Strange Head Injury

The old faithful goldfish is having a bit of a problem with a head injury at the present time. I have no idea how it happened or if it was actually a result of mechanical injury or if it being caused by something else.

The two goldfish that I owe recently spawned. One is blind and I thought they where both male so you can imagine my surprise when I saw baby goldfish swimming frantically around the tank. While looking at the fry, I noticed a very small hole in the head of the ranchu goldfish. The hole was very small but it looked like there was a black foreign body in there too. I figured that the hole/crack was caused during mating and the black bit might be congealed blood of some kind. It didn't really concern me too must so I carried out some more water changes and added some sea salt.

Here is a snap of the initial problem.


It is now a week and a bit later and the problem has gotten worse. As far as I can tell the area has become infected. This evening I caught the fish and pressed gently on the swollen area and creamy fluid leaked out of the open area \"this confirmed it\". I carried out another water change, added additional salt and added a 50% recommened dose of methylene blue. I'm unsure if this is what I should be using or should I have used malachite green? Is there anything else I can do at the present time?

Snaps as of this evening




Additionally, there is nothing in the tank that could have damaged the fish so could this infection be being cause by some type of parasite? There has been no fish added in over 12 months and the other fish is not affected.

Any info would be gratefully appreciated.

Denis

Sorry to hear about the bump on the head, it sounds to me that you are doing the right thing, though I am not sure if the meth blue will help or not. But cleaning out the wound tonight and adding salt should certainly help, depending of course on what caused the problem originally. Personally I suspect it is a wound or some foreign body got lodged there, just like we would get a splinter. I have never heard of or seen a parasite cause that type of problem.

Good luck with the treatment. Great photos BTW


Daragh

Firstly Denis congratulations on the spawn. I would say you were shocked to see all the fry in the tank.

If either of them was to bang their head into something you would think it would be the blind one. It is possible he/she got a splinter of bog wood in the head and it has gotten infected.
I have never seen this before so I cant advise on what to treat it with.

methylene blue can damage your plants and kill the bacteria in the filter. Just incase you didn’t know.
I will be passing your area tomorrow so if you need anything give me a bell.

the most probable cause is a wound of some sort. daily baths in tonic salt and the blue will help and i would also treat the tank with melafix.

could you tell us if you got any wild caught fish or been in contact with them or possibly got some imported plants with snails?

it just that this wound looks slightly like blackspot and since the only time i have seen this mention was in relation to the above it is better to earr on the side of caution thus i ask this

Thanks guys for the info. Hopefully with a bit of TLC the infections will pass.

Darren I was very surprised to see the fry swimming around the tank, however it was short lived as the parents enjoyed munching their way through the offspring.

Mick and Cathy, there has been no additions of any sort since last year. That included snails, fish, plants, ornaments..etc. However, I would be in contact with wild fish most weekends? The main stay would be brown trout so maybe this could be the cause of the contamination. Although I would be very surprised as I would always wash my hands after being in the \"dodder\" and the last thing I would be doing after fishing is fish tank maintenance. But it is still an option and I will do some research on it.

Regards

Denis

meth blue in this case aint going to do anything apart from upset your filter.. I would look at 3 possibilities.. 1 that there is some kind of foreign body still in there and may need minor surgery. 2 you clean the infected area out with a Q tip and apply a paste from antibiotics..penicillin, erythromycin, oxytetracycline?? (normal antibiotics you would be pescribed..) 3. dose the tank with Sterazin and hope for the best or lastly 4 PP the tank and bye bye little nasties

HTH

Adam

badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/unknowngrowth_mikeaofa.html

I would say the possiblity its a tumor 80% or virus 30% bacterial 0%
Secondary infection bacterial 50%

id be a bit surprised if a puss filled growth was a tumor.

My apologies in the tardiness of this reply but since I have entered into \"full time\" employment I haven't even had time to scratch myself. A small update on the problem fish! The area where the sore appeared has cleared and there is only a small amount of scar tissue showing but this is slowly disappearing. Thanks to everyone for the help and tips.

Adam I figured that meth blue might have helped to stop any secondary infection and I was aware of the fact that the it would cause problems with my filtration system so I bolstered the water changes. I would think that the problem was caused by a small splinter of wood that was driven home during the mating process. The area became inflamed/infected and the ooze helped dislodge the offending foreign body. I would think that the addition of sea salt went a long way to help speed up the healing process.

Thanks to everyone for your help

Regards

Denis

that is great news. have to say i would be a fan of salt were ever a wound is involved be it marine or tonic salt

mickey