Diagnose my altifrons geophagus' sores...

[bomber]

Hello to all,

I have had a great time raising these fish for about a year now. They have grown so much and are all beautiful. At the beginning I was feeding this tank live feeders(other fish only wanted live) and eventually all my fish are off of live now. These Geo's(ate just about anything from the start) were surprisingly taking down rosies like my tiger fish were. Out of the 7 altrifrons I have, 2 of them have these open sore like things on their sides and one has hith. I have been consistent with 50% water changes weekly since I introduced them to this tank.

my water parameters have been very consistently reading:

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrates 20ppm-40ppm

Has anyone ever seen or heard of these open pimple like sores near the base of the fishes pectoral fins?

Please tell me what this is and if I can get rid of it.
I will have a video of this shortly. I hope someone out there knows what I am talking about.

Thanks for helping Bomber.

 

[bomber]

Here is footage of the sores. What is it and how do I fix it?

[YT]WI4DtgoON5I[/YT]

 

[abarilot]

Sorry I havent had much experience with disease but until you hear from someone else Melafix is safe and effective.

 

[jgentry]

Looks like it has HITH to me. Geophagus often get small holes like that instead of the large ones like and oscar or pike would get. Your nitrates are on the high end for soft water amazon fish. You need to keep them below 20 for fish like altifrons and preferably always below 10. Do a large water change each of the next 3 days to get your nitrates down. From there you need to either step up your maintenance, thin out your stock, or feed less or possibly do all 3. The pits will never go away. Clean water will prevent them from increasing though.

The spots on it's pec fins are more then likely due to nitrates as well. Do water changes and raise the temp and add salt and it will most likely go away.

 

[bomber]

On day two with 50% water changes and salt. Tomorrow will be the third large water change with salt. After tomorrows water change I will step it up by feeding less and doing more water changes weekly. Thinning out my stock is not an option atm. I have growth attached to all my fish.

Hope the pectoral fins heal. Keep ya posted.
Thanks for the advice. Funny thing is, I already knew the answer but felt the need to ask anyways.

I love MFK for net working with others in the same hobby. None of my friends truly understand the love for fish like you guys do.

Thanks.

 

[jgentry]

On day two with 50% water changes and salt. Tomorrow will be the third large water change with salt. After tomorrows water change I will step it up by feeding less and doing more water changes weekly. Thinning out my stock is not an option atm. I have growth attached to all my fish.

Hope the pectoral fins heal. Keep ya posted.
Thanks for the advice. Funny thing is, I already knew the answer but felt the need to ask anyways.

I love MFK for net working with others in the same hobby. None of my friends truly understand the love for fish like you guys do.

Thanks.

Good luck, hope it heals up and does well for you.