Rainbowfish lost a few scales I think

[Fish4dawin]

Hi guys not been to active as I've had other stuff going on and not had much time to come here. Anyways, I've just been feeding my 33gallon and I've noticed one of my Males dwarf neon rainbows missing a few scales I believe. Is this from two Males sparring for a female? Also what should I treat this injury with?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Looks like a scrape injury. Large daily water changes will help heal that. You can add aquarium salt to reduce infection chances.

 

[Colin_T]

Probably the start of an ulcer. Unfortunately many ulcers in rainbowfish are caused by Tuberculosis marinum or other species of Fish TB.

You can try daily water changes and gravel cleans, and salt but it doesn't normally help.

Increasing the amount of plant matter in their diet does help to a degree, as does reducing the amount of frozen bloodworm in their diet.

Unfortunately, if it gets worse over the next month and turns into a big red ulcer, you need to euthanise the fish and don't add any new fish to the tank because it will probably be contaminated with fish TB.

If this si the case, you should avoid putting your hands or arms in the tank if you have cuts or scratches. Wash your hands and arms with warm soapy water after working in the tank. If you develop any small sores that don't heal, tell your doctor your fish might have TB and get the doctor to take a swab and send it off for culturing. Then find out what anti-biotics work on that particular strain of bacteria. Do not take anti-biotics until the swab has been cultured and tested in a lab.

 

[Fish4dawin]

Is it possible that the rest of the fish in the tank will pick up fish TB? Also thank you you guys for responding

 

[Colin_T]

Yes if one fish has TB, then everyone in the tank will usually develop it over the next 12-24 months.

It's pretty slow growing and affects rainbowfish quite a lot because they never evolved with it. Whereas other fishes form Asia and Europe tolerate it better because they evolved with TB in their waterways.

If you have males and females you can breed the fish and separate the eggs into a clean container of water. When they hatch you scoop the fry out and put them in a new container of water and grow them up separately. Some people do this and manage to get young that are free of the disease, but other people aren't as lucky.

Having said all that, try cleaning the tank conditions up (daily water change and gravel clean for a week), add a bit of salt, increase plant matter in their diet and see how they go. Sometimes it's just a sore and heals up.