As I write this one of my 3 female Fighter Fish has got a white blemish down half its side and seems to be paralysed around this point but her front half is fine. The other week I had a Cat Shark that had a similar blemish on its side. It started to swim curled around this area which meant that he couldnt swim properly. Unfortunately he died. Ive just lost my beautiful red male Fighter for some unknown reason...but I noticed that he had been nipped as his fins were ragged. Hes currently being eaten by my apple snails I don't want to lose anymore of the Fighters as my females have stunning markings and I have my eye on a stunning male Fighter at my LFS.

Has anyone else experience something like this weird blemish?

Are you talking about Bettas when you say fighter fish? Often the females fight amonst themselves and they could be injuring each other. If you get a male, and the females are not mature and physically ready to breed, he will probably just kill them. Read up on them here www.bettatalk.com.

Otherwise, what is the tank like? Number of fish in how many gallons? Type of filtration? Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings? That sounds more like an injury than disease, though its hard to say without seeing the fish.

When in doubt, do water changes. Clean water heals a lot and is the best thing to do in an emergency. Just be sure to match the temperature and dechlorinate if you are on city water.

yeah i mean bettas. I have a 48x18x15 tank which the 1 male and 3 females were in along with a pair of lace gourami's (the male keeps making nests) 2 moonlight gourami's, 2 opaline gourami's, 4 clown loaches, 3 plecs, silver black tipped shark and 2 cat sharks.

i dont think its an issue between the bettas as cat shark had it too then died. the male fighter had some of is fins nipped whilst in the tank so i moved all the bettas to a tank that has been running for months....then the male died (he had been looking very weak) and then a female got this "blemish"

Hi, exactly what does this "blemish" looks like?

You tank is of decent size, around 55gal. As Myaj mentioned, any water quality results? What is your water change regime?

Generally gouramis and bettas do not get along... Are you sure you aren't seeing any fighting going on? That is a very strange mix of fish and I would expect a bit of fighting or even just whacks from territory issues...

I'm interested in your nitrate readings as well. A 55 gallon with 3 pleco's is reaching the overload point, throw in all those others and there could be major issues.

i remember years ago having a fish that died from what your describing. do the fins get all eaten away then it looks like its spreading to the body?

Yes!!! I forgot to mention that I have a male swordtail in the tank too....I had a female but she suffered the same fate. One of her fins started to get all ragged and dissappear aswell as the "blemish"
I will try to get some water levels done ASAP. I normally replace 1/3ish every week (depending on my dodgey knee)

!!!TEST RESULTS!!!!

Ammonia - 0.25
pH - 6.6
Nitrite - 0.50
Nitrate - 0

It has been about a week since I last did a change. The Nitrite is higher than it has been in past tests but everything else is better.

yeah then ive got problem too because i dont know what it was that killed my fish.. only it took them one by one and i couldnt stop it. it might be a severe form of fungus. i will go and try to find out some more....

Its very strange. Its so hard to explain what it looks like. If anything it looks like a burn or something. The affected area loses all colour.

Im going to get in contact with my LFS "Tri-Mar" to see if they have come across anything like this. Knowing them they probably have since they have been around for donkeys years and they have just been voted "Best Fish Shop in the West" by readers of Practical Fishkeeping 2004.

its severe fin rot and when it gets left untreated it spreads to the body leaving the fish unable to swim so dying.

are you cycling your tank as it looks like you are with the results?

do some more small water changes to get the ammonia to zero. you will need to get meds for your fish but i dont know if your fish will be strong enough to take it or a salt bath. hope someone can advise you more.

i got this back from the owner of Tri-Mar:

The disease is a bacterial disease and pretty virulent. It may be columnaris
.

To be honest the best treatment is with a good bactericeide. maybe INTERPETS
TREATMENT NO 8 as it contains PHENOXETHENOL TOGETRHER WITH A SALT TREATMENT
OF ROCK SALT AT 1 TEASPOON PER GALLON.

dO ENSURE THAT THE pH IS AROUND NEUTRAL AND ALSO THAT YOU ARE NOT IN A
SOFTWATER AREA AS THE interpet TREATMENT is much too strong for soft water.

If your water is soft .. 1/2 dose the treatment.

Should you be unable to obtain the treatment we can send it to you.

Do not add any more fish for about 2 weeks after the disease is completely
erradicated.

Also dont overclean the filters or it can cause more problems.

t may be an idea to cease feeding totally for 7 days to improve water
quality as well.

Hope this helps.

http://www.seraitalia.com/educational/diag.../Columnaris.gif <- is exactly what I was talking about.

Off to my Tri-Mar to buy some treatment then!

im glad you found out what it was. good luck in treating them