Is My Fish Injured?

[mark4785]

I have a German Blue Ram in my aquarium and for a long time now he has been rubbing the bottom side of himself ABOVE his pelvic fin. I thought the rubbing was due to protozoan as numerous other fish were also rubbing at the time. However, now he is the only one rubbing, and when he does he will do it in quick succesions. Before rubbing he may also shake all of his fins frantickly or dart forward as though their is a striking pain/itch or whatever you wan't to call it.

I grabbed the camera to get a close up of his body ABOVE the pelvic fin and it appears to me that there is some redenning in between each scale that shouldn't be there and possibly wasn't there when he was first bought.

Here is the close-up picture, what do you all think??

Here is a picture of the same fish about 2 months ago before the rubbing started:

Just to ensure that slime-disease isn't there, could someone tell me whether the colouring of the Ram is lighter (mucus-coated) than it should be based on the picture shown below please?

Thanks again,

Mark.

 

[Sesshis_grl]

Not positive but I think the coloring looks fine. It's what my GBR looked like when I bought her.

Maybe parasites? I've read that inflammation of the anus could be a sign of that, also scraping on objects sounds like parasites. Have you seen any worms coming out of him?

 

[mark4785]

Not positive but I think the coloring looks fine. It's what my GBR looked like when I bought her.

Maybe parasites? I've read that inflammation of the anus could be a sign of that, also scraping on objects sounds like parasites. Have you seen any worms coming out of him?

Hey, no there isn't any sign of worms and the faecies are normal looking.

Only symptom I see is repeated rubbing and flicking off of objects, and as said above, the GBR will jerk forward or shake like he's having a seizure in response to something (a sore or a parasite) on his body.

Background info:
1. I've treated tank for flukes with no luck.
2. I've treated tank for flukes and other protozoan parasites by using Waterlife Protozin with no luck.
3. Recently started to treat tank with Parazin after finding worms in filter system; this reduced the frequency of the rubbing.

Here is a picture of him from a few months ago, there is no reddening!

 

[mark4785]

Just re-worded my first post has I got a bit jumbled up.

 

[Sesshis_grl]

Heres a couple of sources that MIGHT help

This person seems to have similar problems
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/317118-constant-rubbing-flicking-pop-eye-help-please/

This is a site I try to use if somethings wrong
http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Parasitic%20Diseases

You might try PM'ing Wilder directly he/she seems to know a lot about diseases. I'm surprised that the parasite meds aren't working because it sounds like it to me, especially if there were worms in your tank. Hope some of this helps...I'm having problems myself so I know how it is Good Luck

 

[mark4785]

Heres a couple of sources that MIGHT help

This person seems to have similar problems
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/317118-constant-rubbing-flicking-pop-eye-help-please/

This is a site I try to use if somethings wrong
http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Parasitic%20Diseases

You might try PM'ing Wilder directly he/she seems to know a lot about diseases. I'm surprised that the parasite meds aren't working because it sounds like it to me, especially if there were worms in your tank. Hope some of this helps...I'm having problems myself so I know how it is Good Luck

I'm surprised they aren't working too, thats why I thought that the reddening of the body may be the cause of the rubbing. Having said that, some parasites can cause reddening. I think I will need some help with diagnosing what's wrong when I am able to re-treat the water (currently in the process of removing crustacean treatment).

 

[mark4785]

Any advice on what I should be treating for would be appreciated.

 

[wooch]

Any advice on what I should be treating for would be appreciated.

do you have the water stats?

any external reddening could be bacterial

 

[mark4785]

Any advice on what I should be treating for would be appreciated.

do you have the water stats?

any external reddening could be bacterial

Water stats are:

Ammonia 0 ppm.
Nitrite 0 ppm.
Nitrate 10 ppm.
PH: 7.4.

 

[WILDER]

All you can do now is find an lfs that do scrapings, to take a look under the microscope.

How many times have you used the sterazin by waterlife.

Have the worms been killed off yet.

 

[mark4785]

It would appear that the GBR starts to rub after I do gravel vacs.. maybe there is a lot of ammonia coming out of the gravel when I disturb it with the vac? I really don't know. What I do know is I'm afraid of doing gravel vacs now as it seems to be a part of the problem rather than the solution!

Would massive water changes after doing a gravel vac be a must in order to get the irritants out of the water??

All you can do now is find an lfs that do scrapings, to take a look under the microscope.

How many times have you used the sterazin by waterlife.

Have the worms been killed off yet.

I'm not that concerned about the worms as I still cannot see any clearly visible on the fishes body.

A few days ago I re-diagnosed the problem has being Flukes,

But today I've now found that gravel vacs seem to be causing ammonia secretion into the water. This may solely be the problem which is causing the rubbing.

 

[WILDER]

Dig the test tube into the gravel for some water and test it in ammonia, nitrite.