Black Ghost Knife fish DISEASE?!

[Aisilence]

Hi!
I have a BGK for more than a year. He seemed fine all this time, but today I noticed some very odd white spot on him. Maybe an early stage of fungus? I have no idea, but It doesnt look so good. I'm really scared for it to not start growing bigger. It looks a bit like a wound when I look more closely, looks like a white cut if I may call it. I know BGK is very sensitive to medications, so I I'm not sure how to cure him... I did a 50% water change and planning to do 25% tomorrow. I raised water temperature to 30°C because somewhere I've read that it might help. He is eating tho. Not so actively as used to but still eating. He became more agressive today towards other fish. Maybe because he feels some skin irritation? Few times he tried scratching in decorations, but just a few times. I can't really isolate him, because I dont have other tank that is big enough for him... What should I do? Tomorrow I'll probably go buy a UV sterelizer and some more decorations for him to hide... cause sometimes he starts to fight with my pleco for a hiding place which is a log. Maybe this disease came out because of stress??

Sorry, cant tell now anything about my water parameters, cause I still didnt get a testing kit... but for many years it seemed always a fine and healthy tank. I do 25 or 50% water changes every week or two using Aquasafe and JBL Ferropol for plants.
I didn't put any chemicals and treatments besides the things I mentioned.
I have 3 angelfish, 4 siamese algae eaters, 1 small mastacembelus circumcinctus, 3 betta females, 1 lyretail killifish male and a female, 2 bristlenose plecos (one with long fins) and 5 corydoras.
Tank size is 125 l. After few months I will upgrade to 450 l.
I recently added a small mastacembelus circumcinctus in my tank but he's not aggressive at all. Eats fine, seems healthy, I doubt the problem came from him... I will add a photo if possible.

Hope it's curable

 

[NickAu]

I raised water temperature to 30°C

Thats way too warm about 26 deg c is perfect

I do 25 or 50% water changes every week or two

75% a week should be minimum

Can you post a photo of the fish.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Can you post a picture of the fish that clearly shows the white dot?
If the website says the image is too big set the camera resolution to the lowest setting and take more pics and try again.
Make sure you have the tank & room lights on and use the camera flash. Check the images on your pc before posting and make sure they aren't blury.

It's possible the spot is simply a cut or scratch and will heal up without any medication, but we need a photo first.

Do not add medications unless you know what the problem is. Do big water changes and clean up the tank first.

----------------------
Do not buy a UV steriliser. They are not necessary.

Do buy water test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and get your water tested for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH). You don't need test kits for GH and KH but it is good to know what the levels are. Your local pet shop should be able to test GH & KH for you.

Test the water quality of the tank and post the results (in numbers) here.

----------------------
Raising the water temperature to 30C can help if there is a protozoan infection but won't help with anything else. Pictures of the sick fish are required to work out if it is a protozoan infection.

Have you added any new fish or plants in the last 2 weeks?

----------------------
As Nick said, try to do a bigger water change each week. A 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate is a good way to keep the tank clean and also the first thing you should do when you get a sick fish. You should also wipe the inside of the glass down and clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.

----------------------
There is some information at the following link that might be helpful and is an expanded version of what I have just written. It's worth reading when you have some spare time.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

 

[Aisilence]

Here is a photo of the dot.

 

[Aisilence]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Can you post a picture of the fish that clearly shows the white dot?
If the website says the image is too big set the camera resolution to the lowest setting and take more pics and try again.
Make sure you have the tank & room lights on and use the camera flash. Check the images on your pc before posting and make sure they aren't blury.

It's possible the spot is simply a cut or scratch and will heal up without any medication, but we need a photo first.

Do not add medications unless you know what the problem is. Do big water changes and clean up the tank first.

----------------------
Do not buy a UV steriliser. They are not necessary.

Do buy water test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and get your water tested for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH). You don't need test kits for GH and KH but it is good to know what the levels are. Your local pet shop should be able to test GH & KH for you.

Test the water quality of the tank and post the results (in numbers) here.

----------------------
Raising the water temperature to 30C can help if there is a protozoan infection but won't help with anything else. Pictures of the sick fish are required to work out if it is a protozoan infection.

Have you added any new fish or plants in the last 2 weeks?

----------------------
As Nick said, try to do a bigger water change each week. A 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate is a good way to keep the tank clean and also the first thing you should do when you get a sick fish. You should also wipe the inside of the glass down and clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.

----------------------
There is some information at the following link that might be helpful and is an expanded version of what I have just written. It's worth reading when you have some spare time.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

Thank you for such informative reply! I will try to do it all and get a water testing kit tomorrow.

 

[Aisilence]

Have you added any new fish or plants in the last 2 weeks?

No new plants or decorations were added for over a year. But I added a new fish, which is called Mastacembelus Circumcinctus. I really feel doubtful that this disease came from him. He looks very healthy and active, still is a baby.

 

[Colin_T]

The white patch on the knife fish looks like a physical injury, possibly caused by getting caught in between something or maybe even being burnt on the aquarium heater. Depending on how big the eel is, they might have had an argument during the night and the eel bit him but they don't normally do that so it's unlikely that was the cause.

I would monitor the wound over the next week. If the tank is clean and the fish are healthy it should heal up by itself over the next week. Doing a 75% water change and gravel clean each day, along with cleaning the filter should help it heal.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If it goes white and fluffy then fungus has infected the wound. Currently it's just white, which is probably excess mucous to protect the area.

If it goes red and looks inflamed (looks lumpy or rough) then a bacterial infection has gotten into the wound. If it gets fungus or bacteria then post another pic asap. The picture you posted above is really good

 

[NickAu]

Im going with heater burn. Plus what Colin said

 

[Aisilence]

Thank you all, I will keep these things in mind and act. I'll post a photo if he starts getting more sick or just leave a note if he gets almost all cured successfuly.

 

[NickAu]

Remember, Water changes, Water changes, Water changes, There is no such thing as too much clean water.

 

[Byron]

Since upgrading to a larger tank was indicated in post #1, this is a good time to mention that this fish (Black Ghost Knifefish) will attain close to 20 inches (50 cm) though sometimes slightly less in an aquarium. This means it must have a tank that is at minimum 24 inches in width (front to back) and at least 6 feet in length. The spine is inflexible and the width is needed so the fish can turn. Anything less will stress it, and stress is the direct factor for 95% of all fish disease/health issues. To make matters worse, this fish is highly sensitive to most everything around it from light to other fish to aquascape and thus stress is a big issue.

 

[NickAu]

BGK's should be kept by advanced level fish keepers I looked into keeping one and am about to disagree with @Byron a little.

A BGK needs a tank that's at least 6 feet long 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall.

I so want one but do not have the tank space.

 

[Byron]

BGK's should be kept by advanced level fish keepers I looked into keeping one and am about to disagree with @Byron a little.

A BGK needs a tank that's at least 6 feet long 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall.

I so want one but do not have the tank space.

Funny that I was puzzling over my numbers when I posted earlier, as something wasn't adding up...I had the fish's length wrong. At 20 inches (50 cm) but usually slightly less in the aquarium, a 6X2 would be absolute minimum. But as always, a bit more space is not going to be detrimental.

 

[Aisilence]

A little update. So I've changed aquarium water about 4 times in 2 weeks if not more. After three days after a water change his wound really started getting better and heal up. But it healed up to the point like its showed in this attached photo (sorry, bit bad quality, was hard to catch him, it looks bit more in contrast and brighter in real). It looks like a new layer of skin almost done regrowing but more than a week it still stays the same like in a photo. It doesnt get any better than that. Will it always stay like this like a more voulnerable spot or a scar? Or will it completely heal after some time?

Btw. Im really working on getting a 450 l aquarium as soon as possible. After a month or so. Im sure he will need more space pretty soon, but for now, I think he still has enough space to swim from one corner to another. He has 2 favorite hiding places that covers him up completely, so I dont feel like he is stressed now too much. Going to do another water change tomorrow. Hope he'll get better.

 

[Colin_T]

It looks like it is healing well. It will probably leave a scar for a bit but it doesn't look infected. Just keep the tank clean and feed the fish a varied diet and it should be good soon.