Damaged

[sheree]

I have a gold gourami who decided to have a "mad half hour" zooming around the tank the other night. However, when i looked at her later she had a large chunk of scales missing from her back where she must have scratched herself on something. Its been a few days and it doesn't seem to be healing though it doesn't seem to be harming her. She is still eating though she is a lot quieter than normal.

 

[Rillan]

Is there anything in the tank that could have caused it? Rocks? Other fish? Get a treatment just incase. And if it was a rock then move it out.

 

[sylvia]

Do lots of frequent water changes and by an anti-finrot and fungus med to have handy if any white 'stuff' starts groing where the scales have been scraped off. With a little luck, she'll heal without infection.

 

[-germ-]

Also (confirmation Sylvia or other knowledgable person pls) i think you should keep an eye out for flicking, scratching, shimmying or any behavioural oddities, it seems odd that she took a sudden turn like that, which could possibly be irritation due to parasitic infection....
But wait for someone else to confirm this before you begin to worry.
Make sure you keep your tank extra clean in advance, to pre-empt any illnesses that may stem from her injury!
Seachem prime do an anti-stress treatment that contains some sort of fixer upper that healed my gouramis badly damaged fin in no time at all.

 

[sylvia]

Definitely agree with you germ. It's always good to keep an eye out for flicking etc - particularly after this sort of behaviour.