Name of disease: Not a disease in itself but secondary infections can set in following any physical damage to fish.
Occurrence: Common, affects all types of freshwater fish
Symptoms include: Obvious scale loss (not one or two scales but whole patches), split or ragged fins, grazes, scratches, lesions or wounds on body, fins or mouth, bleeding, damaged or missing eye(s), fish is listless and hides or sits on bottom.
Caused by: Rough handling, recent importation/transportation, fighting, fin-nipping, spawning, banging into something sharp in tank or pond, recent parasite infestations (e.g. Ich can leave physical damage on body).
Treatment: Remove affected fish to hospital tank and maintain perfect water quality. Add salt to a .3% solution to 1) prevent secondary bacterial / parasitical or fungal infections occuring at site of damage, and 2) to help fish control its osmoregulation. Add a small amount of Melafix to promote healing. Keep a close watch on fish to check for signs of deterioration or secondary infection (if wounds worsen or more wounds appear then underlying bacterial activity must be suspected - treat with antibiotic medication). Feed with a high quality nutritious food, such as krill. If wounds are deep, hold fish gently in a wet cloth (soaked in old tank water) and dab wounds gently with iodine, mercurochrome, neosporin or dilute TCP solution and release back into tank.
Precautions: Medications may affect the cycle so monitoring water quality during treatment is essential. Fish will be stressed from the damage so may take some time to return to normal behaviour.