Flowerhorn head injury

[Hrold514]

I received my zz flowwrhorn from thailand. It travelled for almost 3 days. On its journey going here in canada he suffered a scratch on its kok.

At first it was a small scratch since his kok was deflated due to stress of travelling in a plastic bag.

Few days after i got him, his kok starting to grow back. I noticed a flesh is coming out from where the sceatch he had.

What can i do to help this guy?

 

[islandguy11]

Again, welcome to the forum Harold Yeah it looks like he might have hit or scraped his head, then it appears even though it was healing he got a secondary infection (that little lump).

Personally I would do ~30% water change then treat with aquarium salt soon after or as you re-fill the tank. The lump should go down in a day or two and then hopefully gone within about a week (esp. if water is kept clean, he's eating and not stressed). The aquarium salt will also help to reduce his overall stress.

However if it doesn't go away after salt treatment then you might need to consider using some anti-bacterial medicine (which others could advise you about better about than I).

Btw, when adding salt to the tank don't forget to pre-dissolve it in some tank water by shaking it up in a bottle or something, and try to avoid pouring it directly where your fish is (distract him with your fingers on one side of tank while you pour on the other -- I once burned the tips off my Kamfa's tail fins because I got lazy and just dumped the salt directly into the tank, then he rushed over and got a salt crystal shower, next morning about an inch off each tail fin was gone Fortunately they healed back fully).

Good luck and hope he heals up quickly!