# Need Help with Green Terror, Please!!



## pamsam (Jul 28, 2013)

I need help with my male GT. He is in a 55 gallon tank with a Penn-Plax 1200 canister filter and an eheim heater. Tank mates are an adult female blood parrot and some black convicts. I know he needs a bigger tank (he came with my tank) but I had moved him to a 125 and it sprung a leak, so he has to stay here for now. this tank has been cycled for several years. He has not acted right for over a month. Will not eat, stays either on the bottom of tank or almost in a vertical position at the top of tank. At one point, I suspected he might have flukes so I dosed with Prazipro twice. I had previously dosed with melafix a few weeks before. I noticed a few days ago that he had one scale on his head that was protruding a little and white sticking out from under it. Then yesterday I noticed he had a rough patch on his underside and then last night a scale was hanging loose. This morning he had a chunk missing from the same spot. I started melafix again day before yesterday, did a large water change yesterday and have started adding salt. I have been adding it slowlyl, only 6 tablespoons so far. My water parameters:

dimensions 48"x12"x18"
Temp. 80 F
Amm. 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
PH 7
Substrate- sand

I do weekly water changes of at least 50%. Have well water but recently started using Prime. I am trying to upload a picture of his head but in the meantime, here is a picture of his belly: 


I would really appreciate any advice you could give me!!!


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## pamsam (Jul 28, 2013)

Here is a picture of his head


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

Hello Pam,
Your GT is very emaciated and is most likely suffering from an internal bacterial infection, most likely furunculosis or columnaris These diseases can lead to open wounds, disfiguring loss of scales and scars, septicemia, internal infection and death. I would use a combination of kanamycin sulfate , nitrofurazone, and metronidazole. The products are all available in most fish shops. Seachem produces kanaplex and metronidazole, and API has Furan-2. Kanamycin treats gram-negative bacterial infection, Nitrofurazone gram-positive bacteria infection, and metronidazole treats internal parasites. Check these links out from AAP.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... #kanamycin
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... html#nitro
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... html#metro
Make sure your treat the GT in an isolation tank of 5 or 10G to minimize the amount of meds. 
Hopefully, it's not too late to save your GT. Good luck with him.
Jim (notho2000)


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## pamsam (Jul 28, 2013)

Thank you for your fast reply. I really do appreciate your help! My problem is that there is no where around here to buy from, I usually order online. The only thing I know I can buy tomorrow is General Cure which has the metonidazole in it. Would that alone do any good?


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

pamsam said:


> Thank you for your fast reply. I really do appreciate your help! My problem is that there is no where around here to buy from, I usually order online. The only thing I know I can buy tomorrow is General Cure which has the metonidazole in it. Would that alone do any good?


It may do some good but your fish is most likely beyond help since it's been sick for so long. Without the antibiotics, it's condition will continue to worsen and then it's just a matter of time.


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## pamsam (Jul 28, 2013)

Ok, I will go see what is available in the morning and will order what I can't find locally. If I had ordered antibiotics instead of the PraziPro and melafix, he might have been better by now. I saw that Jungle fungus clear contains the nitrofurazone, which I should be able to get. Would that work for the nitrofurazone or should I get the Furan 2? Thank you again.


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## pamsam (Jul 28, 2013)

I just wanted to give an update on my green terror. I treated him with metronidazole, nitrofurazone and kanaplex like notho2000 suggested. His belly healed up pretty quickly and he finally started eating again, although the only food I can get him to eat is live meal worms. He is much stronger and all healed up. I moved him out of his hospital tank and back in his home today. Hoping all goes well from here. I am really happy with the recovery he is making, almost seems like a miracle! Good thing since I spent a fortune on trying to save him, lol. Any suggestions on how to get him to eat his fish food again? Does garlic guard work? Thanks again notho2000!!!


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

I'm so glad to hear that your Green Terror pulled through. They're kind of 'funny' regarding getting back to their regular food. It almost seems as if they remember what they were eating at the time they became ill. Just like if we get sick after having eaten steak as the last meal, we're reluctant to eat steak again for a while, even though it wasn't the steak that made us sick. What you might do is gut load the live meal worms with your regular food (pellets?) by making a paste up and using a syringe to insert some of it into the meal worm (I know, it's pretty gross). Or let it go without food for a day or so and then try a bit of your regular food. Also, my Green Terrors love frozen blood worms, so you might try some just to have it experience a different food from the meal worms. I have had many instances of Green Terrors going off their regular food and the only thing they would take were blood worms. If he has truly recovered, he should eventually get back to his regular fare. If that's him in your avatar, he looks like a beautiful specimen.


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## pamsam (Jul 28, 2013)

Thank you! I would be afraid to say he is 100% back to normal even though he has greatly improved. He still has some movements that just aren't quite right. But he is really happy to be back with his best friend, a female blood parrot. He has followed her around "kissing" on her a lot. That is an old picture of him in my avatar. That was taken over a year ago. I will have to look into the blood worms. I might even see if the meal worms will eat some fish food ground up to gut load them. I will try to update with a new picture of him when I get a chance.


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