Sick Banded Jawfish!

[Floyd R Turbo]

Over the last month or so, I noticed my Banded Jawfish was not acting the same. He used to react when you approached the tank and now he doesn't react at all, like he's blind. About 2 weeks ago, he abandoned his "home" and started wandering all over the tank. His tail fin has been nipped at, almost gone. He wasn't eating hardly at all from what I could see. I had to stick food right in front of him. Yesterday I fed him a chunk and he spit it out. Today he was laying on his side, still breathing, and when I prodded him he would try to right himself by wedging against a rock, but it wouldn't last long.

I pulled out an old isolation box and netted him (he was easy to catch, which is not normal for these wicked fast fish) and he is swimming around like he's trying to get to the bottom. Now that I have had a close look, something is not right. It looks like he has a tumor or ulcer near his anus. See if you can see what I'm talking about here.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

got a good video of it...uploading to YouTube ASAP

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuumYBShTlM

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I got this comment on YouTube

"I would do a freshwater dip then do hypo treatment in a qt tank. His anus looks like he's got bloat which is an intestinal parasite."

Sound right?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

So he looks dead, right?

But he's not. He 'sleeps' like this. I poked him and move the rock he wedged himself under and he 'comes to' and rights himself. I keep expecting him to die but he ate last night and didn't spit it out. I dropped a small frag in the tank the other day and he darted towards it like it was food, so I know he hasn't completely lost his appetite. I suppose that's a good sign.

Been way too busy lately to treat him...hope to get to that tonight.