Reticulated Hillstream Loach Injury

[Miranda Marie]

Hey guys! I was watching my tank tonight and noticed one of my RHL has what looks like a small cut on her(?) underside. Does anyone know if this us an injury or a sign of illness? It looks like a very thin cut and is red in a small area around it. She(?) is acting very normally, eating well and climbing all over everything per her usual. I'm not sure what she would have cut herself on. All the rocks in the tank are smooth, as is the wooden arches. Possibly it was one of the edges of her favorite log, but I'm not sure.

Also, any advice on what to do (or not) if it's an injury? 

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/30/2022 at 6:30 PM, Miranda Marie said:

Also, any advice on what to do (or not) if it's an injury?

what does the rest of the tank look like?  It's something where you'd likely want to move the fish to QT and treat with erythromycin (maracyn).  You want to keep an eye out for a secondary fungal infection as well.  The fish probably was climbing on a surface and got knicked or something.

[Miranda Marie]

On 11/30/2022 at 7:47 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

what does the rest of the tank look like?  It's something where you'd likely want to move the fish to QT and treat with erythromycin (maracyn).  You want to keep an eye out for a secondary fungal infection as well.  The fish probably was climbing on a surface and got knicked or something.

Here is the full tank. The likelihood of me being able to remove her is pretty low (I am disabled and it was everything I could do to get her from a bare bottomed quarantine tub into the main tank. As in, took me an hour and a half with help 😬). I do have Maracyn and am not against treating the full tank if that's possible?

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/30/2022 at 7:22 PM, Miranda Marie said:

Here is the full tank. The likelihood of me being able to remove her is pretty low (I am disabled and it was everything I could do to get her from a bare bottomed quarantine tub into the main tank. As in, took me an hour and a half with help 😬). I do have Maracyn and am not against treating the full tank if that's possible?

you can, there really shouldn't be a need to.  If you have anything else to put the fish in you'll thank yourself. Maracyn especially is an intensive one and you're daily dosing for 5 days.  😞

I know I went through a lot of packets when I had my tank to treat. 
 

On 11/30/2022 at 7:22 PM, Miranda Marie said:

Maybe there is a sharp bit of gravel? the rocks seem ok. The wood should be ok.  I had mine on sand, but I can't think that gravel is much of an issue because they'll be on the glass / rocks typically.  Is there any chance a piece of glass got into the tank somehow? (I had a thermometer crack on me and a lid chip a piece before)

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Miranda Marie]

On 11/30/2022 at 8:28 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

you can, there really shouldn't be a need to.  If you have anything else to put the fish in you'll thank yourself. Maracyn especially is an intensive one and you're daily dosing for 5 days.  😞

I know I went through a lot of packets when I had my tank to treat. 
 

Maybe there is a sharp bit of gravel? the rocks seem ok. The wood should be ok.  I had mine on sand, but I can't think that gravel is much of an issue because they'll be on the glass / rocks typically.  Is there any chance a piece of glass got into the tank somehow? (I had a thermometer crack on me and a lid chip a piece before)

 

Checked the thermometer and it's uncracked and fine. There's nothing else near the tank that could have broken into it. The gravel is all smooth, which is why I bought it (I wanted to make sure it would be fine for any future bottom dwellers I might get). So I'm really not sure where she managed to nick herself. 😬 

I have lots of stuff I could put her in (including a quarantine tub) but getting her out of the tank is gonna be really hard. So hm. My disability means it's hard to bend over the tank for more than a few minutes at a time so I really struggled to get her in the tank to begin with. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/30/2022 at 7:42 PM, Miranda Marie said:

So hm. My disability means it's hard to bend over the tank for more than a few minutes at a time so I really struggled to get her in the tank to begin with. 

Very sorry about that. Next time you see her... I use a specimen container and cup my hand over em. Open one side and coax them into the container, then move them.

Maybe that'll help you!? 🙂

[Biotope Biologist]

I’d monitor the injury before moving. Fish cut themselves all the time and as long as it doesn’t get infected it’ll be fine. You can add aquarium salt to the display tank if you would like. It’ll serve to increase slime coat production and make the healing process faster.

 

just watch for any browning or whitening of the area around the cut during feedings. It should stay red until it scabs over and heals if it’s a healthy cut.

[Miranda Marie]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:10 AM, Biotope Biologist said:

I’d monitor the injury before moving. Fish cut themselves all the time and as long as it doesn’t get infected it’ll be fine. You can add aquarium salt to the display tank if you would like. It’ll serve to increase slime coat production and make the healing process faster.

 

just watch for any browning or whitening of the area around the cut during feedings. It should stay red until it scabs over and heals if it’s a healthy cut.

Okay, thank you! I'll do that. It's easy for me to watch her, she stays on the front of the glass 99% of the time and isn't frightened of me at all.

[Miranda Marie]

I think I figured out what she cut herself on. *facepalms* There were two juvenile horned nerite snails in there that I had gotten from Aquahuna on Friday that didn't make it. I had meant to remove them when I was certain they hadn't made it (didn't move at all for 4 days and aquahuna was amazing and refunded me) but then I caught the flu and forgot. Well, I just noticed one of the shells with the tiny stabby pointy bits was sitting right next to where their wafer had happened to fall yesterday morning when I dropped it in. 🤦‍♀️ I didn't even notice because the horned nerites were the same size and color of my gravel and you have to squint to even notice they are there.

I've removed them and lesson learned. No horned nerites in with hillstream loaches. 😐

[nabokovfan87]

Eeesh, that's unfortunate.  Thankfully you know the reason for it now.

[Miranda Marie]

On 12/1/2022 at 1:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Eeesh, that's unfortunate.  Thankfully you know the reason for it now.

Yeah I didn't even think about it. Eh heh. They came with a variety pack and I stuck them in without thinking. At least now I know. 

[Miranda Marie]

Update! She looks much much better today. The wound is almost invisible unless I look really hard, so I think it looked worse than it was. Her behavior is still perfect and she is hogging the wafer I dropped in. XD Thanks so much, everyone!