my african childs gills

Question
i have a fish tank that has only african childs in it.i have had the same fish for 4 yrs. now my jewel child has what looks like part of his gill or some kind of meat of some sort hanging out the the back of his gill coming from under the gill plate. i dont know if its an injury from another fish or some thing inside the tank, or some kind of disease. i told the pet store about it and the said that MELAFIX would heal up an injury so i have been giving the proper amount every day now (4 out of 7) days. now it looks like it has a bubble coming off the meat that is showing. do you now what this could be? is it fixable?

Answer
Hi Mike,
If it doesn't appear to look like fungus and is not white/stringy/whispy or fuzzy then it is probably an injury.

Melafix is ok to use as a med. But I prefer to do water changes instead because clean water is a excellent healing remedy for fish and really helps their immune system. I would also try to feed a high quality food that has a good amount of vitamins.

You still can use melafix, but do daily 30-50% water changes if possible also.

I think it will heal in time. Cichlids are always subject to injuries like this but they can heal from surprisingly bad wounds.

I just hope he doesn't receive any further damage and all will be ok.
Karen~