First Time Dealing with a Bichir Injury...

[rsandelius]

Hey guys... the bichir was hunting last night and must have caught himself on something. I just heard some strong splashing around for a split second and when I went over to see what was going on, I saw that he had a scrape going across the top of his head. It basically looked like he just scraped the scales off and it was white. There's no depth to the scrape at all, just more of a change of color going from the dark brown to white.

Do I need to medicate? Or maybe just give a dose of the water conditioner/slime coat supplement that I put in the new water during each water change? I'm guessing that you guys will tell me that I don't have to do anything, but I'd rather hear that affirmation than not know about some random infection that bichirs are prone to... lol

 

[Fried_fish]

seems like a light scratch. Melafix shoud work nicely

 

[BigPleco]

I'd have to agree with Fried Fish...go with some melafix

 

[rsandelius]

Just use the recommended dosage? Under? Over? I don't know whether bichirs are especially sensitive to medication or not...

 

[catfish]

i would just add some salt thats what i did when my bichirs attacked each other and ripped each others fins. i had to get rid of one but both of them healed fine.

 

[rsandelius]

Table salt? Sea Salt?

 

[Fried_fish]

he means aquarium salt ...the dosage shoud say 1 teaspoon per 10 gallon... I would do melafix and not use salt unless in dire need . The reason is too long to explain. Just stay with regular recommended dosage and take out your carbon for a day.

 

[rsandelius]

Excellent! Thanks a ton!

 

[beblondie]

If you really need to fuss just do a waterchange and add some melafix.Basicaly I think from your description it scraped off some slimcoat and it will be replaced in 12-24 hours-Anne

 

[rsandelius]

While we're on the topic... I notice that he's been swimming up and down the sides of the tank, sometimes pretty furiously... he'll go all the way around the tank... sometimes he'll thrash around at the top, right around where I have some floating plastic plants... is this anything that I should worry about? Is this a sign that he's starting to outgrow the tank? Or is this just a sign of him being bored/playful?