Almost lost my cowfish...

[asylumdown]

soooooo, the bony rays of ferdinand's tail that were de-fleshed in "the incident" were very quickly colonized by diatoms and turned brown and fuzzy. Now they're also starting to sprout what looks like green hair algae. I'm really not sure what to do about this, should I catch him and cut the dead tissue off, or would that only make this way worse? So far he seems totally healthy, but having part of your body literally turn in to chia pet can't be good for you long term...

[carfag]

are you able to quarantine him?

i would not be able to sleep thinking he died and nuked the tank...

[Coralgurl]

I don't know anything about these fish so take this as you will. What about a dip in something medicated? Weird that he'd be growing algae on him but its finding nutrients there likely in the dead flesh. I wouldn't want to pick it off as I would think you'd risk doing more damage.

You should post a pic so others can help with diagnosing and ensuring you are getting proper advice.

[asylumdown]

It was REALLY hard to get good images, but here's the best of them:




I don't really have a way to QT him separately for any length of time without that being more of a risk to him than any injury he has. He's too big now for my QT system, which I only use for the tank transfer method. I'd basically be cycling it with him. He's acting totally normally still, it's like he's not even aware of it.

[Coralgurl]

Been doing some searching and can't find anything to really match what's going on, but this article has some good suggestions

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/18309...r-injured-fish

I've also read you could try a medicated dip and apply something like polysporin to the injury. Watch to see if it moves to its body.

[asylumdown]

Thanks for that article! If the dead portion advances at all I'm taking him out right away. My main concern is that the presence of the algae will inhibit the healing process, but I think taking snippers to him would probably be worse in the long run.

[LoJack]

I have no advice. Just wanted to wish you luck. He's an absolute beauty.

Seeing your build has made me want to "risk" keeping this beautiful fish as well. I think it's time for me to do some research … because honestly, he's the focal point of your tank, and for good reason.