Strange injury to goonch catfish

[Jd72]

I have a 9/10” “dwarf” goonch catfish I’ve had for around 8/9 months now with no issues but have opened the tank this evening to find he has a strange hole like injury to his torso he seems fine in himself but am unsure as to whether it’s a bite injury from a tank mate or something else does anyone have any ideas?

The current tank setup is a 5ft riverscape with fast flowing water (23-24c) and high oxygenation
Tankmates are
2x climbing perch 6”
1 x Florida gar 8”
1 x synodontis 11”
1 x Lima shovelnose 4”

Just from examining the injury I can’t place the mark to any specific tank mate as it’s almost a perfect circle and has the center bored out so I’d assume that rules out the gar and Lima
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I know goonch are delicate fish in the hobby so I don’t particularly want to go and disturb him if it’s a freak accident or nothing to worry about

 

[Jd72]

After spending a while examining the behaviour in the tank I’m leaning toward it being an injury caused by one of the climbing perch due to the shape of the wound but I’m still unsure on whether they’d be able to cause the bore like injury in the centre of the wound

 

[deeda]

Could be a heater burn if you have one in the tank and don't have a heater guard on it.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Mmmmmmm strange one based on your tankmates. Mine received something similar in a post I have on here but that was from a vulture cat which have the dentition to cause it. From what I can tell, if they are the only occupants then none of his tank mates could cause it alone. Ok it may be that someone took s as bite and then it’s been picked at but you would probably notice that and that it was getting worse. Best guess to date is a heater burn.

 

[Jd72]

That was one of my initial thoughts but it’s not a traditional glass heater it’s one of the smaller heaters in a plastic covering so it would be bizarre that a heater that shape and material leaves a circular burn mark

 

[Jd72]

I’m leaning toward it being an perch bite as I’ve noticed they’ve been quite aggressive when feeding today and when I’ve approached the glass and they probably have the most circular mouth but I just can’t quite figure out the smaller bore hole inside the wound as it’s almost eel or lamprey like in the way it’s a smaller crater inside of the initial circular wound

 

[Jd72]

I’ve never really been able to get a look at their teeth but I’d imagine a perch bite wouldn’t leave such a clean crater

 

[wednesday13]

looks like a heater burn or a pleco mouth…. Being a goonch not really needing a heater and no pleco listed id assume both those are out tho.

Sadly it may be this (EUS)





Ive seen this first hand in a certain river i fish. Im in an old steel mill town and the river was used by many plants to dump chemicals and also cool their steel/equipment. Ive caught catfish, pike and musky all with these ulcers/lesions anywhere from 24”-40”. Most reading suggests clean water as a cure and salt. Id maybe pull him out and put betadine solution on the would to try and stop any infection. Even if it isnt a disease the betadine will help heal the wound as well as a mild “salting”…

Hope im wrong here… IME goonch drop like flies with poor water quality which would rule out (EUS)… They are also farmed now so it could be where it came from and not ur fault at all. Some may disagree, but there are waaaaay too many “golden” goonch for them not to be farmed. They are recently easier to aquire in large numbers, keep alive, and tolerate warmer temps than the goonch of “yesterdays” that were wild caught from the highlands of india. Most are from indochina now.

 

[Jd72]

I couldn’t agree more regarding the farming of goonch it makes figuring out the temperature they’ll tolerate mostly guess work I’ve found this one seems to prefer the lower end of tropical so far. Unfortunately I think you may be on to something with that suggestion I’ll get him into a hospital tank with some salts asap I was just holding off on doing that as I know they are sensitive but If EUS is a possibility it’s better to be safe

 

[Jd72]

I’ll try and grab some clearer photos of the wound when he’s out of the tank tomorrow the only part that doesn’t sit right with me is the white outline around the wound as upon further inspection it does look like a jaw mark but it’s just lost to me what could have done it so I’m going to assume it’s EUS at the moment to be safe and like you say either way the salt will help him heal up either way