Sick Electric Blue Acara

[Luis]

Hey everyone, 

Ive been treating my sick electric blue acara for the past 2 weeks now.

 

I removed him from the display tank when I noticed he stopped eating (originally being the tank boss), and he had somewhat like a pimple on its tail and a small hole on its head. 
 

Water parameters:

ammonia-0 / nitrites -0 / nitrates have been high which I only found out when I removed him at around 60ppm / ph is at a constant 8 

Water temperature: 

main tank 28degrees celsius

quarantine 24 degrees celsius

 

Treatment for past 2 weeks:

-20% water change every other day. So one day yes, one day no.

- each water change add 5 tablespoons of aquarium salt (only for the first week as I didn’t see much improvement) 

 

Now on to the 13th day he’s started eating again. Up until now he would try to eat but would spit the food out after trying to swallow it. 
 

He’s one of my favourite fish and would be a pain to lose him. 
 

Does anyone have some advice? 
He does seem to be getting better but, I’m just worried I’m not doing enough. 
 

maybe I should be patient and expect 30days+ until he’s back to full health? 
 

(Im from the UK so a lot of medicines I find online are from America. )

 

Any advice or past experiences would be highly appreciated 🙏 

[Colu]

If he's trying to eat and Spitting out food that be a sign of wasting disease have you not rapid breathing hanging near the surface listlessness weight loss

[Luis]

On 10/4/2022 at 10:40 PM, Colu said:

If he's trying to eat and Spitting out food that be a sign of wasting disease have you not rapid breathing hanging near the surface listlessness weight loss

No he did that maybe at the start. And he definitely started getting sunken belly. 
However for the past 4 days or so, he chills in his coconut cave and seems to be breathing peacefully.

I’ve noticed he doesn’t fully close his mouth but I think it’s because of the sickness. His gills are very relaxed and today I was feeding him some big bites one by one and he managed to down about 8-12 so was very happy with that.

For the first week his find also deteriorated so maybe you’re onto the initial cause and maybe now he’s finally getting better? 

[Colu]

If he's developing a sunken belly it could be wasting disease you want to treat with levamisole or flubendazole ESHA ndx active ingredient is levamisole or NT labs fluke and wormer active ingredient is flubendazole are available in the UK they aren't shrimp or snail safe 

[Luis]

Thank you for this! I’m a bit scared of medicines though 😔

[Colu]

On 10/4/2022 at 10:52 PM, Luis said:

Thank you for this! I’m a bit scared of medicines though 😔

Just make sure to follow the instructions on the box and keep a close eye on your water parameters during treatment it can take three full course of treatment a week apart to treat wasting disease 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Colu

[Colu]

Also with with other symptoms you describe he could also be developing hole in the head you can  treat that with ESHA hexamita it also treats fungal and bacterial infection so it should help his damage tail fin regrow @Luis

Edited October 5, 2022 by Colu