# Fish Help, Loss of scales after Ick Battle



## Fisheye (Nov 19, 2007)

I'm pretty much a newbie fish owner and I broken one of the sacred laws of fish buying and that's bringing home new fish without having them rest in a spare tank for the two weeks. So an outbreak of ick happened and hit every one in the tank. 

I treated the ick successfully with raised temperature, salt (pre soaked and in 12 hour intervals in recommended amounts) and quick cure (1 drop per gallon) with removed filtration, but one of the fantail fish seemed to be hit hard, but I'm not exactly sure what did it.

I think she was recovering about a month ago from a wound on the side of her right gill which she got mysteriously as well. It's a small spot and it was healing nicely. But I think it wore her defenses down, as when the ick hit, she was covered with it while the others were lightly effected. 

So on day two of the treatments for ick, I noted that the poor fantail had lost a lot of scales on her left side and was clamping her fins on that side as well, but not the other. And her dorsal fin was starting to deteriorate as well. So I rushed her out of the tank and put her in the hospital tank, treating with Maracyn and Maracyn-Two and a far lighter dosage of salt. It seems to be working, although it took longer to get rid of the ick, but I'm worried about the scale loss and what to expect. I've not really seen anyone talk about this on various websites and forums. 

Anyway, it's day 4 of the M&M2 treatment today, the ick disappeared yesterday, her dorsal fin seems to be healed, but the scales I'm worried about. I look, but I cannot see any cotton fungus, or any further scale loss. I think I see something very small and black, but I cannot tell what that is, if it's anything at all. Looks a bit like two slivers, but it could be something else. There has been no further scale loss and she is swimming normally. Her appetite is below normal. I put a lot of flakes in there and she'll eat some or spit them out about half the time. I know she's eating though, as she's still pooping a fair amount. She's does not seem out of it, but does like to hide when I'm close and not show me her tender side, so it's a real challenge to inspect her closely. 

So I'm open to suggestions. I don't know what to expect other than death from the scale loss, but she's hanging in there, looks to actually survive this if I can manage to do this correctly from this point on. I just don't know where to go from here as she's about to be taken off the meds soon (a 5 day treatment) and I'm a little scared to do this. And I'm also scared to put her in with the others as well as her side looks extra tender to me where she probably would not like her friends to be with bumping into her side. The water in the main tank is still high on the salts and will be for a few more days to make sure the icks are surely defeated, so I'd probably be a week before I should consider that, I suppose. So I'm thinking it could be better if she'll stay in her hospital tank for a couple weeks or perhaps forever? I really don't know how to cope with a heavy scale loss fish after recovery, assuming she'll revive and not die off soon. 

So I hope someone can tell me what to expect or help me though this. Thanks for reading and to all those that reply.


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## SueM (Jan 23, 2004)

Fisheye, First find a magnifying glass. Then taking a soft net, hold her up to the glass with her tender side towards you, take a very close look at those "slivers" make sure what they are.... a scare... parasites? while your there, take a very good look at her gills, are they swollen? can she close them fully? is there anything unusually colored in them? Are her eyes clear & bright? or cloudy? On the healthy scales, do they lay flat? or do they lift up a little? Look at her fins.... any tiny red lines running through them? does she keep them clamped next to her body?

I know it sounds like a lot, but she probably has more then one thing wrong. A secondary infection caused by the first. So write down anything at all and let us know.
Sue


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## Fisheye (Nov 19, 2007)

Thanks for replying. Unfortunately, the hospital tank is so full of meds that it's too cloudy to see anything even when I do put her to the glass. So what I had to do is put her in a cup to check her out. She seemed strong enough to endure this stressor and was behaving like a normal fantail should by moving around and being very responsive. 

Upon examination, I had seen no cloudy eyes, they are normal. No red lined or clamping of fins. She clamped her effected side on the first day of the trouble, but has not done so since. 

No apparent infection around the gills, no discoloring other than the effected spot. It does not seem that her gills are puffy nor swollen and they seem to open and close normally to me. Her healthy side is nothing out of the ordinary, the scales are flat and pre-event normal. She does breath heavily currently, but the medicine water in the hospital tank is pretty thick in meds which cannot be good to breath in and I think that's making her breath heavily. Tomorrow is supposed to be the day I take her off of the med water, but I'm wondering if another 5 day treatment is recommended. 

I looked at the blackness though a jewelers monocular and it's a small line, much like a cut and not little vermin. I'm thinking she could have cut herself on one of the toys some how and the cut had turned black in its healing. This blackness is at the bottom left of the infection and about 3 millimeter in length. It's a direct line as if is she swam by something sharp. I'm not sure what. Then again, I don't know how she got the round dot-like damage on her right gill either nearly 2 months ago. I'm thinking she could be more fragile than the others...

Looking more though the monocular, I still see her scales on her odd looking side and I'm not entirely certain that they fell out now. Do fish have a secondary line of scales under the ones that we normally see? Or do scales change color when they get an injury? They should be orange like the rest of her body, but they are white and not flat. They seem larger than they should be which would make me think it's the start of pine-cone disease, but that usually happens on both sides and not just one side, correct? I'm thinking she may have some internal puffiness or perhaps a bruise on her left side brought upon the cut. 

Anyway I attempted to take a video of her, but it's very blurry, but I'm hoping it's of some help. 

http://www.magicalgirl.com/Mustache.AVI

As you can see she does have a poo string, so she's still eating and pooing, although she won't really eat when I'm watching, preferring to spit it out rather than swallowing her flakes. She now hides when she sees me, which is not how she was like before as she was friendly enough, so I leave her alone in another room to get relaxation. 

Anyway, her name is Mustache. Strange name, but she has a strange sense of humor. She has black pigmentation around her mouth that resembles a Mustache/Goatee. No where else, other than the very tips of her fins has blackness, so I really love the joke she's playing on us humans who has such silly things on our faces. I assume she's a she as she does not have an anal bump, which I'm told means the fantail is a girl. 

Thanks for reading. I am wondering what to do for tomorrow as she is supposed to go off the meds. She seems to be healing well enough and is strong but shy. I don't see any cotton fuzz appearing and her fin rot disappeared, but I'm rather nervous about tomorrow and these things appearing.


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## Niki2105 (Apr 12, 2005)

I am unable to view your video and was wondering if you could get a picture of her injured side??? 
What dose her poo look like? Healty fish poo is usually med.- to short in length and is about the same color as the food being fed.
Is there any sharp edged ordiaments in the tank that she may have gotten hurt on? If so maybe you should remove it just incase one of your other fish become hurt too. 
A fish can lose scales, but not normally more than a couple. The scales will usually grow back within a few months, though they may not be excatly how they looked before(ex. a pearlscale's will usually grow back flat). Because your fish has lost more then just a few i am guessing there is or was some kind of infection or bacteria causeing the scale loss so you may not see them grow back as fast. I have been doing some reading trying to find out what might have caused all the scales to fall off but so far have found nothing.
Did you take her off the medication? How is she now? How are the rest of your fish?


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