What are these red sores on my gold barb ?

[candymancan]

I have had 3 adult sized gold barbs for probably 2 years now.. They have always done fine in my 27g hexagon, but the last like oh maybe 9 months or so 1 of my male gold barbs has had like an open wound or red sore on his side... it never went away... It did heal slowely but then came back and now its on his bottom side and a small spot on his other side... He doesn't seem to be in any pain but im sure he is.. He still swims around like normal with the other barbs and they don't fight with eachother at all... They always hang out with eachother in my thick bush of plants...

I have done a google search and found many posts involving gold barbs and the same looking red sores.... No one knows what it is... Anyone have any idea ??

 

[jlk]

It looks like a bacterial infection and its appearance reminds me of ulcer disease in koi and goldfish. Is he the only affected fish?

I would suggest qt'ing him and either treating him with an antibiotic medicated food or a tank treatment. Med food will be the best bet as this needs to be treated at an internal level. Although Medi Koi is intended for pond fish, it has a great mix of antibiotics and can be found easily on Amazon and other retailers though it may need to be broken up to be fed to him. Angelsplus also sells antibiotic flakes for tropicals but they are strictly gram positive or gram negative- you will likely need both as I do not know if this a gram positive or gram negative infection. Hope this helps some!

 

[candymancan]

From what I gathered online it is most likely Hemorrhagic septicemia so I decided to get some API Tripple Sulfa and some aquarium salt and see if that works