Ram cichlid injury/illness need help identifying!!

[BudsZA]

Hey guys, it’s been a bit but I’m back lol.

I’ve been super busy the last 6 months travelling and moving house and my fish have been in the care of my parents. I see them every couple weeks and they do water changes for me every now and then.

I am home for a few days and noticed a big white gash/sore on my ram cichlid. I’m leaning more toward it being a fresh wound rather than some type of illness but I really have no idea.

Your opinion will be greatly appreciated

 

[Ichthys]

Looks like it’s been spooked and had a head-on crash into something. If so, keep the water nice and it should heal. You might want to add a half dose of a fungicide just in case.

 

[TNG]

Looks like a lesion, usually started with a tiny bump on the head or the body and gets infected within a few days.
Unfortunately I have had no success treating it.

 

[kribensis12]

To give a different perspective, Rams are notorious for getting Hole In The Head (HITH). I would encourage you to monitor closely and it it appears to be getting worse at all, to treat it with Metro.

It may just be a fresh wound, so water changes and general husbandry would help. If it gets worse at all, then it's a clear sign of illness.

 

[GaryE]

That's a common enough problem, sadly, especially withfish that need pristine water as Rams do. It's an infection that becomes common when water changes are too intermittent and you have delicate softwater Cichlids like Rams. If it hasn't gotten into his sinuses, you can fight it off with metro if it is sold where you are, or aggressive water changing. It's unfortunate we can't be in 2 places at once to be sure our fish get weekly changes, and it's hard to expect that of family watching fish for you.

The pitting we see with hole in the head, or the white dead skin patches we see with that one are arguments for weekly water changing. I'm sure you don't need to be convinced, and this is a result of things outside your control, but it's what I have seen before many times with SA Cichlids in stores that don't do maintenance in crowded tanks.

Another possibility to be explored, and that is treatable - look closely with a flashlight behind the patch to see if there is a velverty texture on the undestroyed skin behind it, as velvet/oodinium parasites will also create wounds that look like that, right in that area of the head.