cosmicuttlefish
New member
My little Nova has been having problems for a little over a week now, and I have posted to another forum but I think that I would get better help here.
About a week ago, I went to feed Nova and she refused to eat, which made me a little nervous because she usually seeks out attention and begs for food. I was looking at her to see if she was ok and I noticed a weird spot right behind her right gills, it almost looked like a scab or something, but then I noticed she had a couple more spots where it looked like she was shedding on her side, but what worried me the most was the little white bump right in front of her cloaca and on her side. I immediately took her out of her tank and put her in a quarantine tub. I tested the parameters of the water and the ammonia levels were really high in her tank and her sibling's tank (I keep them separate because they're too young for me to know the sex yet and the last thing I want is babies) so I took her sibling (Nebula) out and put her in her own quarantine tub until I could fix the tank water. I kept trying to feed Nova, but she refused to eat. Four days after I took her out of her tank, I noticed she threw up mostly undigested food, which was pretty old at that point. I thought she might be impacted, even though she's only ever had sand substrate, so I put her in the fridge for a few days. The first day she pooped for the first time in a while, and then a few days later, I found this weird pastel green goo in the tub with her, it almost looks like eggs, but she's only 10 months old. Throughout this saga, I was keeping in contact with a vet who lives about an hour away from me, and she told me that fridging them can actually be really dangerous. I know I've read a lot to the contrary, but the way she worded it terrified me, so I took her out immediately and adjusted her back to her regular quarantine tub. It's been a little over a day since then and she's still not eating and she still has these weird, hard, white bumps on her, and she's acting really lethargic, she's usually really goofy and will try to get my attention as soon as I walk into the room, but now she barely reacts to me at all, even when I wiggle my finger right in front of her and some of her frills are falling off.
For reference:
I have 2 10 gallon tanks, one for each of my axies, they're still growing, but I plan to move them up to a 20 gal as soon as I can afford it.
I use a sponge filter with an air pump to prevent water flow,
I do weekly tank cleanings, with spot cleaning in between if I see any food or waste floating around
I feed them frozen bloodworms, which they love, once I get comfortable with it, I'll start feeding them earthworms
They have a fine sand substrate
They've been in the quarantine tubs for about 8 days now, I do 100% water changes in those every other day matching with their feeding schedule, but sometimes, I notice Nova coming up for air a lot, and when that happens, I change the water immediately and then she's fine.
Here are some pictures of the bumps, they're really hard to see, but they don't feel or look fuzzy, they kind of look like blisters almost? but they're hard to the touch:
Here is the first spot I noticed when all this first happened, it looks a little better now but it's still there:
here's the weird greenish thing that was in her tub in the fridge, I took the picture a day after I found it so it looks a little different:
and finally here are her poor little gills:
Sorry about the quality of the photos, they were the best I could do. Also I'm sorry for the length I just wanted to get as many details in as possible! If there's anything else you need to know I have no problems answering questions!
I'm really scared for her, I've searched everywhere and I can't find anything about this I'm at a total loss, I'm planning on giving her a tea bath tomorrow in hopes that that will help with something, and I have a vet appointment set for her next week, but to be honest I'm really concerned that she won't make it. I can't lose her, please help!
About a week ago, I went to feed Nova and she refused to eat, which made me a little nervous because she usually seeks out attention and begs for food. I was looking at her to see if she was ok and I noticed a weird spot right behind her right gills, it almost looked like a scab or something, but then I noticed she had a couple more spots where it looked like she was shedding on her side, but what worried me the most was the little white bump right in front of her cloaca and on her side. I immediately took her out of her tank and put her in a quarantine tub. I tested the parameters of the water and the ammonia levels were really high in her tank and her sibling's tank (I keep them separate because they're too young for me to know the sex yet and the last thing I want is babies) so I took her sibling (Nebula) out and put her in her own quarantine tub until I could fix the tank water. I kept trying to feed Nova, but she refused to eat. Four days after I took her out of her tank, I noticed she threw up mostly undigested food, which was pretty old at that point. I thought she might be impacted, even though she's only ever had sand substrate, so I put her in the fridge for a few days. The first day she pooped for the first time in a while, and then a few days later, I found this weird pastel green goo in the tub with her, it almost looks like eggs, but she's only 10 months old. Throughout this saga, I was keeping in contact with a vet who lives about an hour away from me, and she told me that fridging them can actually be really dangerous. I know I've read a lot to the contrary, but the way she worded it terrified me, so I took her out immediately and adjusted her back to her regular quarantine tub. It's been a little over a day since then and she's still not eating and she still has these weird, hard, white bumps on her, and she's acting really lethargic, she's usually really goofy and will try to get my attention as soon as I walk into the room, but now she barely reacts to me at all, even when I wiggle my finger right in front of her and some of her frills are falling off.
For reference:
I have 2 10 gallon tanks, one for each of my axies, they're still growing, but I plan to move them up to a 20 gal as soon as I can afford it.
I use a sponge filter with an air pump to prevent water flow,
I do weekly tank cleanings, with spot cleaning in between if I see any food or waste floating around
I feed them frozen bloodworms, which they love, once I get comfortable with it, I'll start feeding them earthworms
They have a fine sand substrate
They've been in the quarantine tubs for about 8 days now, I do 100% water changes in those every other day matching with their feeding schedule, but sometimes, I notice Nova coming up for air a lot, and when that happens, I change the water immediately and then she's fine.
Here are some pictures of the bumps, they're really hard to see, but they don't feel or look fuzzy, they kind of look like blisters almost? but they're hard to the touch:
Here is the first spot I noticed when all this first happened, it looks a little better now but it's still there:
here's the weird greenish thing that was in her tub in the fridge, I took the picture a day after I found it so it looks a little different:
and finally here are her poor little gills:
Sorry about the quality of the photos, they were the best I could do. Also I'm sorry for the length I just wanted to get as many details in as possible! If there's anything else you need to know I have no problems answering questions!
I'm really scared for her, I've searched everywhere and I can't find anything about this I'm at a total loss, I'm planning on giving her a tea bath tomorrow in hopes that that will help with something, and I have a vet appointment set for her next week, but to be honest I'm really concerned that she won't make it. I can't lose her, please help!