Rainbowfish wound

[DeniseT]

Should I be worried about this wound-looking spot on my Boesemani Rainbowfish?

Background info: I bought some Celebes Rainbowfish and added them to my 60-gallon DT without quarantining them — lost 4 of the 5 Celebes and my last remaining Boesemani got sick (he’s over 7 years old now). Now that I found Aquarium Co-op’s videos, I know how to do a quarantine tank for the future. I just finished a course of Maracyn and ParaCleanse last week, primarily for this fish who I thought was a goner for sure. He’s feeling feisty again (he bit me several times while I was trying to plant new cryptocorynes tonight) and is back to eating well so I thought he was in the clear, until I noticed this weird spot on his side.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi Denise T. It looks like a wound to me. Is something new in the tank bullying him? Or maybe the illness they had made him itchy? Was he rubbing up against decor/rocks? Do you know ultimately what illness hit your tank?

Edited June 10, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[Colu]

I would do a course of maracyn just in case its a bacterial infection 

[DeniseT]

13 hours ago, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Hi Denise T. It looks like a wound to me. Is something new in the tank bullying him? Or maybe the illness they had made him itchy? Was he rubbing up against decor/rocks? Do you know ultimately what illness hit your tank?

Hi! Thank you so much for your reply! I don't know for sure what the illness was. One of the Celebes casualties had some tiny white dots on it before it died so I suspected ich. And you know what, now that I'm thinking about it and trying to remember, the Boesemani might have showed some tiny white dots as well??? And he did dart around the tank crazily for a day or so before he started gasping and swimming at the top of the tank right into where the HOB filter empties water into the tank. I gave the tank one full dose of Ich-X as part of the quarantine trio, but when I decided to do the full Maracyn treatment, I suspended giving the Ich-X since it wanted water changes before every additional dose and the Maracyn wanted no water changes until the end. Maybe the Boesemani injured himself way back then (~3 weeks ago) and I only just noticed?

The Boesemani is definitely not being bullied, though. He's far and away the biggest fish in the pond. :) I bought 4 Boesemani rainbows and 4 turquoise rainbows back in January of 2014, and he's the only one left now. His tank mates are 4 Corydoras, 8 lyretail guppies, the 1 Celebes rainbow, and the most recent addition -- 1 nerite snail.

On the topic of tank mates.... I was debating whether I should try more Celebes rainbows? They are supposed to be best in groups, and I now only have the one survivor. I certainly don't want to kill any more of them, but now I wonder if I could have kept my initial batch alive if I had known to do the quarantine tank and med trio immediately? Would you try them again or avoid them?

Thanks again!!

[DeniseT]

9 hours ago, Colu said:

I would do a course of maracyn just in case its a bacterial infection 

Hi! Thank you so much for your reply! It won't hurt to do Maracyn twice in a row, right? Just do a water change in between? Thanks again!

[Colu]

No doing two courses of maracyn won't hurt your benefial bacterial or your fish 

[Shardies]

if there was Ich in the tank sometimes  it bothers the fish and they will scratch themselves on stuff in the tank Like décor  and stuff. see if the other fish show signs of Ich maybe ? when any of my fish have an open wound I try to Quarantine them so the other fish don't pick at them or stress them out more and dose some anti bacterial. Hope that helps this fish looks like it will be beautiful once it recovers !  

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'm kind of reiterating what others have said and adding a little but:

1. Make sure ALL signs of Ich are gone, Inspect every fin and scale. If so then you're golden. If not I'd treat for Ich first myself. I suppose some might say you could do both but I'd do research myself before doing that- plus I don't like to overload my animals if they don't NEED the medication(s).

2. The wound is not necessarily a bacterial infection- if it is a wound- what the concern is that the would would GET a bacterial infection. that make sense? Your fish very likely flashed enough to have rubbed up against decor. Ich is very uncomfortable for them, the white spots are essentially scabs that are over the eggs of the parasite. Don't we all have scabs that itch on occasion? I know I have. I would be ok with leaving him in there instead of quarantining- the tank is already being treated and I wouldn't want to stress him more- again that's just me.

3. In simple terms the medication likely depleted the air supply. Any time I raise temps and/or add meds I put in an airstone and turn up my pumps (HOB, sponges too). So if you go with a 2nd course of Maracyn or treat for Ich or both, do your fishy friends a favor turn up the aggitation/air. (I remove my snails, cause I like them and don't want them to die from meds).

4. All that being said make sure to keep your water SUPER clean, test test test. If that means you have to do a waterchange before you redose a med, do it. Your fish will thank you for it. If you don't have to medicate, you want to watch your fish's wound- the cleaner the water the better, maybe some aquarium salt to keep the bad infections away and avoid further medications. It may heal perfectly fine without further intervention- but you know your fish and tank go with your gut. If you want to dose maracyn, dose it.

4. Tankmates. I feel like that's a ways off. Make sure you're kosher in your tank first. I think it would be good to replenish the fish that you lost- as you said they are better in groups and it's apparently what you wanted to begin with. Quarantine though! You don't want to go through this again.