11 replies to this topic

[mattknepley]

People get rope and floor burns. Apparently fish get filter burns. My blueheads have been some kind of spazzy since days started getting a little longer. One of 'em flipped out and wedged itself between the hob uptake tube and the back of the aquarium. It's a fairly beefy fish, so it was stuck pretty good. When it reverse-spazzed and blasted itself unstuck, in reverse, it left a major chuck of its scales behind.

This pic stinks, but it does give you an idea of the amount of scalage missing...

 P3080653.JPG   136.06KB   1 downloads

Any suggestions for preventative treatment? Or is this fish a lost cause? I've never seen a fish with this few scales that wasn't headed for the table. I'd prefer not to medicate the whole tank.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Wow, Watch it close for disease, first sign of disease, put it down. I would be much more ruthless than that myself. I would not waste time on it.

[smbass]

maybe a little extra salt to prevent infection and see what happens...

[mattknepley]

Thanks, guys. I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst, in this case.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Keep us posted. Call it an experiment. I would like to know if it was possible to recover from that many missing scales, and what the resulting scar looks like.

[mikez]

Wow, Watch it close for disease, first sign of disease, put it down. I would be much more ruthless than that myself. I would not waste time on it.

Exactly what I was gonna say.
Personally, I'm pretty merciless in situations like that. Too afraid whatever cooties invade the injury will spread to healthy fish.

[gerald]

Nocomis chubs, suckers, and other horny-headed things are built for battle, which includes pretty good skin & scale regeneration capabilities.  He/she may recover just fine, although the regrown scales wont be in neat rows like the originals.

[mattknepley]

Update: One month later and this is what he looks like:

 DSCN0094.JPG   113.9KB   0 downloads

He's the one on the right.

I'm saying "he" because both my Blueheads appeared to be sporting the most modest of tubercles in the same location/patterns as those from their Savannah River drainage should have. But I'm not positive; if they are tubercles these guys are going to wind up building MASSIVE nests as a means of over-compensating.

At any rate, I kept an eye on him; no meds whatsoever and did not isolate him. Seems to have healed up just fine. I think Gerald was spot on with his observation again. I have noticed since spring began that these boys have gotten pretty nutso- barreling around the tank. They seem to prefer bouncing off rocks, uplift tubes, and glass, (at full speed) to actually navigating around such inconveniences. Add that to their frequent jockeying for, well, whatever it is they think they're competing for, and both have picked up more than a couple abrasions. So far, so good. Another selling point for Blueheads!

 DSCN0096.JPG   107.86KB   0 downloads

This is the other Bluehead. A look at his gill flap shows a very minor scrape, and his dorsal shows evidence of some kind of infection he fought off last summer.

Lastly, yes, I know my housekeeping leaves much to be desired, but I promise the flash exaggerated what the glass looks like in person! I defer to the photobombing Yellowfin in the bottom pic to vouch for the livability of me fishes' quarters...

[Michael Wolfe]

Durable orange-finned peaceful playful hungry growing photogenic behemoths.

There is no end to the positives one can say about Nocomis leptocephalus.

[Matt DeLaVega]

This is awesome. I am glad you proved that it could survive, I would have never given him the chance, I might be less ruthless in the future.

[Irate Mormon]

I was gonna say "Melafix", but looks like I'm late to the game.

[Josh Blaylock]

I was gonna say "Melafix", but looks like I'm late to the game.

 

I was going to say the same thing.  I've had good success with Melafix and salt combo.  Plus, Melafix will make the room around your aquarium smell good