Thrashing, spitting food, new brown spots, stubby toes, marked nostril?

[user9692]

Hi everyone. I already posted this on a Discord group and I've scheduled a vet appointment for tomorrow morning but I wanted to see if anyone else had thoughts about this situation and recommendations for what to do until tomorrow's vet appointment. As recommended I managed to lower her temp to 63 F and am still trying to lower it more. She's accepting some thawed frozen bloodworms.

This is Cherry, she's 1.5 y/o. She's lived with her sister since I got her (at around 6 months). They were living in a fully cycled 75g tank for months. Around two months ago I noticed I low pH issues because my other girl had peeling skin (consistent levels at 6.0 - yellow on the pH test). I tubbed her and she immediately got better. About three weeks ago I moved both girls to a 60g tank, also fully cycled with better pH. Things were fine at first (my other girl is still thriving), but about two weeks ago Cherry started spitting out her worms. I tried blanching/cutting the worms and feeding pellets but had no luck. I thought maybe she was constipated. Three days ago I woke up and saw there was poop in the tank and Cherry got excited to see me, so I offered a worm and she ate it. I thought things had been solved. Yesterday I noticed she started thrashing and when I tried to feed her, she refused once again. She doesn't outright refuse, she'll take the worm in several times but then spit it out. I took her out and she's now tubbed, seeing her up close I'm noticing even more issues with her skin. She's got these new brown spots all around her lower body that showed up around a week ago, deformities on her toes (they were not bitten off), and now she's got a spot all around her left nostril. The thrashing really worries me.

Does anyone know what this could be? I've dealt with cycle crashes and fungus in the past but the parameters are good and it doesn't look like she has fuzz anywhere. I even considered maybe she's morphing, but I don't think it's the case. Please let me know if you've seen anything similar before, I'd really appreciate it.

Details:

• pH: 7 ish
• Ammonia: 0-0.25ppm
• Nitrate: 0ppm
• Nitrite: 5-10ppm
• Temp: 68-69 F
• Plants: water sprite, marimo moss ball
• Substrate: AquaQuartz 20-Grade Silica Pool Filter Sand
• Diet: live earthworms almost 100% of the time, Hikari pellets in rare cases, frozen blood worms as treats veryyyy far in between.

 

[wolfen]

the skin blemishes look like a reaction to something, will need to be tested for infection, methylene blue + acriflavine (both mixed together half fish dose 10mins) can be used but antibiotics may be required.
add 2g/l non-iodised salt to the water for added protection.
use bicarbonate of soda to increase ph to 7.4-7.6, test kh gh, reduce temperature so it is 64°f or lower, once ph is stable retest ammonia to ensure effective removal.
feed a balanced diet eyed food ie.. shrimp, fish etc.. as well as annelids ie.. earth worms etc..

 

[user9692]

Thanks so much for the info! I'm hoping they'll be able to run any necessary tests tomorrow.

When you say add 2g/l of non-iodised salt, do you mean the water she's in now (her hospital tub) only or both the tub AND her usual tank? I'm going to try baking soda for the pH, I had added crushed coral in a mesh bag but it's not helping out much. I'll get the testing kits for kh and gh and look into adding more variety to their diet. Really appreciate the help!

 

[wolfen]

the salt is to be used in both tub and tank, although the salinity levels are low they help protect against the effects of ammonia/nitrite spikes as well as helping fight against infections etc..