wiley, sometimes fish scrape their heads or scales against something and the exterior looks a bit scraped up. IN time, the scales will grow back.
The only problem with this is, if there is an outbreak of any disease in the tank, the "hurt" fish will be less immune to fight off the bad bacteria.
I have rocks in the tank, once in a while, the fish, upon observation, will have the tops of their heads looking like a scuffed whitish color due to scraping their heads on the rock. I never put them in a hospital tank. Usually in about 3-4 weeks, the healing process kicks in and the scraped areas are healed.
as for in fighting, you may have a serious problem and a serious culprit (s).
scraped heads/scales are one thing - but the two fish you have in there, a convict and a bumblebee are two AGGRESSIVE fish, the rest are semi-aggrssive. I looked at your tank, there is very few caves to set up territory in your tank.
So this is my suggesstion: rescape your tank. I take it it is a 55 gallon. So get more caves/ledges built up on the left part of the tank, leave the other side for open space swimming.
Or you can go one better, upgrade to a 120-180 gallon tank with caves/ledges, and put all your fish in there and keep the bumblebee and convict in the 55 gallon tank with caves/ledges.
In other words, you have literally gangs of warfare in your tank. If it weren't for the instinct of the fish you have, I'd say it was rock scraping, but beings the type of fish you have, yes, the damage to that one fish is due to fighting or being picked on.
Let me ask you a question, without appearing offensive - why did you purchase such sem-aggressive and aggressive fish for a 55 gallon tank without territorial caves?
let us know how it goes
scales falling off
14 posts • Page 2 of 2
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AquamanCA - Posts: 29
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2010 10:02 pm
Do you have any pictures of him to show what he is looking like? My initial guess would be hole-in-the-head disease, also known as freshwater head or lateral line erosion. The scales falling off, nipped fins and faded color would be secondary to the initial disease. Nipped fins are caused when other fish nip at a weaker/sick fish. Most often fish actually die from secondary causes.
Hole-in-the-head has many causes but quite often is caused by a dinoflagellate parasite Hexamita. Treat this by quarantining the fish in a different tank and administer an antibiotic called metronidazole. Carefully monitor the quarantine tank so the parameters are consistent with the fish's needs. You will also want to improve the water quality of the main tank. Hexamita is often attributed to poor water quality and poor nutrition.
Good luck!
Edit to add: you might want to seriously consider adding a UV sterilizer. This will help to reduce and eliminate many disease related problems in the future.
Hole-in-the-head has many causes but quite often is caused by a dinoflagellate parasite Hexamita. Treat this by quarantining the fish in a different tank and administer an antibiotic called metronidazole. Carefully monitor the quarantine tank so the parameters are consistent with the fish's needs. You will also want to improve the water quality of the main tank. Hexamita is often attributed to poor water quality and poor nutrition.
Good luck!
Edit to add: you might want to seriously consider adding a UV sterilizer. This will help to reduce and eliminate many disease related problems in the future.
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wileycaper - Posts: 3
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:28 pm
wow thank you those were the answers i was hoping for!! I figured he was being picked on by the fins but his head looked different so i wondered if there could be a disease that would do the same I thought it might of been hole in head after looking into it but it must have been just the rubbing on rocks and the log, because he is all healed up and yes the johanni was being a prick i got him a lady friend she had eggs in her mouth in 2 days, and has been much better since! lol
And yasherkoach the guy at the store said they would all be good together i didnt realize they were all so agressive untill i got home and looked into it further! however, for the most part they have gotten along well but i think once they start getting bigger they will not! as the larger parrot ate my red tailed shark and im floored by it! i cant beleive it fit in its mouth i just caught the end of the tail hanging out!! is that common for a parrot?? anyone?? and i think your right i need more hiding spots so it's getting a remodel right shortly!!
Thank you all for your advice i appreciate it very much!!! it's a releif to know there are people on here willing to help the newbies!!
And yasherkoach the guy at the store said they would all be good together i didnt realize they were all so agressive untill i got home and looked into it further! however, for the most part they have gotten along well but i think once they start getting bigger they will not! as the larger parrot ate my red tailed shark and im floored by it! i cant beleive it fit in its mouth i just caught the end of the tail hanging out!! is that common for a parrot?? anyone?? and i think your right i need more hiding spots so it's getting a remodel right shortly!!
Thank you all for your advice i appreciate it very much!!! it's a releif to know there are people on here willing to help the newbies!!
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yasherkoach - Posts: 1306
- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm
The Red Parrot is generally peaceful with other fish of similar size, but can be timid or bullied by other Cichlids...outside of this, I am surprised the parrot ate your red tail shark...but then again, red parrot get to be about 8 inches and the redtail gets to be about 4 inches, so possibly this is the reason
good to see you are taking the all the advice in stride...hopefully in time, you will get a larger tank, but meanwhile, yes, more hiding places will help tremendously
let us know how it goes
good to see you are taking the all the advice in stride...hopefully in time, you will get a larger tank, but meanwhile, yes, more hiding places will help tremendously
let us know how it goes
