Help Paradise Fish Cut

[Charlie990]

There is a red "cut" on one of our paradise fish. It's toward the center of the body. He was happily swimming before and never had any problems and now he just sits at the top of the tank floating there. I am not sure if it's eating I put some bloodworms on top of him he looked like he was trying to eat it. Other then that he is a little pale in color compared to the other 3 paradise fish in the tank. We don't think it is any fish that is bullying him we have 2 koi, 4 bala sharks, 2 baby rainbow sharks that we just got, 3 kissing gourami, and 2 gold goramis in a 65 gallon tank. We have a small 10 gallon filter in the corner of the tank and a penguin biowheel 350 filter for 75 gallon tanks. We do a 25% water change once a week and put aquarium salt in the water. Other then that, that's all we do. The food that everyone eats is flakes and bloodworms. What can we do to heal this "cut"? Thank you

 

[Baccus]

Welcome to the forum

 
We will have quite a few questions that will need answering regarding the tank and its maintenance before we will be able to fully help you.
 
Paradise fish can be quite aggressive towards each other and are generally best kept in pairs, but even then males can bully females relentlessly. Paradise fish and Gouramis are both Labryinth fish and even though come from similar habits are not best kept together in a tank due to the similar demands of section of tank they are going to prefer to live/ hang around in and even set up territory to breed in. The mix could work provided the gouramis are larger than the paradise fish and not quarrelsome.
Bala sharks may work with the paradise fish but from memory bala sharks are very active and will grow to substantial size.
How big are the two Koi? They will turn into monsters given time and room and really are best suited to a pond situation. Koi are also a cold water fish rather than tropical which is one reason that goldfish and Paradise fish can sometimes be kept together as paradise fish are very adaptable and one of the first "tropical" fish to survive the long journey from their homelands to Europe, thanks to their ability to breath air from the surface and tolerance of cool/ cold water.
All of your fish are pretty much soft water with some acidity type fish (aside from the koi), so I am wondering why you are adding Aquarium Salts to the water. Have you only just been adding them since the injury to the Paradise fish or has it been part of your tank rountine? Also when adding the aquarium salts have you also been testing the water regularly to ensure that it is not gradually increasing in salinity/ hardness beyond your fishes tolerances? Since the salts wont evaporate off with the water, but will concentrate/ intensify over time.

 

[Charlie990]

Hello,
 
We have been putting the aquarium salt in since setting up our tank because the pet store workers had told us too. We are complete beginners with fish, we asked the workers about all the fish being together and said they would be fine. Is it okay to not put salt? Won't the water be very chlorine concentrated? We use tap water, does this make a difference. The cut is seeming to be better, less red then before I will send a picture. Thank you.

 

[Ninjouzata]

How long has this tank been set up? Do you use a dechlorinator?
Is there perhaps a decoration of sorts it could have cut itself on? Pictures would be great.

 

[Charlie990]

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Here is the picture/ He is eating a little but is still only floating at the top by himself , occasionally will swim down for a second but go straight back up. 

There is no dechlorinator, however the fish store workers told us that putting the salt will help and the biowheel filter will be the same. We set this tank up a month ago. Maybe the plants could have, do you think we should take them out? Thanks so much

 

[Ninjouzata]

That link/picture isn't working for me. You might want to directly upload it here or on a photo sharing website such as imgur or photobucket and then post the link here.
 
Unfortunately a lot of store employees spread misinformation
 
If you have live plants they shouldn't have cut the fish, no. If they're plastic it could be possible. Are there any other decorations?

 

[Ch4rlie]

There is no dechlorinator, however the fish store workers told us that putting the salt will help and the biowheel filter will be the same. We set this tank up a month ago. Maybe the plants could have, do you think we should take them out? Thanks so much

 
Am afraid that link does not work for me either
 
And yes, store staff are not exactly at the forefront of fishkeeping knowledge a lot of the time, do bear in mind not ALL staff or LFS owners are like this but all too often they will say just about anything to get you to buy their products
 
I would urge you to get some tap safe / dechlorinator, most brands are ok, would also advise getting any that has aloe vera as an ingredient. Then add the correct dosage as per the bottle instructions directly into the tank.
 
Thats the first step.
 
Second step, salt is not a good idea if you do not know why or how to add salt. I would avoid this unless you have researched this thouroughly.
 
Third step, is this tank cycled? have you gone through a process of monitoring your tank water parameters and adding ammonia, or perhaps you added mature filter media from your other filter or anything like that?
 
Sorry if these questions are somewhat obvious to you but we do not know if these have been done or not. Usually its a process of elimination to try and figure out what could have caused this red cut and the odd behaviour of this fish.
 
Baccus has given a lot of good information regarding the usual behaviour traits in your stocking species, I am also thinking this may have been a result of bullying from one of your other aggressive specie?

 

[HarpyFishLover]

Unfortunately a lot of store employees spread misinformation

Thankfully I have a good LFS and the fish forums to back them up!