Heater Burn ...

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
I had a casualty yesterday in one of my tanks. One of my snakeskins managed to get wedged under a heater and must have panicked and really got stuck. I found it like that in the am so I have no idea how long it was there. Long enough to really get a serious burn. I am actually amazed its alive. I'm going to to try and use this as a learning tool and document it here. Sometimes these burns heal no problem on their own. This isn't going to be one of them. The Tissue is very burned and an infection has set in. I have moved the fish to a hospital tank and will be using Oxytetracycline on it. Its not my first choice but Its what I have and should work.

I have no idea if this fish will live of not. Its going to be a hard fix. If I see it suffering or declining in health I will euthanize it. But I hope to document its recovery here. I would be surprised if it didn't have a scar but Discus have surprised me before in their healing abilities. I did not think about doing this yesterday so we have to start on Day 2. Which is the first dose of antibiotics.

Day 2..

2018-11-18 13.31.16.jpg

Al

[jeep]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Wow, that's really bad. Good luck! I will be following!!!

[Second Hand Pat]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Wow, that looks bad. I’ll be following to Al.
Pat

[LizStreithorst]

Re: Heater Burn ...

At least you saved him, Al. I bet he will recover but have a big scar. I'm curious as to why you chose Oxytet rather than a heavy dose of salt or meth blue.

[danotaylor]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Holy cow Al, that's a bad burn. Is that 1 of your breeders? From a health care perspective, salt would be a helpful addition in the healing process, unless of it unmeasurably increases potency, or reduces the effectiveness, of the antibiotic.
All the best sir!!

[brewmaster15]

Re: Heater Burn ...

At least you saved him, Al. I bet he will recover but have a big scar. I'm curious as to why you chose Oxytet rather than a heavy dose of salt or meth blue.

Hi Liz,
Good question. Burned tissue is very susceptible to infection and the redness you see in the picture is indicative that its begun, The Burn is deep, past the skin. Salt is great for exterior abrasions and small cuts, but with an extensive area like this it could make it worse by drawing out the water from the fish and act as irritant stressing it out more. Meth Blue is a decent antifungal agent but I would not want to use it on a raw open wound.

Oxytetracycline is broad spectrum and absorbed by the fish even if it stops eating. This gives me a better chance of success. Its also the only antibiotic I have on hand. Its more slower acting than things like Kanamycin but its inexpensive and still very useful and easy to obtain. Its only real side effect in the fish is they can become skittish and jumpy.


hth,
al

[brewmaster15]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Holy cow Al, that's a bad burn. Is that 1 of your breeders? From a health care perspective, salt would be a helpful addition in the healing process, unless of it unmeasurably increases potency, or reduces the effectiveness, of the antibiotic.
All the best sir!!

Not one of my pairs but an adult I had plans for.

[LizStreithorst]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Hi Liz,
Good question. Burned tissue is very susceptible to infection and the redness you see in the picture is indicative that its begun, The Burn is deep, past the skin. Salt is great for exterior abrasions and small cuts, but with an extensive area like this it could make it worse by drawing out the water from the fish and act as irritant stressing it out more. Meth Blue is a decent antifungal agent but I would not want to use it on a raw open wound.

Oxytetracycline is broad spectrum and absorbed by the fish even if it stops eating. This gives me a better chance of success. Its also the only antibiotic I have on hand. Its more slower acting than things like Kanamycin but its inexpensive and still very useful and easy to obtain. Its only real side effect in the fish is they can become skittish and jumpy.


hth,
al

Good info to have, Al. I've always avoided Oxytetracycline because I heard about the jumpiness. The only antibiotic I have on hand is Kanamycin, but I bet it's so far out of date that it wouldn't do much good were I have to use it.

[slicksta]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Hi all,
I had a casualty yesterday in one of my tanks. One of my snakeskins managed to get wedged under a heater and must have panicked and really got stuck. I found it like that in the am so I have no idea how long it was there. Long enough to really get a serious burn. I am actually amazed its alive. I'm going to to try and use this as a learning tool and document it here. Sometimes these burns heal no problem on their own. This isn't going to be one of them. The Tissue is very burned and an infection has set in. I have moved the fish to a hospital tank and will be using Oxytetracycline on it. Its not my first choice but Its what I have and should work.

I have no idea if this fish will live of not. Its going to be a hard fix. If I see it suffering or declining in health I will euthanize it. But I hope to document its recovery here. I would be surprised if it didn't have a scar but Discus have surprised me before in their healing abilities. I did not think about doing this yesterday so we have to start on Day 2. Which is the first dose of antibiotics.

Day 2..

[ATTACH]119711[/ATTACH]

Al

I'd flip him over and drizzle a little lemon juice and a smear of tartar sauce.

[jimmyjoe]

Re: Heater Burn ...

I hope all goes well, it sure would be crazy for this beautiful example of a SS to go belly up. Well, if anybody can bring this beauty back it's you Al good luck with the doctoring this fish is in good hands. Jim in Ohio

[Adam S]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Wishing it the best, but that's a nasty looking burn. At least it's swimming upright.

Concerning the heater: is it mounted with suction cups? If so, do freak accidents like this happen enough to merit not mounting them?

[Megalodon]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Good info to have, Al. I've always avoided Oxytetracycline because I heard about the jumpiness. The only antibiotic I have on hand is Kanamycin, but I bet it's so far out of date that it wouldn't do much good were I have to use it.

I would choose kanamycin before tetracycline. Too many organisms are resistant to the latter.

Drugs in dry form have been found to retain their potency decades beyond their expiration date. So wait for a sale and stock up! Also before certain drugs are no longer available without a prescription.

[Maddie]

Re: Heater Burn ...

I just started back on discus and I had two discus get burned on the heater but not as bad as the burn on your discus. I left mine alone and by next day no scar. I would like to see how your discus turns out. They are tough fish and I'm sure yours will recover. Hopefully without too large of a scar.

[Pices]

Re: Heater Burn ...

Sorry about your fish Al. Poor guy! In his favor, he has 1 of the best Dr.’s in the discus world on his side.
Do you think mounting the heater on the floor of the tank could help avoid burns? I could see a fish trying to swim behind a heater on the side of the tank, but maybe not so much under one on the bottom? Maybe they’d just end up burning something else? Anyway, He’s a good case study for burns. Also, I think we should name him sparky.
Patty

[warblad79]

Re: Heater Burn ...

My Giant blue had a deep cut a year ago and became infected. I noticed there's cotton like that starts growing around the wound. So I gave him a quick PP bath and Furan 2/ kanaplex combined for about a week. Luckily, he survived but the scarring took a while to completely heal.