Rivulatus has holes in his head

[BFRA]

we have gold vine in our tank and I think our big male rivulatus has chased someone and hit his head on the end on a piece. He has a few holes in the front of his head and now just hangs out at the back of the tank. Normally he chases us as we walk passed.
His fins are down also.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

What is gold vine?

How long has it been like that for?
If it happened over night then it is quite a nasty wound and depending on how far in it goes, he could have some brain damage, and probably has some sinus damage. Fortunately for male cichlids they have an area on top of their head that builds up fat reserves and hopefully the damage is only in that. But if he has damaged his brain he will need a few weeks to recover and might not recover properly at all.

Monitor and watch for secondary infections like bacteria that will make the wound red, and fungus that will grow white fluffy stuff on it.

If he developed the holes over a few weeks then it could be head and lateral line disease (aka hole in the head disease) and is caused by Hexamita.

 

[BFRA]

What is gold vine?

How long has it been like that for?
If it happened over night then it is quite a nasty wound and depending on how far in it goes, he could have some brain damage, and probably has some sinus damage. Fortunately for male cichlids they have an area on top of their head that builds up fat reserves and hopefully the damage is only in that. But if he has damaged his brain he will need a few weeks to recover and might not recover properly at all.

Monitor and watch for secondary infections like bacteria that will make the wound red, and fungus that will grow white fluffy stuff on it.

If he developed the holes over a few weeks then it could be head and lateral line disease (aka hole in the head disease) and is caused by Hexamita.

Thanks, the gold vine is a thin ornamental wood. I think it’s been over a week as our house sitter mentioned that his behaviour was weird. We’ll get onto some massive water changes and diet changes to try and get him better.