# Fish with open wound - medicate or not?



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Hey Folks,

So... Daisy and Bruiser got into a "love tussle" recently... and well, Bruiser got overly aggressive and tore a chunk of flesh (and scales) off Daisy's face/ cheek. 

Daisy and Bruiser are male and female Brunei Betta Macrostomas. Daisy is about 4 inches total and Bruiser is about 4.5 inches maybe 5. They're housed in a 26 gallon tank with some plants and Indian almond tree leaves (Katapang leaves).

She's had this open wound for about 3 days now and there doesn't appear to be any infection (fungal/bacterial/other) that I can notice. No bleeding either. She's swimming around like normal and her colors appear normal as well. It's a bit disturbing to watch her swim around with a .75 cm diameter of open flesh on her cheek. The surrounding scales in the area appear to protrude a bit but other than that there isn't much else physically wrong.

The only concerning thing is that I feed them 1 - 2 x a day and for the past 3 days she hasn't eaten at all. Usually she eats about 1x a day, sometimes when she isn't too hungry 1x every 2 days.

I was thinking of medicating with furan 2 just as a precaution but I'm concerned it may send her system into shock - and that it'll kill the nernite and assassin snails in the tank with them.

Anyone experienced with treating open fish wounds please advice!

Thanks in advanced!


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

If Daisy looks healthy then no need to med her but just keep the water quality at it's best and feed only once instead of 2 times. You can add some salt but not sure if your snails will like the salt. Or you can put Daisy in a 10gal and treat her with Melafix. I would only use Furon 2 if her wound gets worst.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

What Dave said. Plus I like to use Vitachem that stuff really helps fish heal fast.


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

Doesn't salt kill any and all live plants?


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Thanks Dave and Jackson, I'll try your suggestions. Qwerty, my fish are more valuable in many ways than my plants are so it's ok.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Cypher said:


> Thanks Dave and Jackson, I'll try your suggestions. Qwerty, my fish are more valuable in many ways than my plants are so it's ok.


Those Betta Macrostomas are beautiful...where did you get those from?


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Thanks Dave,

Yeah, they are absolutely gorgeous! Even more so in person. Here is some pictures and info on Bruiser and Daisy from about six months ago:

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13705&highlight=bruiser+daisy&page=2

I bought my pair from a very well known line breeder in Southeast Asia about 2 - 3 years ago when I was still working in the region. I brought these 2 back with me in my luggage when I returned to Canada. Sending you a PM with some info.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Nice fish 

Have you spawned them?


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Cypher said:


> Thanks Dave,
> 
> Yeah, they are absolutely gorgeous! Even more so in person. Here is some pictures and info on Bruiser and Daisy from about six months ago:
> 
> ...


Wow, you must be the only one that has a pair in Canada.


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Note to self, Dave is not very good at keeping secrets, just fish.


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Jackson said:


> Nice fish
> Have you spawned them?


Thanks Jackson,

I'm not trying to spawn them. Just getting them bigger and healthy. But nature takes it's course. They spawned and failed. 37 fry mass deaths. 1 male and few females left. Now very young adults.

May sell the very young pair. I doubt Toronto is the market for these fish.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

Cypher said:


> Thanks Jackson,
> 
> I'm not trying to spawn them. Just getting them bigger and healthy. But nature takes it's course. They spawned and failed. 37 fry mass deaths. 1 male and few females left. Now very young adults.
> 
> May sell the very young pair. I doubt Toronto is the market for these fish.


Congrats on the spawn


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Haha... no. There's a handful of wild betta enthusiasts not many though.



dl88dl said:


> Wow, you must be the only one that has a pair in Canada.


Thanks!



dl88dl said:


> Congrats on the spawn


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

DRAS has one member who has kept and bred several wild betta types. He was the first in CAOAC to breed 3 or 4 of them.


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