Return Of The Hole In Green Neon Tetra

[Katty]

20 gallon planted tank, water changes ~20% once a week. Animals in tank are 1 keyhole cichlid, 8 green neon tetras, 5 bronze corys, and 2 otocinclus. I dose the tank every other day with flourish excel. I have not added anything new to the tank for at least a year. Tank is 78 degrees F, has 0 ppm ammonia

Symptoms: So I about two years ago I had a very similar, if not identical, problem (link here) where a strange whitish hole appeared in one of my Green Neon tetras. Never did figure out what it was.

So now, one of my green neons is having about the same exact problem I had two years ago, this is the same batch of tetras. It is still swimming, shoaling, and eating(as far as I can tell). But its swimming movements are more exaggerated than normal. It has a large hole midway down its left side with whitish tissue showing on the inside. I just noticed this last night but I'm not sure how long this has been going on. Anyone know what this is?

Also, as a side note, my Keyhole Cichlid has a whitish mark on his forehead, but I remember the other day I accidentally startled him and he ran his head into the glass pretty hard. Is that just some damage from hitting his head or might it also be related to the hole in the tetra?

Pictures:

The tetra with the hole is the one on top, just one pic, its so hard to photograph one specific tetra..

Keyhole cichlid's head thing

 

[fluttermoth]

This 'hole' thing on green neons seems to be quite common; mine have had it, and someone else on here did too a few weeks ago. Mine cleared up with a course of Myxazin.

Oddly enough, our oscar had a similiar looking thing, in the same place, as your keyhole a few weeks ago, and it turned out to be injury from where he was getting his head inside a drainpipe to throw it around It cleared up with nothing but plenty of clean water (and removal of the drainpipe!). I'm not saying it is the same, but it might be worth checking your tank for something that he could be scraping it on.

I doubt the two are related but, of course, it can't be ruled out.

 

[Katty]

Hmm, that is interesting. I have Maracyn Two on hand, but no spare tanks to use for quarantine (trapped in a dorm). Antibiotics would mess with the cycle, right?

I'm not sure what he would be scraping his head on, other than that crash with the glass the other day. I'll keep my eye on him though.

 

[fluttermoth]

Well, I'm in the UK, and we can't get antibiotics without a vets prescription, so I have no experience using it in tanks.

Myxazin is for internal bacterial infections, so I'd recommend you try and find a med for that. You probably want to treat the whole tank anyway; some of the others might be infected, even if they're not showing symptoms.

 

[Katty]

Hmm... Do you know what the active ingredient of myxazin is? And do you know if it messes with the cycle of the tank at all? I don't think anything by the name of Myxazin is sold in the US, but maybe there is an equivalent.

 

[fluttermoth]

I don't know what the active ingredient is but if you get a med that's for internal bacterial infections it will more than likely do the trick

They shouldn't knock out your filter bacteria; those colonies should be far too robust to be affected.

 

[Katty]

Hmm... The hole just keeps getting bigger, and it's really difficult to get down to the pet store so I'm looking online at Petco to see if they even carry anything... Pretty slim selection. They have Melafix, does that stuff even work??

I also have Quick Cure on hand, it's meant for ich and has Malachite Green and Formalin in it. I'm not sure if that would be useful against bacterial infections at all though.

 

[fluttermoth]

Try the Quick Cure; I'm fairly sure Myxazin has malachite green in it.

 

[Katty]

Well, I guess I'll try that then and see how it goes.

 

[fluttermoth]

Best of luck. I do hope he little chap pulls through; they're lovely fish, one of my very favourites.

 

[Katty]

Hmm, another white hole/bumps have appeared on the other side of the same fish, just opposite the first giant white hole. I'm not really sure what to make of this at all... I don't really even know how the poor thing is still alive with such a big hole like that.

The keyhole cichlid no longer has the little mark on his head, at least.

 

[Katty]

O_O Oh god...

The hole now goes straight through and I can see out the other side

 

[fluttermoth]

Oh, wow, that's bad.

I've never had to deal with anything like that, so I'm not sure what to suggest now