Convict Pair

[dcarmor927]

I have had this pair of convicts for about 5 days...the male was healthy up until yesterday i noticed his back end seems a little sketchy...I noticed the females right, idk, pectoral fin? (whatever its called) was a little bit rotted...since ive got them ive been dosing Melafix and ive seen and improvement in the female, but the male all of a sudden looks bad...is it fin rot or could it be a bite? i have them in a 55 gallon with a salvini...since i am dosing already i figured this wasnt an emergency...just wanted to know what happened to them...

also water stats:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
pH:7.8
(I just did a water change yesterday, i do 25-50% every monday)

OH! and also is the male dyed? he has some random black spots on his right side only, its towards the anal fin, or is it just a random coloration...it looks like paint almost...

THE MALE

THE FEMALE

thanks for any help!!

 

[foley69]

its probably the salvini as the pair will be getting aggressive towards it so its not taking no #### off them and fighting back just getting them better than they get him

 

[Athena]

Even if they are not actually being fin-nipped, if there are lots of high speed chases going on it's very easy for their fins to get torn on things in the tank - wood, rocks, ornaments and even some sturdy, thick leaves plants can cause a little nick on a fin.

As you are dosing with Melafix this should help to speed the healing up of the fins. But if your convicts and salvini are going to be constantly at war you may find the stress will lead to illness eventually. You might want to think about rehousing one or the other...

Another thing to watch is the male at spawning time. I recently had a situation where the male wanted to mate but the female didn't and he almost bullied her to death and left her fins in an awful mess. I had to rescue her and put her in a breeding trap for a couple of days till he calmed down (mine are the short-bodied variety so not very big) and she had de-stressed (that Melafix works really quickly at mending fins, too!).

Regards - Athena

 

[dcarmor927]

thanks for the replies...The convicts haven't bothered the salvini once...she is always the one to start it...

I was most keen on the convicts but i really like the salvini...they are pretty small still but if problems persist i will take action...
Thanks again!

 

[shroob]

If I remember rightly you've had the cons for a while and just got the salvini a couple of days ago. If you havn't changed anything maintinance wise and everything is the same I wouldn't have thought it to be fin rot. I too would blame the salvini. They are nastly little things with dagger like teeth. I know cons have a reputation of being tough but I would put my money on a salvini in a fight any day.

The convict doesn't appear to be dyed, well not that I can tell from the photo anyway. Is it just the photo or is the water level that low? If thats in the 55 gallon I would say you're doing too big water changes as it looks like theres just 5" or so of water.

 

[dcarmor927]

i've only had the cons for a week now...the salvini for 5 days...The salvini for sure would beat the cons, but she only gets at them when they get too close to his cave...

also thats not my water level lol...he is under a big piece of slate, which is pretty level, so the bubbles come up and run along the bottom of the rock so yea, thats not the water surface...

Thanks for the reply

 

[dcarmor927]

just thought id say they healed up nice and quick...even the big tares in the males dorsal are back to normal...only took about a week and half