# whats wrong with my red eye tetra



## allergyprone (Jan 15, 2012)

My red eye tetra, Twitch, has this gash-like thing on her side. It first apeared as a smaller white bump that pushed her scales out, about a week ago and it has gotten bigger gradually, she hasn't been acting that weird (except she was mad at me for a couple days cause I had to bring her back to college it started prior to the move), it looks like it might be spreading to her eye cause there is a white spot above her eye. today it was more red then white and she has been extremely social. Do you think this is just a cut from hitting the decorations or one of the other fish (platies) bitting at her. Sorry there's no pic but she is very camra shy. I don't know if this is important but she is almost 2. the water is fine, about 74-76 degrees farenheit. I don't think this matters but when the lady at the pet store was getting her out of the tank she droped her about 8 ft and ever since she has seemed sort of epileptic (thus her name), but that was almost 1yr and a half ago.


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

You took home a fish that was dropped 8 feet? Hope you got a discount.

Tetras can live longer than 2 years. It could be an infection, it could be a tumor. Really hard to say with no photo.


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## allergyprone (Jan 15, 2012)

I finaly got a pic, but its not the greatest


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

Too blurry to tell anything other than the fact it's localized. Is this mass fuzzy? Under the skin? Does it look like a fluid is inside? 

Regardless, this fish should be quarantined until you understand what is happening.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

You should keep your tetra in warmer water like 78-84. I would treat with an antibacterial anti fungal medicine. I don't know a lot about tetras or diseases, but I would say that it probably has a bacterial infection if it's not fluffy looking.


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

A warmer temp will make a bacterial infection worse. And throwing meds in blindly is not good practice. This could be any number of things, including a tumor, nodular disease, or fish pox, all three of which have no cure.


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## allergyprone (Jan 15, 2012)

its kind of fluffy looking like a cotton ball. it apears to be coming from beneath her scales and is bending them to the side. i'll try and get a better pic


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

If it's fluffy it's probably a fungus. You can get fungicides at any store that sells fish stuff. Best option is to treat in a quarantine tank, but the sooner the better.

ETA: Unless there is also finrot, in which case it would more likely be cotton-wool, a flavobacterial infection. In that case you would want an antibiotic.

From your description, though, it sounds to me more like a fungal infection.


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## allergyprone (Jan 15, 2012)

thanks I will try a fungacide


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

but a warmer temp would help the fish's immune system.


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

Temperature has to be set based on the fish and the sickness, and the aquarist must be ready to change it in reaction to what's happening inside the tank.


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## allergyprone (Jan 15, 2012)

fungacide is working great  thanks for the help


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