injury turning red

[janiv316]

Hi there,

I have an albino red zebra cichlid and she recently spawned with her mate for the third time. He started picking on her, and before I moved her, she was injured a bit. It seemed like he scraped her body on the side, going top to bottom. The scrape was only visible in certain light, but now it is turning a reddish-pink color and I am worried that she is not healing and it is infected or getting worse. She is with 3 smallish babies of her first tiny brood (?term?) and they pretty much hide from her in their little caves, so I doubt they hurt her at all or create more stress for her. She is holding eggs and not eating, so she is definitely getting thinner. The water quality checks out as good. What should I do? I don't have any other tank to place her in to medicate either! Is that going to be a problem for the others? I'm just using a tank divider to keep the babies and the mated (now separated) pair.

Thank you for any advice!!!!

[Pam Chin]

Janiv,

Yes you have a few issues going if all these fish are in the same tank. You will continue to have problems unless you get some more tanks. Fish have the amazing ability to heal themselves, clean water is one way to heal them. You may think your water conditions are okay, but there is still nothing like fresh water. Also you may want to add some conditioner that helps increase the slime coat, and you could even add some salt. These are a few more natural ways to treat injuries that would be non-toxic to your fry and male.

Zebras do not breed well one on one, the male will beat up the female again if you put her back in with him. They are harem spawners, you want one or two males with many females, and that way no one gets singled out and beat up. When you are trying to work with them one on one the males usually kill off the females, they will chase them death.

Time for a bigger tank!
Cichlid Power!
Pam