What is this on my Blackghost Knife Fish?

shaziasadiqah · Apr 23, 2021

as i watch my tank tonight i notice that my blackghost knife (BGK) have this small white stripe on his/her body that really worry me.

he/she just move to a new tank about two weeks ago and still hides a lot but eating normally and swimming around normally during the night. i do have a piece of driftwood for the tank but as far as i know it doesn't have sharp edges, but i may be wrong and maybe he/she accidentally cut his/her body somewhere. other than the driftwood i just have river stone rocks that are kind of like a ball and very smooth. I also don't have any aggressive fish in that tank other than my female angelfish who just lay eggs today (already move the eggs to another tank and now the female angel is not very aggressive anymore)

water parameter:

PH 6,5
GH 120
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate around 0-10

tank mates:
4 angelfish
6 platies
1 rabbit snail

Tank size 95gal (120x50x60cm)

the BGK have been with me for around 6 months and now probably 23cm.

i plan to do more water change to keep the water clean to avoid any infections if it is really just a wound, but i'm not sure and very worry.

can someone advise me what to do or tell me if it's a wound or bacteria or fungus infection?

all help/advice/input will be much appreciated. this he/she is my favorite fish and i'm really worry.

Thank you.

UnknownFishies · Apr 23, 2021

Looks like stress lines to me

Elephant nose 4 · Apr 23, 2021

Sometimes my elephant nose fish get small white lines on their sides if they've scratched their selves? Maybe something like that?

Wills · Apr 23, 2021

Looks like a wound from being scratched on decor. Your levels are good so just keep the tank as clean as possible and it should heal up in no time.

Wills

shaziasadiqah · Apr 23, 2021

UnknownFishies said:
Looks like stress lines to me

could be still stressed out because of moving to the new tank......

Elephant nose 4 said:
Sometimes my elephant nose fish get small white lines on their sides if they've scratched their selves? Maybe something like that?

yup, i was thinking about that, too. hopefully the scratch will heal soon and won't be some kind of nasty infection

shaziasadiqah · Apr 23, 2021

Wills said:
Looks like a wound from being scratched on decor. Your levels are good so just keep the tank as clean as possible and it should heal up in no time.

Wills

my other BGK have a little wound on the tail but i already re-home that BGK and when i go visit him/her i notice the wound already healed. i'm really hoping with this BGK it will be the same thing.

should i increase the water change? i usually do 50% weekly. maybe increase to daily? or twice a week?

Elephant nose 4 · Apr 23, 2021

Mine clear up really quickly with pwc.

shaziasadiqah · Apr 24, 2021

Elephant nose 4 said:
Mine clear up really quickly with pwc.

Thank you, i will do more water change until the scratch healed.

Colin_T · Apr 24, 2021

Any chance of pictures of the whole fish and the tank under normal light?

As others mentioned, it's most likely a scratch. Just do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. It should clear up by itself.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

itiwhetu · Apr 24, 2021

Looks like a war wound or a bump off something

shaziasadiqah · Apr 24, 2021

Colin_T said:
Any chance of pictures of the whole fish and the tank under normal light?

As others mentioned, it's most likely a scratch. Just do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. It should clear up by itself.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

I'll try to take a better picture, i have a video but i couldn't upload it here. i'll post on my YouTube and copy the link here.

I do 50% water change today and the new water is free of chlorine. i don't have chlorine from my tap but i still usually use Seachem Prime.

I think the driftwood scratch him because i do make a big space under the driftwood for the BGK to hide but he/she just won't hide in there and prefer the small gap that the driftwood have. I mean the driftwood have a hole in the middle and the BGK prefer to hide there even though i know it should be cramped in there. should i cover the hole with something to prevent him/her to go in there? i really don't want to stress the BGK though. I'm scared by covering the hiding spot it will stressed him/her.

itiwhetu said:
Looks like a war wound or a bump off something

currently i have 2 synodontis catfish in the tank with the BGK, they are not mine, they are my husband's but it really stresses me out knowing that they could grow big and my husband put them in a 20gal tank i move them to my biggest tank with the BGK. they won't be here for long since i'm already looking for someone who would adopt the synodontis.

i notice that the BGK really likes to push the synodontis a lot but i don't see the synodontis fighting back, they just left the BGK. could it be from it? or from the driftwood as i mentioned above?

itiwhetu · Apr 24, 2021

shaziasadiqah said:
I'll try to take a better picture, i have a video but i couldn't upload it here. i'll post on my YouTube and copy the link here.

I do 50% water change today and the new water is free of chlorine. i don't have chlorine from my tap but i still usually use Seachem Prime.

I think the driftwood scratch him because i do make a big space under the driftwood for the BGK to hide but he/she just won't hide in there and prefer the small gap that the driftwood have. I mean the driftwood have a hole in the middle and the BGK prefer to hide there even though i know it should be cramped in there. should i cover the hole with something to prevent him/her to go in there? i really don't want to stress the BGK though. I'm scared by covering the hiding spot it will stressed him/her.

currently i have 2 synodontis catfish in the tank with the BGK, they are not mine, they are my husband's but it really stresses me out knowing that they could grow big and my husband put them in a 20gal tank i move them to my biggest tank with the BGK. they won't be here for long since i'm already looking for someone who would adopt the synodontis.

i notice that the BGK really likes to push the synodontis a lot but i don't see the synodontis fighting back, they just left the BGK. could it be from it? or from the driftwood as i mentioned above?

The trouble starts when the lights go out. Synodontis and Black knife are not a great combination

itiwhetu · Apr 24, 2021

Black knife ghosts need peaceful fish to be around them. The least action as you can possibly create.

shaziasadiqah · Apr 24, 2021

Colin_T said:
Any chance of pictures of the whole fish and the tank under normal light?

As others mentioned, it's most likely a scratch. Just do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. It should clear up by itself.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

that's the hiding spot i was talking about.

this is the video of his scratch. i'll try to have more picture with normal light but it will be hard because with normal light he usually won't come out.

Colin_T · Apr 24, 2021

I wouldn't worry too much. Just do daily water changes and gravel cleans for a week. The fish will be fine.

You could put a piece of pvc pipe in the tank for the fish to hide in. Use some sandpaper to smooth off the edges and silicon some gravel or driftwood to the outside of the pipe. Or just let algae grow on it.

You could try to hollow out the wood so it is bigger inside. I wouldn't bother blocking it off with anything.

Depending on what species of Synodontis are in the tank, they might be ok or might have problems. But your black ghost knife fish is big enough and healthy enough to deal with anything in the tank. Black ghost knife fish aren't as weak as people think. They are nocturnal predators that can hold their own against most fish.

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What is this on my Blackghost Knife Fish?

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