Advice for female Siamese fighters please

Hi, We have 4 Siamese fighters, 2 of which I think are either fighting each other or being attacked by another fish as they have what looks like chunks missing off their backs, hopefully the pictures show this. We have not witnessed any however being aggressive to each other however, has anyone else seen this or think if could be anything different like a disease? Any help will be appreciated .

Hi.

Yeah, looks like they've been fighting. I'd separate them and treat with aquarium salt. One also looks suspiciously male to me - the top one. Do they both have gravid spots?

How big is the tank?

Looks a lot like a saddleback strain of columnaris... can be brought on by stress.

NCaquatics said:

Looks a lot like a saddleback strain of columnaris... can be brought on by stress.

Click to expand...

I'd never heard of a saddleback strain of columnaris, but having done some research, you're right, it does look like saddleback columnaris.

FishkeeperLinz said:

Hi.

Yeah, looks like they've been fighting. I'd separate them and treat with aquarium salt. One also looks suspiciously male to me - the top one. Do they both have gravid spots?

How big is the tank?

Click to expand...

Thank you for replying.
The tank is 64l and both do the the Gravid spot so are female. It seems odd they both have patch in the same area which led me to think they were fighting

FishkeeperLinz said:

Hi.

Yeah, looks like they've been fighting. I'd separate them and treat with aquarium salt. One also looks suspiciously male to me - the top one. Do they both have gravid spots?

How big is the tank?

Click to expand...

Thank you for replying.
The tank is 64l and both do the the Gravid spot so are female. It seems odd they both have patch in the same area which led me to think they were fighting

NCaquatics said:

Looks a lot like a saddleback strain of columnaris... can be brought on by stress.

Click to expand...

I’ve just been reading up on this and I think you might have something there. Have you ever had it before? There seems to be conflicting advice for treatment t!

Ive dealt with the fin strain and the mouth rotting strain... ive only had success with my male betta who had a pretty moderate fin strain and the start of it on his face. I did lots of daily water changes to keep his water clean and he overcame it on his own... pure luck. Every single other one ive had passed.

It may make a difference, though, that i am in Canada and do not have access to petstore medications. There are some antibiotics people have had success with, but i cant confidently tell you which ones they are.