Loaches Online Forum

One of my Dojos has had trouble with it`s face seeming to be rotting away. It started about 8 months ago with just a small raw looking place on his face. Noe his entire face around his mouth is almost all gone. He`s acting OK just not as active as the other Dojos. I`ve tried anti-biotics but with no good results. He seems to also have a crocked spine but gets around well. Hubbie thinks he might have hurt his back on the tank lid. What can be making this happen to him? He`s in a very peaceful "nipper free" tank. Please help my little guy.

SOunds like what happened to mind four days before it died.

huh,one of my dojos has a small raw looking spot on his face too,kinda white discolored looking but is acting fine.im interested to see what other people will reply to your comment,it might help me out too. hes just under 5 inches and is double the size of when i got him and the other loache's. either than that he looks way more healthier than any dojo's i have seen in my LFS.

if it were just the spine I would be inclined to agree with your hsuband, but if you can see lesions as well then I'd worry about fish TB. It could be mouth-rot due to stress from a spinal injury - dojos are prone to mouth- and fin-rot - but if it's not responding to antibiotics and you've tried more than one kind then fish TB is a possibility.

google has a lot of fairly reliable info on it, but be aware that if this is your culprit then the prognosis is poor . It's also likely the other fish are carrying it, so don't add anything new tp the tank for a while - and be aawre that it can cause a very nasty condition in people, too.

hoping I'm wrong,

If it were TB all of my fish would have it by now, since it`s been more than 8 months since I noticed the symptom. It looks more like HITH but all over the face. The flesh is actually gone from under one to the next, just above his mouth.

as I recall - and I may be wrong - fish tb doesn't invariably affect a whole tank; some fish fight it pretty well.

it sounds very nasty, whatever it may be :/

I hope someone can be of more use than me...

My dear Dojo died today after a long time of suffering. His Dojo friends and I will miss him.

Sorry about that, MaryJ. They're pretty cool fish and it's really hard not being able to work miracles for them.