I don't know what else to do

[Alauren1608]

Levy has been sick and tubbed with 100% daily water changes for a while now. Months to be more specific. It has been a serious battle. His tank parameters were off so I tubbed him and recycled his tank. When I returned him to his tank, he wouldn't eat, was less active, and had little white balls on the ends of his toes and one of his gill stalks. His mouth and belly looked like they had turned almost white, too, so I put him back in the tub with Indian Almond Leaves and started trying other types of foods: 3 types of pellets, night crawlers (cut up small, cut in chunks, left whole, and soaked in garlic), bloodworms, and salmon. Every once in a while he would eat a pellet and he ate one tiny sliver of salmon, but otherwise he stopped. I continued offering food, he continued to refuse it. I even force fed him once after doing a ton of research. It has been a lot.

For the fungal infection, I did 12 hrs of methylene blue and 12 hrs of clean dechlorinated water for 5 days and then went back to daily tub changes for a week. I tried methylene blue again and it seemed to be helping but he wasn't eating still, his gills were stubby, and he was stressed out. I tried mixing kanaplex with the methylene blue after about a month of trying to fix him. I did the kanaplex every other day for 3 days with the methylene blue for 12 hrs and then clean dechlorinated water for the next 24 hrs.

Then I ended up in the hospital for 5 days and my husband tried to keep up with the water changes. When I came back, he looked even worse. On New Year's, he started floating and couldn't get back down so I drained the water until he could touch the bottom of the tub, and put him in the fridge. I have maintained the temp of his water at 42° F and keep a 2nd tub of dechlorinated water in the fridge with him for nightly water changes. He has stopped floating but seems to have lost some of his slime coat and now has a random head wound which might have come from his suction cupped thermometer I found floating in his tank.

I have been trying to save him for over a month. I posted to Reddit originally and spent a lot of time reading through the threads available on here.

I do NOT have an exotic vet available nearby and they are horrible when I try calling. I'm out of ideas and am scared he's going to die tonight.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry this is so long. I'm losing hope

 

[wolfen]

how was the tank cycled? which parameters were off? is the tank ready now for him to go into?
what is in the tank ie.. type of filter, air stones, substrate if any etc..
use 100% holtfreters + 0.2g/magnesium sulphate (easier to use in tank if it is ready), once he has recovered reduce to 50% holtfreters + 0.1g/l magnesium sulphate.
fridging will slow the metabolism down to allow for healing but can also cause organ failure and should only be done as last resort.

 

[Alauren1608]

how was the tank cycled? which parameters were off? is the tank ready now for him to go into?
what is in the tank ie.. type of filter, air stones, substrate if any etc..
use 100% holtfreters + 0.2g/magnesium sulphate (easier to use in tank if it is ready), once he has recovered reduce to 50% holtfreters + 0.1g/l magnesium sulphate.
fridging will slow the metabolism down to allow for healing but can also cause organ failure and should only be done as last resort.

The tank cycled crashed with high levels of nitrites and ammonia. He had a lot of waste embedded in the sand substrate and under his hide. I tubbed him and changed the water and sand (rinsing the sponge filter in the old tank water NOT tap water) and I tested parameters for a week. The tank was holding at:

pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrate: 10 ppm

I have not checked the tank parameters recently, but intend on getting back to where it should be. I was trying to keep him tubbed until he was eating more consistently. Recently, I've been considering moving him back into the tank to see if it relieves stress but with him looking worse after my hospitalization (and now floating) I figured I shouldn't rush any major changes.

I feel horrible but I think the slime coat shedding is because I may have forgotten to add Prime to his tub of replacement water when prepping it for the fridge the day before. He is back in clean dechlorinated water but still stuck at the surface so I only filled it enough to cover him so his feet touch the ground.

For your advice, "use 100% holtfreters + 0.2g/magnesium sulphate (easier to use in tank if it is ready), once he has recovered reduce to 50% holtfreters + 0.1g/l magnesium sulphate." --- I don't understand how to mix it. I've looked at the links but it looks like a foreign language to me and I'm scared of making him worse by adding a bunch stuff. Can you please explain how to make it and what to do? Can you maybe explain it like I'm 5 years old? Because it's really confusing and feels like a science experiment.

Thank you so much for replying and trying to help.

 

[wolfen]

it may take time to get ingredients for holtfreters, for now use 2-3.5g/l non-iodised salt in any water he is in.
to make holtfreters you will need.. some scales (jewelers scales are easy to get hold off cheaply, needs to read down to 0.01 gram), two 1 litre bottles (need to be able to hold boiling water or use a jug then transfer when cold)
chemicals/minerals/salts needed are.. sodium chloride (non-iodised salt), calcium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), magnesium sulphate (non fragranced pure epsom salts).
measurements per litre for 100% holtfreters plus magnesium sulphate is.. 3.5 grams salt, 0.1 grams calcium chloride, 0.05 grams potassium chloride, 0.2 grams sodium bicarbonate, 0.2 grams magnesium sulphate.
the solution is made in two parts, in bottle one salt, calcium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium sulphate are added, in bottle two sodium bicarbonate is added.
if for example enough 100% holtfreters for 10 litres (20 litres at 50%) is needed add 35 grams of salt, 1 gram calcium chloride, 0.5 gram potasium chloride, 2 grams magnesium sulphate to bottle one, add half litre boiling water and shake/agitate until dissolved then add half litre water, allow to cool.
add 2 grams sodium bicarbonate to bottle two, add half litre water and shake/agitate until dissolved then add half litre water,
once ready to use add both bottles to 8 litres water to make 10 litres at 100% holtfreters, both bottles plus 18 litres for 50%.
100ml of both bottles plus 800ml will make a litre at 100% or 50ml of both bottles plus 800ml for 50%.