Internal bleeding of pet fish?

[Luigikid2]

Hi,

I noticed something off with one of my pet fish today, and I got worried. I decided to created an account and asked about it here.

One of my fish appear to be more “redder” than usual, so I’m wondering if my fish is bleeding. I’m sorry if the photos are a little blurry, but hopefully you can see the redness.

I’m not sure if there is something wrong with my fish, so I’d really like some help as to what’s going on here. But he appears to be acting normal and swimming around fine.

In terms of some setup, I have a filter and a heater regulator in my tank, which I set to 26 degrees Celsius. The capacity of the tank is nearly 100 litres, but I had to put a divider (with water holes) in the tank at halfway length-wise. I did a water change and tank cleaning about 12 hours ago (from this post), and the fish appeared to be normal. The water level is higher than the divider, so the fish is able to swim between both halves of the tank (picture included, with all my four fish on the same side, when normally it should be two on each side, with the fish that is turning red normally on the right side).

I’m not exactly sure what species my fish are.

I just did a test of the water and I also included photos of it. For reference, the pH has always been low, but my fish have never acted abnormally to this. I’ve had them for about 2 years now.

Just in case this matters, whenever I do water changes or clean the tank, the fish sometimes panic and swim crazily, and occasionally knocking into the glass. So, I wondering maybe the fish hurt itself because of it. But after the water change and tank cleaning (again, 12 hours ago), I didn't notice the same redness as I do now.

I feed my fish 1-2 times a day, mostly flakes and the occasional peas (which was not very recent).

Can anyone please help me? Thanks in advance!

Edit: I just received word from my sister that she didn't see the fish look like this earlier today, so this must have started within 2-3 hours ago.

Edit2: Two of the fish are now back on their correct side of the divider. I included a photo of this just in case. This is the normal setup for my tank.

 

[CassCats]

It's possible injury from fighting. Cichlids are aggressive at various times, especially if any decide to spawn. And it looks like you have no decor at all for sight breaks. This allows fish to hide from view of an aggressor if they need be. I see some nipped fins, so there's definitely signs of there being fighting among them.

Another plausible cause is if the fish rammed the glass in fright. Either fleeing an aggressive tankmate or something spooked it in the night. It's a really bare tank without anything to offer security or shelter

Those are my immediate thoughts on this.

 

[Luigikid2]

It's possible injury from fighting. Cichlids are aggressive at various times, especially if any decide to spawn. And it looks like you have no decor at all for sight breaks. This allows fish to hide from view of an aggressor if they need be. I see some nipped fins, so there's definitely signs of there being fighting among them.

Another plausible cause is if the fish rammed the glass in fright. Either fleeing an aggressive tankmate or something spooked it in the night. It's a really bare tank without anything to offer security or shelter

Those are my immediate thoughts on this.

Hi, thanks so much for replying!

Oh, so it's more of a physical cause then? I used to have some artificial plants and decor in my tank, but I eventually removed then since a lot of waste builds up around them and doesn't get into the filter. But I can certainly put them back in.

I also did a bit of research and found that ammonia could be a potential cause for this. I'm mostly worried that my fish is sick or has some sort of disease. Is this a possibility, based on the photos?

Just to be safe, I performed a water change and cleaning again about an hour ago. I retested the water and the parameters are the same as before, except for the carbohydrate level, which is slightly lower than before. Not sure if that's a major issue though.

 

[CassCats]

Your strips don't show ammonia on them, so it's plausible, BUT usually the bleeding looks different and it's more commonly associated with nitrite poisoning.

I'd test for ammonia as well.

Regarding tests, the API master kit is better than the strips. It lasts longer and it's more accurate than strips. I highly recommend switching over to that.

The way the mouth looks overall bruised to me looks more of an injury, but regardless it's good to do a water change any time you feel something is off.



A tip for you if you are finding debris builds up too much around decor, use a powerhead or wavemaker. You can angle it at the bottom to push the debris to the filter intake. You can even put these on a timer so they don't run all the time if you feel the fish wouldn't like it. I've seen someone run a goldfish tank using them like that on a timer.
(I use them 24/7, I like my wave makers for surface agitation and flow, but that's me). But it's an idea for you if you don't like debris build up.

Substrate would help as well at least hide some debris, and it would hold a lot more beneficial bacteria as well as the filter bacteria as well. That's another thing to consider. Doesn't have to be a heavy layer either, just a thin layer.

 

[Luigikid2]

Your strips don't show ammonia on them, so it's plausible, BUT usually the bleeding looks different and it's more commonly associated with nitrite poisoning.

I'd test for ammonia as well.

Regarding tests, the API master kit is better than the strips. It lasts longer and it's more accurate than strips. I highly recommend switching over to that.

The way the mouth looks overall bruised to me looks more of an injury, but regardless it's good to do a water change any time you feel something is off.



A tip for you if you are finding debris builds up too much around decor, use a powerhead or wavemaker. You can angle it at the bottom to push the debris to the filter intake. You can even put these on a timer so they don't run all the time if you feel the fish wouldn't like it. I've seen someone run a goldfish tank using them like that on a timer.
(I use them 24/7, I like my wave makers for surface agitation and flow, but that's me). But it's an idea for you if you don't like debris build up.

Substrate would help as well at least hide some debris, and it would hold a lot more beneficial bacteria as well as the filter bacteria as well. That's another thing to consider. Doesn't have to be a heavy layer either, just a thin layer.

Thanks for the detailed advice! I'll definitely take it into consideration.

So, if the reason is injury, is there any treatment that I should provide for my fish to heal its injuries?

 

[MaloK]

You can begin with adding a layer of substrate, this will help the fishes to have a better sense of where the boundaries of their environment edges are. Cutting back the bottom reflection will surely help on the nervous behaviors.

Also install a dark backdrop on the back of the tank, that makes a lot of difference in the fish perception of his habitat.

They look like Amatitlania septemfasciata, But would need a good profile picture with fins spread and their length to be sure. They live in riverbeds that are typically covered in rocks and leaf litter. An arrangement of caves and hideouts made of slates and tall plants are good to create a more inviting domain.