Weird Spots on Blkskrt Tetra

[Dreamroper]

Hi Everyone,

Recently I noticed that one of my Blackskirted Tetras looked like part of it's bottom fin was torn off. This is not the first time one of them has been injured. A few months ago, one had a chunk of the top fin torn off, but it grew back. I have a very quiet community tank and these are the only fish that have ever been injured. The bottom fin on this fish is growing back, but on it's tail, it looks like there are white growths-they almost look like eggs. The fish is eating and acting perfectly normal. No other fish in the tank have anything wrong with them. I've seen pictures of Ich, and it looks nothing like that. But what started out as one bump has grown into a larger mass. It's not huge, but it's definitely gotten larger and looks more and more like eggs.

Does anyone have any ideas? Trying to get a picture will be close to impossible so I hope that I've described it well.

Thanks-D

 

[aquandrew]

what are your tank parameters? wc schedule? sounds like they are nipping at each other, skirt tetras are hellish little nippers, and the affected area has become infected. how many do you have?

 

[Dreamroper]

what are your tank parameters? wc schedule? sounds like they are nipping at each other, skirt tetras are hellish little nippers, and the affected area has become infected. how many do you have?

Water parameters are perfect, and I do pwc every week. I have 3 of them and they don't nip at any other fish. It seems though that two are always together and one is left out. I'm not sure if the one that is injured is the same one that was hurt before. You could actually see meat the last time his/her top fin was torn, but t healed quickly. The tail didn't look like it was injured at all, that's why it's weird to see anything on it. Thanks Andrew-I appreciate the help-D

 

[aquandrew]

you may not see the aggression when you are around the tank, because the fish are too interested in watching you. theres a lot that happens in our tanks, without us seeing it . skirt tetras really need schools of 8+ to keep their aggression levels down. no problem, hope they heal and this doesn't keep happening. imo skirt tetras are good for tanks with larger semi-aggressive fish than in communities as they are often found. they often work as great dither fish, in cichlid tanks

 

[Dreamroper]

you may not see the aggression when you are around the tank, because the fish are too interested in watching you. theres a lot that happens in our tanks, without us seeing it . skirt tetras really need schools of 8+ to keep their aggression levels down. no problem, hope they heal and this doesn't keep happening. imo skirt tetras are good for tanks with larger semi-aggressive fish than in communities as they are often found. they often work as great dither fish, in cichlid tanks

I have two fairly large Angels. I got most of these fish over a short period of time as I was stocking my 36 gal tank. It's planted so there are lots of hiding places. I bet you're right that the one is getting picked on. I can't add anymore fish now-slightly overstocked as it is, but mostly little ones-endlers, guppies, danios, rasboras and some awesome lyre tailed swordfish. I also have a couple of coreys and an albino pleco. It's a happy little tank though.
Thanks Andrew-D

 

[Dreamroper]

By the way-what's a dither fish? My BF has a 125 gal African Cichlid tank. No way would I put those tetras in there!!

 

[aquandrew]

By the way-what's a dither fish? My BF has a 125 gal African Cichlid tank. No way would I put those tetras in there!!

yeah if they are large and aggressive then its a no go, but shy species that stay pretty small will benefit from having fish swimming above them. it makes them feel more secure, knowing that other fish are swimming about without getting eaten by a predator. with bigger species of cichlids, silver dollars work better as a dither. skirt tetras will get pretty beefy when full grown. your lucky your guppies are okay!!! my sister added 5 glow skirt tetras to her community and all 7 of her guppies had shredded tails in less than two days. mean little guys lol. now she asks me before adding anything, but she still has too many fish that I'm trying to get her to rehome some. at least she immediately returned the tetras. funny thing is, she got them from petco who has them for 8 dollars and she brought them to the store i buy my sw fish and coral. well they have great prices on everything EXCEPT glofish. they are 15 dollars each!!! they gave her 9$ store credit, for each, more than what she paid for them!!! sorry for the off topic story lol

 

[Dreamroper]

I guess maybe because I got most of my fish around the same time is primarily the reason I'm not having any problems. I got my tank set up and cycled and then slowly started adding stock. Almost everything in there has grown up together. I even had 2 wag tailed platys that had 1 fry and then they both died, but the fry is bigger now than my guppies. A lot of my fish have long flowing fins (I have 4 lyre tailed swordfish), and their fins are beautiful! It has to be fighting between just the skirted tetras I guess. Wouldn't you think that they'd go after some of the other fish that have all of the flowing fins though?

 

[aquandrew]

I guess maybe because I got most of my fish around the same time is primarily the reason I'm not having any problems. I got my tank set up and cycled and then slowly started adding stock. Almost everything in there has grown up together. I even had 2 wag tailed platys that had 1 fry and then they both died, but the fry is bigger now than my guppies. A lot of my fish have long flowing fins (I have 4 lyre tailed swordfish), and their fins are beautiful! It has to be fighting between just the skirted tetras I guess. Wouldn't you think that they'd go after some of the other fish that have all of the flowing fins though?

yeah, you would think so, but fish do much more or less of what they are expected to do. just know that if any fins start showing up missing, its probably them. and know that you are lucky that they haven't nipped anything yet well besides each other lol

 

[Canary bird]

I've had 5 black skirts, sadly my oldest passed away but these 4 are chilled out and don't bother anyone , and certainly don't nip anyone ! The one who passed was a stalker he was a sod ! I've also just adopted a hatchet fish in and amongst some others and he's a nippy one, so just been out for 3 more for now and see how they go ,

 

[Dreamroper]

yeah, you would think so, but fish do much more or less of what they are expected to do. just know that if any fins start showing up missing, its probably them. and know that you are lucky that they haven't nipped anything yet well besides each other lol

OMG-I came home tonight and one of my large black marble angels has her entire top fin almost all chewed off!! I need to get them rehomed right away. One of my danios was sucked up against the power head too-do you think they killed it also??