fish injury due to spawning

[dachmom]

My fish spawned last week, but as I was checking them today I noticed one of my females was all scraped up. She is feeding and swimming fine, but I'm concerned about her. Should I bring her into the house. I have a 25 gallon tank I can put her in, or should I leave her alone? Thanks

 

[addy1]

i would leave her alone, if your water is in good shape she should heal fine.

 

[j.w]

Just keep an eye on her and see if she heals on her own. Might take awhile but if she acts fine she could do ok. If you have any sharp rocks or anything you might want to put some rubber liner over the area during the spawning season of take out the sharp stuff and replace it w/ something smoother.

 

[Waterbug]

I've lost females from spawning before. One of the issues is if the same female spawns day after day. I think maybe part of the problem is they get too exhausted to actually lay eggs so it goes on and on.

If you feel comfortable you can certainly move the fish to a tank. Slowly raise the water temp to around 75F and the fish's immune system will improve greatly (assuming your pond temp is 65F or below). All the standard stuff, add an air pump, cover the tank with a net, monitor ammonia and do water changes as needed. I would not add salt. If you have a UV filter you can hook that up to the tank and run water thru it slow enough to be a sterilizer rather than just a clarifier. That should kill all bacteria and hopefully reduce chances of infection from the scraps.

If you're concerned she still has eggs... When she's doing better you can add a male to the tank with a spawn mop She can probably handle one male better than a bunch. If they're going to spawn it should be pretty quick. Then you can move the male back. You would want to try and match water temps for this, or leave the male in the tank if the female looks OK.

In the future if you provide a lot of cover in the pond, like a bunch of spawning mops, it will give females a place to hide from males to rest. You may have noticed females will often dart to a corner or bottom to try and get some rest.

 

[Nova]

Clifford, my big red female goldfish was shoved into a hole in the rocks so hard she lost scales. I took her out of the pond for a week while we finished our bigger pond and then put her in there with fewer males. She still has the scars but is still beautiful and has grown even larger. Clifford is 3 years old and is about 8-10" long. Giving your fish a break like, Waterbug said, may help or your could more plants or some flat rocks to make a cave. Mine like the big cave at the bottom of the pond.

 

[j.w]

Clifford eh, that's cute! Glad you were able to give her a break from those rowdy fellows and she made it through even bigger! Poor female fish have a rough time w/ this spawning stuff. At least afterwards they don't have to run around taking care of all those little babies that hatch from the eggs like us women do!

 

[addy1]

Clifford eh, that's cute! Glad you were able to give her a break from those rowdy fellows and she made it through even bigger! Poor female fish have a rough time w/ this spawning stuff. At least afterwards they don't have to run around taking care of all those little babies that hatch from the eggs like us women do!

reason I have a dog and hubby ...............enough