Injury on the back of my sword tail help please

[Deathinate]

I noticed this on one of my swordtails and I’m not sure what the best treatment for this would be. I’m not sure if it’s from the other fish or he hurt himself or something else. He’s staying near the top of the tank and isn’t that active only moves around a lot for food.

 

[JemZ]

Welcome to the forum

This fish is actually a female, indicated by the lack of a "sword" on the tail.

I'm not sure what that is, I would do a large water change and test your water as well.

Consider cleaning your filter materials in tank water (No tap water) if that has not been done in the past couple of months as well.

Are any of the other fish showing signs of distress as well?

 

[Deathinate]

Welcome to the forum

This fish is actually a female, indicated by the lack of a "sword" on the tail.

I'm not sure what that is, I would do a large water change and test your water as well.

Consider cleaning your filter materials in tank water (No tap water) if that has not been done in the past couple of months as well.

Are any of the other fish showing signs of distress as well?

All the other fish are perfect and active. I recently got this one. It seems to have been hurt before it has scarring under and is missing one fin.

 

[JemZ]

He doesn't sound in good shape. I would do some frequent water changes for a while to encourage healing. Make sure to dechlorinate your water if it is coming from the tap.

Keep an eye on him to make sure he isn't being harassed by the other fish. Also, add an airstone to increase aeration.

What size is the tank? What other fish are in the tank?

 

[Guest14017]

She has an open wound and pretty significant damage to her dorsal fin. She needs to be moved to hospital. She is just a target for the other fish at this point. I would start with salt treatment and isolation and clean water for a bit. Leaving her with the others will just get her wounds picked at and make her worse.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish has an infection that is covered in excess mucous.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

-------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I also think she needs treatment - do you have a spare tank you use for quarantine or as a hospital tank?

If you could copy/paste the template below and answer all the questions you can, the more likely that people can give advice tailored to you! When we can't see the tank or fish ourselves, the more info you can give us, the better we can help

Tank size:
tank age:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:


Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible-a photo of the tank as well as the fish can be useful):

 

[Deathinate]

He doesn't sound in good shape. I would do some frequent water changes for a while to encourage healing. Make sure to dechlorinate your water if it is coming from the tap.

Keep an eye on him to make sure he isn't being harassed by the other fish. Also, add an airstone to increase aeration.

What size is the tank? What other fish are in the tank?

It’s a 20gal and I have 6 swordtails and 3 Molly’s

 

[JemZ]

It’s a 20gal and I have 6 swordtails and 3 Molly’s

I will let @emeraldking tell you whether this is too many or not, he's more of a livebearer expert than I.

How is she doing now? Any updates on the tank parameters?

 

[emeraldking]

I will let @emeraldking tell you whether this is too many or not, he's more of a livebearer expert than I.

How is she doing now? Any updates on the tank parameters?

Colin T already mentioned what's wrong with her and how to treat it. I can't real add something to it. For what should be told is already mentioned by others.

 

[JemZ]

Colin T already mentioned what's wrong with her and how to treat it. I can't real add something to it. For what should be told is already mentioned by others.

I was referring to the OP having 6 swordtails and 3 Molly's in one 20 gal. Would you say this is a reasonable amount of these fish in a tank of such size, having worked closely with swordtails yourself?

 

[emeraldking]

I was referring to the OP having 6 swordtails and 3 Molly's in one 20 gal. Would you say this is a reasonable amount of these fish in a tank of such size, having worked closely with swordtails yourself?

Oh, sorry.... I thought you were talking about the injury. My mistake...
The 20g should work for this amount. I'm still working with swordtails, btw...

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

The fish has an infection that is covered in excess mucous.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

-------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

^

This