Hongsloi problem

[c.liverbird]

Hi guys. My female hongsloi recently started sporting a mark on her side...It looked like she'd scraped it and caused general scale damage....He does chase her a lot! However it looked like it was starting to ulcerate. ..have treated with melafix for secondary infection and my water is pristine.
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ph 7.5
Ammonia 0
23c

I have had her now for 7months and bought them as a pair. ...
The wound seemed to look like it was healing. ...but Last night she was laying on the bottom of the tank...listless breathing heavily and has difficulty swimming. I don't think she will pull through. She is still there this morning. He looks like he is looking for her then swims near and every now and again tries to motivate her....

It's really sad.

This is my first pair of cichlids.... how will he fare if she dies?

 

[gerald]

To me she looks bloated too; in which case it may be a slow-growing internal bacterial infection having nothing to do with an external scrape.
I would remove her to a separate tank or bucket before she dies (or kill her) to minimize the spread of bacteria from dead fish to live fish.
The male will not suffer psychologically from her death, but it's possible he might be infected with the same pathogen, if that's what it is.

 

[c.liverbird]

We had to remove the cichlid and euthanize her. :-(
She became bent and very pale then started having what looked like a seizure. ..she would swim up eratically then spin spin spin and head but the floor continuously. It was horrible to watch.
I have since found some stuff about neon tetra disease and it is startlingly similar although I don't see how the parasite would have been introduced. ... then an article about false neon tetra disease. I think this is it.....

I have a pearl danio sporting a grey/white mark in the same place...

 

[gerald]

Another possibility is Mycobacterium infection, which is especially common in soft-water cichlids, gouramis, danios, rainbowfish, and many other species. Myco symptoms can include ulcers on the body and head, jaw deterioration, eyes bulging, abdominal swelling, rapid breathing, spine bending, weight loss, paralysis of jaw or fins, and loss of body color control. Of course some of these symptoms can occur with other diseases too, or from old age. If head/body ulcers tends to happen on a few fish at a time over several months, rather than all at once, then I'd suspect slow-growing Mycobacterium. Otherwise healthy fish can carry low-level Myco infection for years before you see any symptoms. See Article: http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/00388mycoarticle1.pdf
I've sure been referencing this article a LOT lately on this forum and others.

 

[c.liverbird]

Wow thank you! X