonH. I just added more salt in the tank and added some novaqua just in case. Im going to do another water change tomorrow. Hopefully he heals up. His side is even more white at the moment and looks as if it'll peel off. And the wierd thing is, its covered in many tiny bubbles. And to make things worst, those stupid lil feeder goldfish are nibbling on his wounds. I cant wait till he recovers and nibble back


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

> Kain Posted on Sep 6 2003, 06:10 AM
> Thank you soooo much DonH. I just added more salt in the tank and added some novaqua just in case. Im going to do another water change tomorrow. Hopefully he heals up. His side is even more white at the moment and looks as if it'll peel off. And the wierd thing is, its covered in many tiny bubbles. And to make things worst, those stupid lil feeder goldfish are nibbling on his wounds. I cant wait till he recovers and nibble back


 Get rid of those feeders, they will cause more infection and they are very likely the source of your p's disease problems.


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

Damn I didnt know. I'll fish them out immediately Frank. How about my misquito fishes? I got them in there for weeks now. There's about a dozen of them. And also a few babies. And one more thing Frank, how long will my rhom survive without food. He's so skinny right now im more afraid of him dying from starvation then from an infection. He doesnt look like he's going to eat anytime soon either. Thanks for your time Frank. I really appreciate it


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

> Kain Posted on Sep 6 2003, 06:18 AM
> Damn I didnt know. I'll fish them out immediately Frank. How about my misquito fishes? I got them in there for weeks now. There's about a dozen of them. And also a few babies. And one more thing Frank, how long will my rhom survive without food. He's so skinny right now im more afraid of him dying from starvation then from an infection. He doesnt look like he's going to eat anytime soon either


You have 2 of the worst carriers of parasites and diseases in your tank. Mosquito fish are notorious for trematodes.....Goldfish, plenty of horror stories on them well validated.

I'm going to be brutally honest with you.....I'm not sure your rhomb will make it if those photos are any indication. My suggestion to you is follow DONH recommendations very carefully and to the letter. Give him complete reports on what you see and any water readings you can take. Photos are a good source to record what is happening.

Seeing your rhomb, it appears you have done more to stress it than help it. Glad you are taking out feeders. But this is a learning process for you and everyone here too. Good luck.


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

Thnx Frank. I'll do a water change in the morning and keep you and DonH updated as to the condition of the rhom. It looks as if the white film of the ammonia burn is slowly peeling off. The rhom is starting to swim around a bit but not very much. He would swim from under one piece of driftwood to the other. I think i'll leave the lights off for the night to reduce the stress level as much as possible. THe misquito fishes has been in my tank for quite some time and they seem pretty healthy so im not sure if they're carrying any diseases like the new feeder goldfishes that I had in there. I scooped out all the feeders and added a bit of novaqua again just in case. Thnx again for your advice Frank


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

Unfortunately, my rhom passed away this morning. Frank you are right yet again about the bacterial infection. The patch on him turned yellowish and along it was blood streaks. It spread so fast the top hump on his head was covered by this morning. He was going belly up and doing spirals most of the night. Dang Frank, why must you be right all da time??!!







Its ok though, I just got off the phone with Ash. I filed a dispute thing at airborne and explain to them the story. The lady says she'll pay me back 125 for the fish, 30 for the medication I spent on it and additional for shipping adding to a total of 200. They'll send ash the money and the good news is, He just got in another diamond xingu this time at 9"!!!! And fellas, this one is mine too! Hopefully we can get it through fed ex this time. Thnx alot for your time and help Frank and DonH. I learned about columnaris for the 1st time here and now I know how to tell when a fish has it. Like you said earlier Frank, this is a learning process for us all and I'll be sure I wont make the same mistakes again. Thnx again to everyone that helped and may this fish


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

By the way here's pix of him








http://community.webshots.com/album/89171915RmyaaN
Im truly amazed at how fast you caught on to the infection just by the look of the fins Frank. Even in death, the eyes on this guy is blood red. Hopefully the new one looks just as good.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

Sorry to hear that it didn't pull through.







The infection spread very quickly. Those post mortem pics look a lot worse than your initial pics. Good eye Frank!


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

The part of the body was the same just the 1st pix was harder when he was under the wood and I cant seem to get the picture of it. I tried flash and it was a glare and I tried no flash but it was too dark. It just got worst in the sense that it looked as if it was going to peel off. Thnx again DonH. Im keepin my fingers crossed at this point. Hopefully the new one has better luck.


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

Certainly bacterial infections spread like wildfire and not uncommon for mortality to strike within 48-72 hours. Sorry for your loss.


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

its ok Frank. Ive learned a great deal from this experience and now I know what to look for and what actions to take in case anything like this happens again in the future. THanks again to everyone that helped and especially to you Frank and Donh.


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## tecknik (Jul 18, 2003)

:rock: How's your xingu doing so far?


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

its dead tecknik







Im getting another one from Ash though. Talk about bad luck. I think Im cursed when it comes to gettin xingu. This time around, Im actually getting 2 just in case. One from Ash and a smaller one from Brian. If they both arrive doa, its time for me to call it quits


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## tecknik (Jul 18, 2003)

Dang, he's dead?







Sorry to hear... and that was supposed to be your birthday gift to yourself... Well, maybe its time to go all Pygo now.







Hope everything works out for you though...


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## Kain (Mar 13, 2003)

yea I know, so much for my own bday gift







Good thing Ash is hookin me up with another. I dont think Im gonna go all pygo anytime soon though. Thing with them is that you need large tanks. Having a 55 is just not enough for a good pygo shoal imo. Until I get a larger tank, Imma stick with serras for the time being. By the way, hows my old spilo and the gold xingu doing? keep me updated and tell your homeboyz to get some pix up if they can.


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