Help! My pleco has an open sore!

[Skipper812]

My Common Sailfin Plecostomus has in open sore!
He is in a 60 Gallon aquarium, and the heater is covered.
He is 11 inches long.
It is getting worse, and I don't know if I should quarantine him.
My stats seem to be just fine.
Ph 7.2
Nitrate is 5
Hardness is 74
Ammonia is .2
Can anyone help me explain this, and how to treat the sore?
Note i do have a 20 Gallon Quarantine tank as well.
Thank you!

[sbetsy]

I don't know what caused that but I had a similar sore on one of my angelfish about a year and half ago. We checked the water but everything looked good. I bought some melafix and used that in the tank and it went away. The fish is fine now.

[Charlie1]

I had that on one of my pond goldfish, I gave him some tetracycline, and he was better in about ten or so days.

[Angelclown]

Originally Posted by Skipper812 My Common Sailfin Plecostomus has in open sore! He is in a 60 Gallon aquarium, and the heater is covered. He is 11 inches long. It is getting worse, and I don't know if I should quarantine him. My stats seem to be just fine. Ph 7.2 Nitrate is 5 Hardness is 74 Ammonia is .2 Can anyone help me explain this, and how to treat the sore? Note i do have a 20 Gallon Quarantine tank as well. Thank you!

I would quarantine him just to be on the safe side. Also keep the water pristine clean. I am not home right now but there is a med that will take care of that wound. When I get home then I will take a look and let you know. Get your ammonia down and that will help with the wound healing. Are there any other fish in the tank with him? If so, what fish are in with him?

[lohachata]

there is a product specifically for open wounds such as this...i believe it is called tricaine..

[Angelclown]

The med that I have is Anti-Bacteria, there is a pic on the bottle that looks like the wound on the pleco in the pic above. The Anti-Bacteria is a bacterial treatment and will heal the wound.

Tricaine is an anesthetic(sp) and it is used for euthanasia of fish, or sedation. Here is a link to it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricaine_mesylate

The other websites say the same thing as the link I posted.

[Angelclown]

Originally Posted by lohachata there is a product specifically for open wounds such as this...i believe it is called tricaine..

A fish with an open wound can actually be treated. Baby Girl, my biggest clown loach, had a wound above her eye and it healed on its own, as I kept the water clean. I also kept an eye on her just in case the wound got worse, but it just healed by keeping the water clean.

At this moment, the pleco with the open wound would need to be treated with an anti-bacterial medicine, not be euthanized unless the medicine doesn't work.

[lohachata]

sorry angel...i forgot which med i was talking about...the one i meant was ....

" Tricide-Neo " which is an antibiotic...