sick snakehead please help

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Mar 15, 2012
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cape town
Hi, on 5 may i would have my channa punctata for a year and this is the first time he has been sick.
From what i observe, he is lethargic and not swimming much since yesterday, he rests on my outlet pipes near the surface of the water.

his dorsal fins look tattered for no reason and his skin is almost flakey near the top of his head and has a dark blotch which i cant get a good look at but it looks almost like its dry.

Any help will be appreciated

I can confirm that my nitrite is 0, just did a 50% water change (weekly) so my nitrates should be low and my ph was abit high but is now on about 7.4.
Dont have ammonia test at the moment but tank been running for more than a year.

Recently got a gachua and got him in the tank with my punctata for the time being. 2-3 weeks so far.
As i type this i see the gachua has the same botch on his head but is still very active.

Photo3006.jpgPhoto3009.jpg
pic 1 is to show the fins tattered and pic 2 is from the top (its a crap pic but u can see the dark spot)

Thanks in advance

Photo3006.jpg

Photo3009.jpg
 
doesnt look like that, its not on his body either just on the top of the head, like a black circle, had a better look and it is as if there is a slight indent in the area as if it was chiseled out and has what looks like black spots, like if u use mspaint and select the spraycan and click once.
 
my micro actually got small flakey area only at first. i'd been put him on other tank for quarantine. and also i've put a few feeders (small carp fish) inside hoping he could eat them. but got worse for him all the feeders bite the affected area. really frustrated at that time because i had him from juvie. hope somebody else could help you on this.
 
scharoel said:
my micro actually got small flakey area only at first. i'd been put him on other tank for quarantine. and also i've put a few feeders (small carp fish) inside hoping he could eat them. but got worse for him all the feeders bite the affected area. really frustrated at that time because i had him from juvie. hope somebody else could help you on this.
Click to expand...

thanks buddy, appreciate the reponses
 
First separate the 2 snakeheads, even if you don't see aggression if ones hanging out at the top, and the has tattered fins discolored spots etc can all be caused by fights. Mixing snakehead species is a recipe for disaster. It sounds to me like the are establishing territory and the punctata is loosing.

Of course it could also be an infection introduced by the new fish in my experience channa are VERY sensitive to medications and have a fairly low tolerance to salt. I have found pimafix /melifix combination to be effective and safe combined with clean water and proper care but i wouldn't jump to that assumption.

more Pic's would help, also what temp's are you keeping them at ??

Long and short, step one is separate the 2 of them and keep it that way. Then keep the water clean to rule out cycle problems.Your PH is a bit high but as long as it's stable and as you keep the ammonia in check it shouldn't be a big deal, adding a new fish to a tank can cause a mini-cycle though and ammonia spikes as well so that's something else to test for and it would surprise me if it were sever enough to effect a snakehead.

It' really a guessing game without more pictures but a good start is separating them and testing all parameters.
As i mentioned my bet is our seeing physical damage from fights and it looks to be minimal, separate them and keep the water clean your punctata will be back to it's old self and healed up in no time.
 
thanks dc, i dont think they fighting as the puntata is 20cm and the gachua is about 6cm any confrontation and runs away at . But i will seperate and see if there is a difference.The water is about 26-27 degrees. Very interesting the fact that recently i started using aquarium salt about 3 weeks every water change.Hope it is as easy as that, and also the gachua will be in a separate tank soon anyway as i understand he is sub tropical. But the punctata is my first priority so i will put him in his own tank minus the salt, thanks so much
 
Your right It's unlikely that the smaller one's picking on a larger .

I would ditch the salt all together especially with hard water. I'd be doing the opposite and adding a lot's of driftwood/bogwood to help counteract the hardness. I also use oak leaves and or alder cones, they have the same effect as commercially cold Indian almond leaves but I prefer using the native species that grow here and are free to collect! I'm sure there are local hardwood species that you could use dried leave from as well just would take a bit of research to find what is safe.

If you recently started adding salt that could very well be the cause. Salt wouldn’t cause the damage directly, but if he's being uncomfortable/agitated by the salt he would stick near the surface and likely has jumped and hit the lid several times trying to get out of the water. which would cause the injuries and discoloration you described.

Channa will not hesitate to try and leave a tank if the water doesn’t suit them. When jumping out fails I’ve seen them sit on top of floating driftwood or tank objects out of the water to avoid poor water or aggressive tankmates.
 
i hear you, i have a big piece of drift wood i could add, so i will boil it down again put it in the hosp tank. if this works i will give you my left nut
 
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