New tilefish, new flukes?

[christinna77]

Just a quick update: He's alive and trying to eat, but it's still challenging because he's still very buoyant. I also think his injured eye makes him miss his food about 50% of the time. I wonder, if he ends up losing the eye, can he still live a normal life? Will he be able to eventually adapt?

Anyway, I built several platforms like this so he can move around the tank without constantly floating to the surface. It really seemed to help and he doesn't look as exhausted anymore.

Both tilefish have been reacting well to the salinity increase too. We're at 1.017 now, and I haven't seen any signs of distress from either of them.

Yes they can make do without an eye. It will be tough in a tank that possibly has more tank mates, but they can make it.

I don't plan on stocking anything more aggressive than tilefish in mine, so we should be good there. I can also keep him in my nano until he's fully recovered.
It's really weird, actually. I could see the eye just a few days ago, but now it almost looks like the skin grew over it. I wonder if it's just underneath, but I don't know if I should try to touch it at all. Perhaps a cleaner shrimp can help with that later. I'll try to take a video next time.

 

[christinna77]

Today's update: Not much has changed. He may be a little less buoyant, and his right eye looks slightly better again. Salinity's at 1.023.

He hasn't eaten much today and spent most of the time hiding in the tube. I've noticed that he still sometimes opens his mouth wide for about five seconds or longer, I'm really not sure why he does that, it's like he keeps trying to realign it. No more flashing/head shaking/twitching, just the weird yawning.

A little while ago I also saw him pass long stringy poop and he seemed pretty uncomfortable. I'm wondering if he might be constipated and is finally passing it. His belly still looks somewhat swollen.

Here's a short video. Near the end he turns around for a second and you can see that his other eye looks completely normal. It's only the right side that's still affected.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Today's update: Not much has changed. He may be a little less buoyant, and his right eye looks slightly better again. Salinity's at 1.023.

He hasn't eaten much today and spent most of the time hiding in the tube. I've noticed that he still sometimes opens his mouth wide for about five seconds or longer, I'm really not sure why he does that, it's like he keeps trying to realign it. No more flashing/head shaking/twitching, just the weird yawning.

A little while ago I also saw him pass long stringy poop and he seemed pretty uncomfortable. I'm wondering if he might be constipated and is finally passing it. His belly still looks somewhat swollen.

Here's a short video. Near the end he turns around for a second and you can see that his other eye looks completely normal. It's only the right side that's still affected.

What color was the stringy poop?

 

[christinna77]

Today's update: Not much has changed. He may be a little less buoyant, and his right eye looks slightly better again. Salinity's at 1.023.

He hasn't eaten much today and spent most of the time hiding in the tube. I've noticed that he still sometimes opens his mouth wide for about five seconds or longer, I'm really not sure why he does that, it's like he keeps trying to realign it. No more flashing/head shaking/twitching, just the weird yawning.

A little while ago I also saw him pass long stringy poop and he seemed pretty uncomfortable. I'm wondering if he might be constipated and is finally passing it. His belly still looks somewhat swollen.

Here's a short video. Near the end he turns around for a second and you can see that his other eye looks completely normal. It's only the right side that's still affected.

What color was the stringy poop?

I saw it on camera at 3am with only IR lights on, so it's hard to say, but I'll check if there's anything during the day.

 

[christinna77]

@Jay Hemdal This one I caught on camera looks dark.

I'm also noticing he's swimming around much better today, this was right after feeding (still very hesitant to eat, but did have a few pieces).

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

@Jay Hemdal This one I caught on camera looks dark.

I'm also noticing he's swimming around much better today, this was right after feeding (still very hesitant to eat, but did have a few pieces).

Good!

White, mucusy or clear feces can be signs of issues, while I dont worry about darker feces.

There may be a slight constipation issue going on - fatty mysids can cause that. Brine shrimp adds roughage, but it’s like candy for some fish and they start to prefer it, but it is lacking in some essential fatty acids.

 

[christinna77]

Good!

White, mucusy or clear feces can be signs of issues, while I dont worry about darker feces.

There may be a slight constipation issue going on - fatty mysids can cause that. Brine shrimp adds roughage, but it’s like candy for some fish and they start to prefer it, but it is lacking in some essential fatty acids.

Thank you, Jay. I mixed some PE Mysis with LRS, spirulina brine and plankton last time. I'll add some more brine and no more PE mysis for the time being. I always have to drain it because there's so much fat in those cubes. I have both Selcon and Vitachem, too, and alternate between them.

I also noticed another very large dark stool later today, and he looked really uncomfortable. His bottom seemed slightly swollen, but he looks fine again now.

Anyway, they've been moved to the observation tank. I transported them in a plastic box with as little water as possible, and that really helped them stay calm. Always stressful moving tilefish... We'll see how they are in the morning.

 

[winxp_man]

Thank you, Jay. I mixed some PE Mysis with LRS, spirulina brine and plankton last time. I'll add some more brine and no more PE mysis for the time being. I always have to drain it because there's so much fat in those cubes. I have both Selcon and Vitachem, too, and alternate between them.

I also noticed another very large dark stool later today, and he looked really uncomfortable. His bottom seemed slightly swollen, but he looks fine again now.

Anyway, they've been moved to the observation tank. I transported them in a plastic box with as little water as possible, and that really helped them stay calm. Always stressful moving tilefish... We'll see how they are in the morning.

Selcon is for fattening up the fish, and vitachem is to maintained good vitamins, amino acids, and nutrients additional to what you feed. Will not fatten up the fish as much as selcon. Both have their place in the additives world for fish.

 

[AstroMelly]

I wish you all the best with the recovery of your beautiful purple tilefish Christinna - I think you have accomplished an incredible recovery thus far. The rapid healing of your larger fish's head injury is truly inspiring.

I've just posted a new thread about our pair of purples which we added last weekend - I would love it if you could spare the time to check the thread - I'll avoid cross-posting it here - we also enjoyed reading your incredibly in-depth write-up of tilefish in general!

Good luck with your fishes' continued recovery

 

[christinna77]

I've got some good news and some bad news.

The good news is I FW dipped the smaller tilefish for 4 min today, and not a single fluke dropped off, so I think we're finally in the clear.

The bad news is the larger one is still breathing with his mouth open, passing very large dark stools that look painful, and still isn't eating.

The smaller one's appetite has also dropped, which has never happened before. That's why I decided to FW dip him, just to make sure the flukes hadn't somehow survived the hypo...

I don't want to FW dip the larger one, since he's already struggling, and since the smaller one was completely clear, so I'm hoping the larger one is too and that this is still just constipation.

Hopefully they both start eating again soon.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I've got some good news and some bad news.

The good news is I FW dipped the smaller tilefish for 4 min today, and not a single fluke dropped off, so I think we're finally in the clear.

The bad news is the larger one is still breathing with his mouth open, passing very large dark stools that look painful, and still isn't eating.

The smaller one's appetite has also dropped, which has never happened before. That's why I decided to FW dip him, just to make sure the flukes hadn't somehow survived the hypo...

I don't want to FW dip the larger one, since he's already struggling, and since the smaller one was completely clear, so I'm hoping the larger one is too and that this is still just constipation.

Hopefully they both start eating again soon.

Just checking, the feces aren’t really dark green are they? That can almost look black, but is caused by bile staining.

 

[christinna77]

Just checking, the feces aren’t really dark green are they? That can almost look black, but is caused by bile staining.

The one I saw was black/dark red.

He's been like this pretty much all day. I saw him swim around a bit, but that's about it. Smaller tilefish's breathing is normal. I wonder if I should try pulling him out for a bath, but I'm not sure what to use. We already did two rounds of NFG back in the quarantine tank...

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The one I saw was black/dark red.

He's been like this pretty much all day. I saw him swim around a bit, but that's about it. Smaller tilefish's breathing is normal. I wonder if I should try pulling him out for a bath, but I'm not sure what to use. We already did two rounds of NFG back in the quarantine tank...

I wouldn’t give it a bath - lots of stress involved for little to no benefit, as baths are not very effective against internal issues like this would be.

 

[christinna77]

I wouldn’t give it a bath - lots of stress involved for little to no benefit, as baths are not very effective against internal issues like this would be.

Thanks Jay. I'm also worried about the wound on his head/eye. It almost cleared up with the first round of NFG, only to get worse and larger in size again. The second round of NFG did nothing.


2 weeks ago (2-3 days after finishing first dose of NFG)

1 week ago:

2 days ago (5 days of NFG - not much improvement)

Currently, it looks similar/worse, I've just not been able to take a good picture.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Jay. I'm also worried about the wound on his head/eye. It almost cleared up with the first round of NFG, only to get worse and larger in size again. The second round of NFG did nothing.


2 weeks ago (2-3 days after finishing first dose of NFG)

1 week ago:

2 days ago (5 days of NFG - not much improvement)

Currently, it looks similar/worse, I've just not been able to take a good picture.

I can’t tell if the photos are showing signs of bacterial disease, or just residual damage.

It got worse while it was housed by itself, or with the second one?

 

[christinna77]

I can’t tell if the photos are showing signs of bacterial disease, or just residual damage.

It got worse while it was housed by itself, or with the second one?

It got bad after I removed the barrier and they were together. I separated them again, but it's been getting worse and growing every day since then. NFG did not help.

I know you said to not pull him out, but I just tried to do a ruby rally pro bath and he's been handling it really well so far. I have a way now to catch him in a box with a bit of water that's completely stress free.

I was able to take some more pictures and videos of the head.

 

[christinna77]

I'm not sure if it was the bath, but I just tried feeding and he was actually interested again and ate a few pieces. He's still breathing with his mouth wide open and yawning/coughing a lot, but this is good news nonetheless.

 

[christinna77]

Today's update: I'm seeing a slight improvement in the wound on his head, but a huge improvement in his behavior. He's swimming around and actively eating!

I'm still noticing the same strange behavior. Sometimes he comes up to the airstone, opens his mouth wide for about 10 seconds, and lets the bubbles hit his gills and inside of his mouth. I can't really explain it, but he seems relieved afterward and it's happening less often. I'm pretty sure we don't have flukes anymore, but I'm wondering if there could still be some mucus in his gills causing this kind of discomfort.

 

[christinna77]

Is anyone else seeing a completely different picture of plumbing instead of the tilefish's eye in my previous post? That was NOT what I shared yesterday. I think the website update has a bug...

Correct picture I linked:

 

[christinna77]

Another ruby rally bath today completed. Does his right gill look kind of swollen?

I'm not sure if I'm actually seeing much improvement, and if I should try something else. He's been handling the baths really well.

He's still eating and swimming around a bit, but he does rest a lot and the breathing is still somewhat labored.