HELP, hole through fish!

Are you sure it isn't a "key-hole cichlid"? sorry!

I am a bit suspicious that it is a disease since diseases take a while to chew through tissue, usually damage is the culprit if the injury suddenly appeared. Can you post a picture? Do you have a puffer fish in the tank?

I'd like to see a picture. Can you google it and find something similar looking?

I agree, a photo would be of great help if you can get one.

Once in a while they can get caught on something in the tank and injure themselves, but it could be many other things too.

If at all possible, you may want to put it in it's own tank so it doesn't have to compete with the other fish or if it's possibly an illness, it won't be as apt to spread it to the other fish.

WOW. I've worked at LFS and seen just about everything, but that wins for craziest ##%^%$^ ever.

My guess is a wicked internal parasite or a really bad bacterial infection. Otherwise I dunno but would love to know if you can get a more specific answer.

I'd cull it regardless.

I'm wondering if it is worth stressing him out and trying to medicate him. I was just doing the math and realized this fish is at least six years old. i may just catch him and let him be...he is still actively swimming and going after food. So I guess he isn't in any real pain...hopefully.

Wow... is that hole clean through him or just on one side??

Looks like a puffer bite to me. They take chunks out of everything! But if you don't have any puffers or other vicious fish then its a mystery.

Zapins said:

Wow... is that hole clean through him or just on one side??

Looks like a puffer bite to me. They take chunks out of everything! But if you don't have any puffers or other vicious fish then its a mystery.

Click to expand...

The hole is clean through him. It is freaky looking!!!

I do not have any puffers in there. I have various danios, a couple of old neons, a handful of corys and ottos, some baby jade tiger barbs, a couple other pristillas, and a bunch of snails.

It is now day three since I noticed the hole and he is still kicking. The hole looks the same though.

i once had a snakeskin gourami that had similar problem. this was way back and i wonder if you had a similar experience. At first, there started to appear a large bump, and next thing you know, a large hole the size of a quarter inch is in place of the bump. The tissue surrounding the hole looks as if something popped out from the inside. i dont remember the name of the medication, but it was in pill format and turned the water green. the hole healed up, but you could have still seen the scaring.
it could have been a worm.

That is amazing!

I think there is a good chance it will make it if it is an injury. I once went spear fishing and shot at a fish. The spear pierced him in 2 places but it was able to tear free and escape. Its wounds looked fatal, but lo and behold 3 days later I came back to the same area and I saw it swimming around perfectly fine with the huge wounds starting to heal.

Why are it's eyes fogged over?

Probably either cataracts from old age (it is 6 yrs old) or camera flash.

You hit it right zapins. It is a little bit of both. That one eye is a little foggy but it is compounded by the flash and the fact that i needed to zoom and crop the pic. I did not have my macro lens handy and anytime I got close to the tank he would spaz and hide.

Oh, and as a side note, he is still kickin...looks exactly the same, whether that is good or bad I don't know.