What a mess!!!

[Phlipper]

Woke to find one of my Red Leopards in a bad way this morn'......not 100% sure what happened, could of been aggression with the other male as they dont get along particularly well at all. But the extent of the injuries looks more like he may of got wedged between a rock or similar as the injuries look like scrape marks..........what do you think ?

He's still in the main tank for the moment and have added a little salt and Melafix to hopefully ward off infection unless someone else has a better idea ?

[Phlipper]

The injuries or scrapes are on both sides and quite extensive :( and I estimate 30 % of his bady is affected. I'm tossing over to isolate him in another tank or just treat him in situation. He is well paired up with a female and to remove him now could cause him even more stress, he is eating and seems reasonably well, but obviously in some distress judging by the darkening of colour......all suggestions gratefully recieved

[Phlipper]

And the other side

[sammigold]

Mine scraped itself quite badly a while back and I left it in main tank and kept an eye on it and it healed itself relatively quickly.... I would just do what you have done so far and observe over next day or so... if no improvement then maybe you will have to isolate and do more... JMO

good luck

[samir]

looks like a candidate for metro to me, have you had problems with flukes or internal parasites ??? if yes i'd try prazi and levimasole, if no, I'd go metro.

[Phlipper]

looks like a candidate for metro to me, have you had problems with flukes or internal parasites ??? if yes i'd try prazi and levimasole, if no, I'd go metro.

:o It's a bad scrape or injury is all, it happened overnight, sorry if the picture didn't make it more obvious.

[aquafrogstuff]

I'm no expert, but if it were me I would leave him be and keep an eye on him. His dorsel and anal fins are up, so he's not in a disterous way. But he looks dark and unimpressed (if that's possible to be seen).

[Phlipper]

I will just leave him be for the monent and do a Melafix treatment and extra water changes, he is a bit peeved about it, but he is active, eating and still mingling with the other fish......just looks like hell !

[samir]

most scrapes usually heal overnight if not in a few hours. i hope its just that.

[Merrilyn]

He really did a job on himself Phil, didn't he. I think you're right with getting trapped behind or between something. It's just surface abrasions and nothing too serious, but it looks very dramatic.

If he was wedged behind something for a few hours (which is possible if it happened overnight) then the dark colouring is understandable.

Try with a light salt solution. I like melafix for other fish, but it doesn't seem to do anything for discus. Could be because of their particular slime coat, but I've never had much success with it. Salt seems to work better for skin damage on discus.

[Phlipper]

Thanx merrilyn, didn't know that about melafix and discus, I'll do a big water change today and add some more salt............so disappointing to see him in such a state, he is such a beautiful fish 8-)

[Merrilyn]

Discus are tough little guys Phil. They've survived for thousands of years.

He'll be back to his former glory in no time :P

[Phlipper]

Just an update.................this morning he is back to normal colour and eating like a pig, although he still looks like someone has got stuck into him with a wire brush 8-)

[Bill T.]

I have two pairs in my aquarium and at certain times the rivalry can become ferocious, resulting in scratches and dents for sure. Always looks dramatic, but they heal up very quick.
Glad to hear your fish is O.K.

[Phlipper]

Amazing :shock: 3 days on and hardly a mark to be seen, happily feeding and schooling again

[Mulisha]

Mate that's great to here and wow such lovely fish mate you should be proud :shock:


Rick.

[Phlipper]

Thanx, yeah they are rather nice 8-) but funny thing is.........the two males were always fighting over the girlie one, now they ignore her and have become great mates :shock: :shock: :shock: .........doesn't pay to think about it for too long :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: