# Concerned



## Scorpa54 (Jun 8, 2013)

Howdo,
I have a red belly that's about 6 months. He started showing scale loss around his forehead region about 2 months ago but has been active and eating well until a few days ago. He still ties into what I feed him aggressively but I think he may have lost his teeth as anything that is bigger he mouths around a bit and spits it out. I am accommodating him by cutting his food into bite sized pieces which he swallows quickly. Tank water parameters are all good and his tank mates are all healthy and hungry.
Tank:
330 gallons
ph 7.2
nitate 10ppm
all else 0.
Mates:
6 angels
2 kribensis
6 black widow tetras
2 guppies
2 peppered corries
1 tiger barb







Any ideas as to what this might be?
Thanks,


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

from the picture i cant quite tell if the scale loss is bad. as long as hes eating what you prepare for him thats definitely good. do you house him alone or with anything else? and if hes with other fish are they showing any issues as well?

hold up while someone with some more knowledge in the scale loss issue posts. 
update us if anything changes...ill try to search around and see if anythings been posted similar to your issue. good luck in the mean time man

btw....nice looking piranha


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

I would say its nothing serious, and the area you are seeing is just a smooth area based on what I can see on my reds. Unless its an open wound, or aggravated area thats infected... I wouldnt worry

I would however add a few more reds in an awesome tank of that size


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## Scorpa54 (Jun 8, 2013)

Ocellatus2000 said:


> from the picture i cant quite tell if the scale loss is bad. as long as hes eating what you prepare for him thats definitely good. do you house him alone or with anything else? and if hes with other fish are they showing any issues as well?
> 
> hold up while someone with some more knowledge in the scale loss issue posts.
> update us if anything changes...ill try to search around and see if anythings been posted similar to your issue. good luck in the mean time man
> ...


Thanks, he's a feisty one too, not real timid like others I've had. He has grabbed food from my fingers and actually gave me a bit of a scare when he broke water one time in his impatience.
No he's not alone he has all of the mates I mentioned above.


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## Scorpa54 (Jun 8, 2013)

Ægir said:


> I would say its nothing serious, and the area you are seeing is just a smooth area based on what I can see on my reds. Unless its an open wound, or aggravated area thats infected... I wouldnt worry
> 
> I would however add a few more reds in an awesome tank of that size


I know they are a schooling fish but I have found that they seem skittish even in pairs as they can never really trust each other. With the other species he's with he gets to be king of the tank and he knows it. I've gone this route with the mindset that all others in the tank are basically dead so I don't worry about them but although he's not timid he doesn't put in much more effort than a slight charge that the worst results have been a few ragged edges on the angels when they are too busy picking on each other and not paying attention. He knows where his next meal comes from and when.

Thank for both of your responses and I forgot to mention that I put in some stress coat to see if that might help him.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

About how big is he/she?

All 5 of my reds, that are about 5" stick together always... Right now they are lined up single file, in a perfect row. They are in a temp 55... If I had a tank your size I would have 15 to 20 of them but my rhom gets the big tank.


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## Scorpa54 (Jun 8, 2013)

Ægir said:


> About how big is he/she?
> 
> All 5 of my reds, that are about 5" stick together always... Right now they are lined up single file, in a perfect row. They are in a temp 55... If I had a tank your size I would have 15 to 20 of them but my rhom gets the big tank.


He (generic as I can't tell) is a healthy 5". The tank I built myself and can be seen here if you're interested.


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

scorpa thats sweet
i like how you treat him (king of the tank). all my experience with reds has been in shoals of no less then 4 and no greater then 8. only once in my fishkeeping have i kept a solo nattereri. back in high school my friend worked at a petshop that took one in that the lady who ran the place got cold feet with doing so he took it from here. but like an idiot he added it to a community tank (he obviously didnt know much) and after his tank was half picked out he offered me to take him in until he got a new tank for him.

had a solo red for around 3 months and in that time this fish definitely wasnt timid. although that seems to be the general experience if you read most peoples thoughts that reds do much better in shoals, i found it to be very hands free easy caring.

in fact when i revisit owning reds i fully plan on the solo act. one red, one tank. half because of space restrictions and half because i want to.


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## Scorpa54 (Jun 8, 2013)

I found out that the scale loss might be something that stems from the fact that they are coming from a Chinese breeder.
I decided to order 10 more, got 9 and Spook ate 2 of those, and as they reached the 3" size I noticed that they are all bald.


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## vince.v (Jul 25, 2013)

Nice clean tank setup bro...btw,yur P looks well fed! Mind sharing your filtration system?How often do you wc per week?I like planted tanks but its kinda tedious with the gravel siphoning...maybe im just plain lazy







i asked as my tank background is the same as yours,i pasted oyama stickers on all sides except to front pc..by looking at your tank,im very tempted to follow your deco.


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## Scorpa54 (Jun 8, 2013)

vince.v said:


> Nice clean tank setup bro...btw,yur P looks well fed! Mind sharing your filtration system?How often do you wc per week?I like planted tanks but its kinda tedious with the gravel siphoning...maybe im just plain lazy
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks. I don't do water changes anymore, this is taken care of by the "filtration" system plus a drip feed setup that is more for top-up than change. I do take a 700 lph pump and blow into the gravel to get the silt stirred up once every couple of weeks. The "background" is fibreglass as I built the tank myself. It and what I use for filtration can be seen here. Enjoy.


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## vince.v (Jul 25, 2013)

Interesting blog bro... .all the hard work paid off anf plant drip system,your writeup should be in the saved section here for good.


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