Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 12 inch male comet jumped out of my holding tank and was out for God only knows how long. When I found him he still had gill action so I tossed him back in.(carefully) He actually has made it for 4 days now, but is going to lose 60% of his tail to dry out and damage form flopping around on the floor. What my main concern is, is that he is shedding the entire top layer of skin, off his body. I asume that this is from drying out. I am treating him with Melafix. If anyone can suggest an additional treatment I would appritiate it. I would really hate to lose this fish, especially since the poor guy has made it for this long. Thanks for your help.

Melafix is a good treatment. I would also add an air stone if you don't already have one for him. It will just allow him to focus more energy on healing and less on stressing to find enough oxygen. There is less oxygen in water than in the air, and fish's gills are awesome devices, but they have to work hard to find enough oxygen for the fish to have enough to just swim. Adding the air stone would help him have more energy to expend on healing. You could also add Pimafix. It's not necessary, but as he is losing the epidermis (top layer of his skin) he is also losing his slime coating as well as possibly his scales. He will be prone to infections and other problems while he doesn't have his slime coat. It is like the defense system for them kind of like our immune system.

Hope this helps. I have one more suggestion (if you haven't done so already) - keep a lid on the tank to avoid this happening again.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Thanks I have already added a bubble strip and I have dosed the tank with stress coat as well. Also I have completely covered the tank, and added a weight to the top as these are large fish. It was only ment as a temp holding tank, my reg tank has a very good lid. So far he is acting ok, if not great, and we have so far managed to stave off infection.

That's great! I hope he pulls through this whole ordeal. Keep us posted on how he's doing.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."