fishbite or parisite? (picture)

[sudz]

hehe... that rhymes... fishbite... parasite..
Anyway, last night before i went to bed, i took a gander at my tank (it makes me sleepy) and i noticed one of my black phantom tetra's with a nasty white raised marking on it.

I figured my dwarf gourami took a chunk out of it, i feel sorry for the poor guy. This is the more "runt" of the litter, he has no covering over his gills. If it was a bite, he's kucky he didn't get hit there!

anyway: if this is a bite, need i do anything? I 've put a bit more of big al's water conditioner in it, it said its good for their skin, figured it wouldn't hurt. He doesn't appear to act any differently either.

If this is some start of fungal growth (the spot is a bit puffed/raised) What should i run out and get?

Heres a pic: Thanks for any advice!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Could be a bite, IMO. Keep up on water changes and dose a bit of melafix. This should keep any secondary (fungal) infection from moving in.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

CAE sucking on the side of your fish?

Just a thought given CAE's known ability to go after fish slime. (how big is your CAE?)

 

[sudz]

My CAE is about... the length of 4 keys on your keyboard (at school, no ruler, lol)

Thats a possibility! Looks like the CAE got some flesh, do they normally do that?

Ever since i've put the CAE in my 44 gallon, he seems to stick to himself.

 

[Skyrmir]

Looks a lot like the random tumors I see on my Swordtails occasionaly. Those are a product of inbreeding mainly though. Hmm, it does look like there's some scales missing though, the spots on my swordtails usually just turn white and raise the scales, not remove them.

I'd agree with devilish, try some melafix and keep an eye on him. If it gets worse quarentine him. If it's a tumor, it might go away real slowly, but usually just leaves a slight raised pale bump that never really goes away.

 

[Devilishturtles]

CAE's could be a possibilty...but on something as fast as a tetra? And, I would think if it was about 4 inches long (4 keys?), that it would make a larger spot than that on the side of a body.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

4 keys is 2-2.5", and CAE can catch them at night (tetras sleep, CAE are active)..

I swapped my 2 Golden CAE (1 was 5", the other 2") because the 5" became territorial and started attacking flat bodied fish and the other smaller one. (that's why I mentioned it, when they do go after something, it will be a mid-lower tank fish, and be flat bodied)

 

[Devilishturtles]

Oh gees. 4 keys "on your keyboard". I should really read more carefully sometime. Was thinking to myself that you have some very small keys, Ozz.

I know CAE's can become very agressive, just would never have imagined it holding on long enough to do damage, with a tetra. Then again, maybe their mouths are much stronger than I am imagining.

 

[sudz]

My primary suspect is actually my dwarf gourami. I've seen him slowly swim up to a fish, open his mouth, then ram the fish with everything he's got. Normally thats to my rainbow fish, they'll chace for a bit, then settle down. Its only when the rainbow fish falls asleep in the wrong spot, and i've NEVER seen any wear or tear on the rainbow fish, i think he has a fairly hard hide!

Black phantom tetra's seem to bicker quite a bit amungst themselves, too. Lots of fin-nipping when i first got them. Funny thing is, this guy used to be the alpha of the group, even with his birth defect (exposed gill)

I'm not too worried, the mark has spread SLIGHTLY, but it looks like the flesh is gaining back its color. I have a feeling melafix is a generic cure for alot of things, so i'll pick it up next time i'm there (which is quite often these days, i've got 6-8 baby guppies that came today!!!)

Sorry about the "key's" i'm in systems analysis at my college... I'm thinking computers 99% of the time i'm there... the other 1% is probably shared between food and the oppisite sex, lol. Such is the life of a college student

 

[sudz]

this morning he was looking much better, the bite was starting to regain the grey color of the rest of the fish, and the swelling went down.

10 minutes ago, he was upside down dead in my javamoss. :-(

R.I.P

 

[talloulou]

Sorry Sudz

 

[rich311k]

I am sorry for your loss.

 

[sudz]

Definately not a good "fish" day. My new 15 gallon is cycling, i didn't think it would with filter media and plants... I have 2 "retarded" male guppies that i won at an action that were dead at the bottom. Probably bad genes mixed with the slight bit of ammonia in the tank (slightly less that.25, nitrates less than.50, nitrate at 5ppm)

I know the tank is habitable... i have 30 new fry living in it! They were "lemon" fish, ive only had them for less than a week now. A guy told me they SHOULD have been culls. (he breeded guppies too)

I'm starting to think that anyone that owns guppies likes to call themselves a "breeder"... no offence to anyone here though!

just a bad fish day:-(