Help! Scales on one side of head+gills are facing out

Do you have any pictures? sometimes it's easier to identify what the problem is with pictures.

I would have to find something better to take pictures with. I just tried but the pictures weren't in good enough quality to really tell anything.

To describe it the left side of his head from his gills to close to his eye it looks swollen and his scales are raised. In that same area he had a cut, from I don't know what (but probably from the toy I have in there, the Spongebob Pineapple cave). Only that area. The rest of his body seems fine. If I disturb him (like come so close that he sees me) he will swim around and peak at me inside the cave, so he is moving around.

Maybe he cut himself or bumped himself against an ornament? That's the only thing I ca think of. does he have any tankmates?

Pippin said:

Maybe he cut himself or bumped himself against an ornament? That's the only thing I ca think of. does he have any tankmates?

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Yes, he did cut himself the other day. I just don't know if it got worst or if something else is going on.

No, he is by himself.

Maybe he reopened it?

It seems he has stopped eating, or lost interest in it. When I open the top instead of eagerly awaiting his food like he used to, he will now go and hide in his cave.

I will give him another water change this afternoon, hopefully it won't be too stressful.

I hope he's okay. I'm going to try and get someone from the reference team over onto this thread.

It sounds like the cut became infected and much like a wound becomes puss-filled when trying to heal, it's pushing the scales out. I would try to get him on an antibiotic soon to combat the infection. Any like Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Maracyn I or II, are great, KanaPlex is one of the better ones on the market since it's new which means it's just a little more effective than the older meds but if you can only get the other ones that's fine.

So the scales are raised only on his cheek, correct? No where else? Can you get a video of him at all?

lilnaugrim said:

It sounds like the cut became infected and much like a wound becomes puss-filled when trying to heal, it's pushing the scales out. I would try to get him on an antibiotic soon to combat the infection. Any like Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Maracyn I or II, are great, KanaPlex is one of the better ones on the market since it's new which means it's just a little more effective than the older meds but if you can only get the other ones that's fine.

So the scales are raised only on his cheek, correct? No where else? Can you get a video of him at all?

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I'll look for those.

I can get video and picture, but the quality is so low you can't tell anything. I have tried. I need to find something else, maybe borrow something. Yes, it was just the scales on his head raised, his body seems fine. However, it seems that they aren't as raised as they were a day ago, but his head is very swollen. It looks like it is uncomfortable for him to even get air from the top, he does it so slowly.