Brief information on injuries to ornamental fish
Main Symptoms: Abrasions, wounds, fin damage
Causes: Battles, sharp decorative objects, sharp-edged gravel
Curability: Depending on the severity good to not curable
Treatment: Many water changes, vitamin-rich food, remedies
external symptoms
- abrasions
- missing scales
- fin damage
- red spots
- wounds
Behave
internal symptoms
photos
Photos: Peter Hilt-Klein
Armored catfish with a badly inflamed injury. Only after death could a deep crack be recognized, which had become severely inflamed.
Photos: Norbert Heidbüchel
Old cardinal fish with missing eye
Photo: Lizzy T
White Black Molly with an inflamed eye. The cause is probably an injury.
Photos: Corinna Schollenberger
Goldfish that probably injured itself in the pond.
Photos: Klaus Dreymann
L 117 with bacterial infection after a bite. The infection was treated with Baytril.
Photo: Dirk Bender
Black Molly with a goggle eye. Because only one eye was affected, it was probably the result of an eye injury.
Photos: Kathleen Jasinski
Male betta that was probably injured. The injury faded. The wound was probably also infected by bacteria.
Photos: Christiane Maibaum
Koi whose right eye is cloudy and thick due to an injury.
Photos: Gunter Schmidt
Scalar with a large wound under the mouth. The animal could no longer eat because the food fell out of its mouth through the wound. The scalar died shortly after recording. The cause of the wound is unclear. The scalar behaved normally until shortly before its death and tried to eat. The wound was only noticed when it was practically as large as in the photo. Possible causes are e.g. B. a bacterial infection, hole disease and gill rot that has spread.
Photo: Stefan L.
Featherbeard catfish with scratch marks after ichthyo infestation.
Photo: Stefan L.
Azure cichlid whose eye has gone blind after being injured.
Newly purchased Magnificent fin sucker male with reddened anus.
Newly purchased lunar sucker female with skin injury. Another female also had a skin injury.
All animals were bought at the same time. They may have been injured while catching. Fin suckers hold on very tightly and are easily injured when detaching.
4 days later the redness on the male’s anus had gone away. The skin injuries of the females were no longer recognizable.
The anus the next day.
Another 2 days later the redness had almost completely disappeared.
Photos: Robert Christman
Photos: Olymp04 (Forum)
Cichlid with an injury, possibly caused by turf wars. The spot quickly got smaller without further treatment.
Photos: Petra Friedrich
40 cm long Polypterus ansorgii (bichir), which escaped from the tank during a move despite the aluminum grid. The animal probably lay on the ground for almost half a day, still showed signs of life and was put back.
The pool has been salted, treated with Esha/Exit and fitted with an oxygen diffuser.
The photos were taken two days after the fall.
Causes of injuries in ornamental fish
Injuries can have various causes. It is often a question of bite wounds if there are no suitable hiding places from aggressive housemates in too small aquaria. In some fish species, males who are particularly ready to spawn drift so hard that the affected female is injured. Turf wars can also lead to injuries.
Sharp-edged gravel or other furnishings with sharp edges also repeatedly lead to injuries. Every now and then a fish, especially some species of catfish, tries to squeeze itself into openings that are too small. They can then easily injure themselves when trying to free themselves.
treatment suggestions
Injuries that are recognized early often heal with optimal water quality and vitamin-rich food. However, injuries are often only recognized when they are already severely inflamed. In such cases, the bacterial infection must be treated. The earlier treatment is started, the better the chances of success.
Some injuries such as B. missing eyes, can also be a sign of aging.