Red spot on fish head

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Make sure the water in the tank is pure and clean, so do a couple to a few pwc. then medicate you can try Furan 2 works for both Gram Negative and Gram positive problems. It doesn't hurt to try, it seems he does not look well and the splotches look like the septicemia.

Did you ever report back on the water parameters?
 
No, I live at college currently and I left my freshwater kit at home for my big tank. But since his illness I did a 100% now I'm doing 25 daily. Should I give anymore salt bathes?
 
Alright, I ordered Furan today, I hope it arrives in time. He still wants to eat. Should I be giving him salt bathes?
 
Were you thinking salt or Epsom Salt.

Salt would be a good thing if he has an external parasite issue. You might try a dip and see how he handles it.

Either salt or Epsom salt make sure it doesn't have any additives, last night at the store I accidently grabbed the wrong Epsom salts and got the kind with peppermint and rosemary oil for a people bath, oops, but didn't use it for the fish. So just make sure you grab the right kind and double check the ingredients before purchase. :)

Try a 2tbl per gallon or 1Tbl for the half gallon dissolved salt treated water temp matched, add an air stone if you can.

Let him be in there until he tilts, falls sideways on the bottom or rolls over OR for only 30 min.- you have to watch him the whole time.

Then remove him and he will likely be pale and could be splotchy. Make sure the tank water is nice and fresh. Not Ammonia, Nitrites or Nitrates. He might lose some slime coat, try a 50% pwc an hour or 2 after, vac the bottom. That will just get out any slime coat sluffed off.

If you don't have an air bubbler maybe get a small one and use with a valve you can use to lower the flow if needed. IF you do not use a hang on the back filter. If you have a hob filter then just lower the water a little so it gets plenty of splash, and extra aeration.



You could do the Epsom Salt in the tank until you get the meds in the mail.

Clean fresh (treated) water every day.
 
Yes I'm talking Epsom salt. When you say normal salt, you don't mean table salt right? I'm a little lost about the slime coat thing. Every time I give him a salt bath I do a very large water change. How much would you recommend if I added Epsom salt to his real tank?
 
Salt being aquarium salt, kosher salt, sea salt, or other salt which contains nothing other than salt, no iodine, anti caking agent, etc. Salt.

You can have 2 rounded tablespoons per gallon for Epsom Salt. To make the change/adding salt to water easier for the fish, have a freshly pwc tank.

Make the amount of water and Epsom Salts (ES) to equate to the total amount for the gallons of the tank. 1G=2 rounded tablespoons 5G=10 rounded TBL

Dissolve the ES into the container you will be using to dissolve it in. I use hot water from my tap. If you have older lead pipes in the house or a old water heater, don't use hot water from the tap. Use /heated water from a rinsed off container and use a stove/pot or microwave to heat water. Rinsed off because some rinse agents from the dishwasher can leave their rinse stuff on the dishes.

Then take the ES concentrate and add it gradually. I will personally do a little more than a 1/4 amount, then if you are gonna be home with the fish, add a small amount every couple hours, but if you won't be home, just divide the other amount into 1/3 parts to add every 8-10 hours. This just makes it more gentle way to allow him to get used to it.

In the past if I was really worried I might add it all in 12-20 hour period, not waiting as long in between. I have never had an issue even when adding the whole amount in smaller portions over an hour or 2. You may want to call the medicine manufacturer and ask if they know if Magnesium Sulfate will interfere with the treatment. If so just do a couple -3 pwc to remove it. You would want clean freshly pwc tank before treatment anyway.

To add the ES to pwc, calculate the amounts of the pwc - water to be added back in.

Let's say you do 1G pwc every day. I use a plastic gallon water jug and make up an amount of concentrate to use per pwc. Extrapolate the amount of pwc you want to do with an amount of water, say 1 cup of water with the 2T of ES and say 5 days PWC = 5C water and 10T ES, your amount to dose will be slightly more because of adding the ES ~1C+2T per pwc. You can add this to the pwc water when you do the change.

You can mark the gallon jug ahead of time with a sharpie line for each dose or just have a measuring cup for the fish.

I like the dollar store for measuring cups, spoons, water pitcher, turkey baster, sieve, strainer, etc. for the fish, they get their own stuff no one uses for anything else.
 
Yeah, I have that Lifeguard medication in there currently, kind of confused how I'm going to switch over to ES without taking the fish out and doing a 100% water change.
 
Okay the Furan 2 just got in (took forever). I don't know if it will interact with the Epsom salt so I guess I will do a 100% water change, then add the Furan.
 
Also will the Furan discolor my acrylic tank? Should I put him in another tank for treatment?
 
Ok I moved him to a glass tank. I had to partition one of those powder packs into 32 parts (I have about 3 quarts in his tank so he can get to the surface to breath)..... not sure how accurate that was. The water didn't turn yellow, I felt like I hardly put any powder in.
 
Since adding the medication he has been frantically swimming around and going to the top for air....
 
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