Upsidedown wrasse

i'll defer to the experts about the medication but just wanted to say YAY!!! glad to hear he's eating and hopefully, whatever the wound is will heal quickly.
 
Thanks Nina. And sorry about the extra grays. I've got a few new ones myself over this.

After four hours in Erythromycin, the wound or whatever it is looks worse. His scales are now sticking out around it like pinecone. I got some pictures this morning. I'll see if I can post them.
 
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Scales sticking out or dropsy is a symptom of systemic infection that is rather far along causing the kidneys to fail. Infections such as Mycobactera can be treated with Maracyn (minocycline) or erythromycin.
More info can be read from the website referred to in post #69
 
His colors are great and he is eating like a wrasse should. I am thinking the area got the scales rubbed away and has now become infected. I do. Not believe it has progressed to dropsy, just swelling around the wound. The wound or whatever is circular, gray, and swollen. Looks like he was burned with a cigarette. I Got some pix but they are too blurry to tell anything. I'd like to put him in a small container for close observation. For all I know it's not a wound but an opportunistic parasite burrowing into his skin. I can't get a close look to tell. I hesitate to put the wrasse in a small container and basically restrain him while I have a look. Wrasses are so flighty, drama queens as Bluecoyote mentioned, that he'd probably give himself a heart attack. I'll wait till later tonight and see how it looks. If it is getting worse I'll have no choice but to pull him out for a closer examination.
Cross your fingers that it won't come to that!
 
morgan, see if you can find a freshwater breeding box (either plastic or one made of netting) if you want to put him in something smaller just to examine him. you could dip him out just long enough to take a good luck and then put him right back in. shouldn't be too terribly stressful. it's how i do ttm and none of my fish have ever had a problem.

glad to hear he's eating and active!
 
Well the yo yo cycle continues. He is hovering, but eating less and has terrible time keeping his balance. the wound or whatever it was looks better, smaller, less swollen. But the scales on his back are sticking up now and a scale near his tail is ready to fall off. What is going on??? Wish I had a vet friend. Since his wound looks better, I will continue with erythromycin treatment, keep trying to feed him, antibiotics in his food now.
 
Well, any food with antibiotics in it, he spits out. So I am going back to plain food. Just trying to keep his strength up. I've been thinking about your idea Nina. With most fish, I lower the breeder box into the tank and scoop them up and they never know they've been caught. But wrasses freak out. They are such wussies. So I hesitate since it will stress an already stressed fish. But if he isn't better by tomorrow I'll have to risk it. Luckily the dissecting scope is still at this house, so if I have to catch him, I can put the breeder box under the scope and take a good look at his skin.
 
i completely understand your reluctance to stress him further and yeah, wrasses can be such drama queens. hopefully, you won't have to risk it but if he's still acting puny, it might be your only option.

good luck and keep us updated!
 
how is he doing today? i'm going back to my country today. therefore, i won't be able to come here often because of terrible internet connections in burma. i'll come and read the updates whenever i can. i'm just wishing you and the lil wrasse the best of luck. i hope he fully recovers soon. :)
 
Awww....I will miss your responses Pyithar. Have a good journey home. Hope you can still check in sometimes.
Wrasse acted great this morning, just like his old self. He was active and alert, darting away from everything like the puss he is. It was great to see. He had a vigorous appetite that was also good to see. I gave him some live black worms and some salmon and did a water change. His dorsal area still looks very bad. I cannot decide if it is any worse or any better. Im pretty sure that it looks less swollen. So I am continuing with Erythromycin treatment.
Sure hope this works.
 
i'm glad that he's doing a bit better today. i too hope the Erythromycin treatment works. i will check in again if the plane i'm flying with won't go missing! as you know, planes are missing frequently nowadays. so honestly i'm bit nervous because i'm flying with a budget airline today similar to air asia. :D
 
Safe journey Pyithar

Glad to hear he's doibh better even if he's still got issues. It makes we wish that the aquatic aspect of veterinary medicine was more advanced and available.
 
safe travels to you, pyithar!!!

so happy to see the wrasse is doing so much better. hey morgan, can you post a picture of him so we can all see this little fish that has had us on the edge of our seats? ;)
 
here he is right at this moment
sickwrassecomputer_zps2edc07a7.jpg.html

http://http://s62.photobucket.com/user/whiterabbitrage/media/sickwrassecomputer_zps2edc07a7.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1
a close up
http://http://s62.photobucket.com/user/whiterabbitrage/media/wrassebump1_zpsd0c4152c.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2
 
he is eating less since last night and today the infection , or perhaps a new one, is growing on his face. His dorsal still looks bad too. I scooped him into a breeder box with no trouble ( bad sign, he should have put up a heck of a fight) Im doing a water change and going to try a different antibiotic. I looked at him under the dissecting scope but could not tell anything.
 
The pictures didn't work sorry. I'm terrible with this stuff. When I read Nina's request for a picture, the wrasse was in the breeder box next to me at the computer, so I took a picture.
Then there is a close up of his unhappy face. I'll see if I can figure out how to repost them so they work.
 
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