Loaches Online Forum

i have a sich rasbora ennealepis. behaviour is fine, just badly coloured. on one side it looks like there is a small white patch - possibly a scale injury. its not whitespot, or fluffy like fungus. sorry, no picture as yet, but i will try again. there is also some blackish colouration on the fish that is not normal.

this picture was taken just after moving the fish, and he has lost all his colour - he doesnt normally look like this, but you can more clearly see the abnormal black colour. it looks worse than when the fish is not stressed



sorry for the bad photo - my camera died and this is from my phone.

what would you reccommend treating him with? melafix and pimafix didnt do anything, he has got a bit worse since treating with them

Poor color is sort of generic for 'Fish does not feel well' it is not a diagnosis of any sort.

Without knowing what is wrong, the only thing I suggest is to increase water changes and gravel vacs to remove organics and nitrogen from the water as much as you can.

Are there other fish the same species? Are they healthy?
Is this a new fish? Did it come to you with the black areas?

A white patch that is just the size of a scale or two might indeed be a couple of missing scales. It would be a clean wound, bright white. It would heal in just a day or two.

Flavobacteria columnaris will not look bright at all, it may look somewhat grey-white. It might start small, but it spreads.

thanks Diana

yes, i have a shoal of them which have been in the tank for about 2 years - no problems with any of the others, and this one hasnt always had dark miscolouration.

i did have some water quality issues a while back. i was on holiday for 3 weeks, my mum did a water change for me, and feeding. when i came home a lot of algae had grown and there was dirt in the java moss. so i have increased water changes and been working away to get rid of the algae and dirt. nitrate was 10 - 20 i think - i find it very hard to read the tests clearly. nitrite and ammonia 0. i hope its all OK again now

if the white patch doesnt heal after a couple of days in Q, is there anything you suggest for treating columnaris?

Columnaris is a Gram-negative bacteria that responds to most antibiotics.
The package may also list Fin Rot, Mouth 'Fungus' (it is not a fungus), septicemia, and several other diseases.

I have had good results on Angels with Melafix and Pimafix.
Do not use it on primitive fish such as Bichers, Arowanas, and similar fish. Some people here at Loaches have had problems with Clown Loaches that might be linked to these meds.