[TK220]

I have a large 4 year old Green Severum who developed some type of sore on his side while I was away on vacation for 5 days. When I first got home, the sore on his side was white and almost looked like a pimple (about the size of a pencil eraser). Now it appears as if the pimple has "popped" leaving behind what looks like an open sore (about the size of a dime). It has been 4 days now and it doesn't appear to be getting better or any worse. His behavior has not changed. He swims happily, color looks good, fins look good and he is as hearty an eater as ever.

I've been adding stress coat everyday, but i am hesitant to add any medication because I don't want to harm any of my other fish (I have loaches who are very sensitive to medication). I am also hesitant to remove the severum because he is very difficult to catch (lots of rocks and caves) and I don't have an established hospital tank setup. I would hate to remove him only to poison him in an uncycled tank.

Should I wait to see if he gets better on his own or should I start some sort of treatment immediately? I thought of maybe adding some salt to the tank since that is supposed to help with various ailments or maybe melafix. Any ideas on treatments for sores that are not harmful to scaleless fish?

Tank Details:
220 Gallons/0 Nitrite/15 Nitrate/0 Ammonia. 60% water changes every 2 weeks. water added at changes is treated with Prime. tank has been setup and running for almost 2 years.

Other Tank Mates
1 Convict Cichlid
1 Keyhole Cichlid
1 Firemouth Cichlid
1 Blue Acara
2 Blood Parrots
6 Clown Loaches
1 Pleco
1 Bala Shark
5 Giant Danios
4 Austrailian Rainbow Fish
2 Corys

 

[cichlidaholic]

My main concern would be whether this was something parasitic or bacterial...There's really no way to tell as long as the remaining fish are fine, short of finding a vet to take a culture of the area...

I know you don't want to hear this, but I would isolate him in a hospital tank and do daily water changes and add Melafix. Should the area become larger or develop any cottony substance around the area, you may need to treat with antibiotics. The daily water changes will prevent the water from harming the fish, and aid in healing. Melafix will help prevent a bacterial infection. Isolating him will also aid in containing a potential bacterial or parasitic infection and protect the rest of your tank.

Since you only do water changes every other week, this is your best bet...Unless you want to go the salt route and increase the water changes on this large tank.

I would watch the rest of the fish closely.