1 hole in a red-top kimpuma

Q&A about diseases and their cure

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313ryans
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Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:10 pm

1 hole in a red-top kimpuma

Post by 313ryans »

I have a Kimpuma, which is very nice, that has a single bloody hole under his fin on the left flank. It has been there a while...I thought it was an injury. He is the smallest fish in with a mellow 3.5" Cobalt Zebra, a Feisty 3.5" Feuleborni, and a near hyper-dominant 4 inch Tropheus Duboisi. The Kimpuma battles them all, the only beat down he gets is from the Duboisi.

He is violet to red, which makes the hole difficult to see. Plus I have red lave rock caves and the Kimpuma is so darty I never get a close look at him; Until now and the hole in his side is big and inflamed.

I don't know the disease, but there is whitish flesh hanging off one black circular hole in his side. The water quality is good, the PH is high for the Duboisi, water circulation is excellent, I add Tanganyika salts every other water change. I think if it was a water problem, the Tropheus would not be so obnoxiously happy. He recently killed a female zebra, who was being courted by the Cobalt.

Diet may be a problem, as I keep it vegan and the Kimpuma is more of an omnivore. I thought he would be OK, given that the electric yellow cousins (which I used to keep for 10 years) never minded a veggie diet.

I could never get a pic, because he is darty...but any help would be appreciated.
Pam Chin
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Re: 1 hole in a red-top kimpuma

Post by Pam Chin »

Hi 313ryans,

I don't know all the facts about your tank. How big it is, all of the tankmates; their sizes, water parameters etc. But based on what you have told me, it is not good. Anytime you have a fish with an open sore, you are exposing your healthy fish to something that is more then likely highly contagious. It sounds like stress is responsible for this condition, where a injury as gotten infected, while most fish can heal themselves, when they are stressed they can't. So while you may be able to nurse this fish back to health, in a hospital tank, if you don't correct what is causing the stress, the fish will just stress out again. Worse yet, open sores on the flank can be negative gram disease, its hard to say. I can't recommend treatment, because I am not sure what it is. This is why you should isolate it and try to treat it or euthanize it. Sounds like tank mates are the issue in your case, and this often happens when you mix fish from two different areas. It is best not to mix Tanganyikan with Malawi.
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