Bite on newt's back?

[Shnell]

Hi
One of my firebellies has some sort of wound on his back, it looks sort of like a bite... but I can't be too sure. here are a couple of pictures,

He's in with one other newt and a couple feeder fish & non-aggresives. He used to be with four newts and all the same fish and nothing like this has happened before. I've noticed he's also losing weight slowly... what do you think this is? I don't want him to be in pain! ):

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[ReiDragon]

Newts should never be kept with other fish. I would not be surprised if the cory cat did that to him.

 

[Shnell]

Newts should never be kept with other fish. I would not be surprised if the cory cat did that to him.

Really? They've been in a tank together for about 5 years now.

 

[Jennewt]

There are two possibilities. Either this was inflicted by one of the fish, or it's an ulceration. I don't know if corys can do this sort of damage, but plecos and other sucker fish certainly can. Ulcerations can occur spontaneously due to poor water quality and generally severe stress. The weight loss could be indicative of these problems too.

I would recommend isolating the newt immediately. Fish (even non-aggessive ones) will invariably peck at any injury and make it worse. Keep the isolation tank as cool and clean as possible, and be sure it is totally secure against escape.

I would also recommend reading this article: Species Mixing. Many of the problems cited in this article occurred only after the animals were together for months or years.

When you say "He used to be with four newts and all the same fish", what do you mean? Have you recently redone the tank? How long has this tank been up and running?

 

[Shnell]

There are two possibilities. Either this was inflicted by one of the fish, or it's an ulceration. I don't know if corys can do this sort of damage, but plecos and other sucker fish certainly can. Ulcerations can occur spontaneously due to poor water quality and generally severe stress. The weight loss could be indicative of these problems too.

I would recommend isolating the newt immediately. Fish (even non-aggessive ones) will invariably peck at any injury and make it worse. Keep the isolation tank as cool and clean as possible, and be sure it is totally secure against escape.

I would also recommend reading this article: Species Mixing. Many of the problems cited in this article occurred only after the animals were together for months or years.

When you say "He used to be with four newts and all the same fish", what do you mean? Have you recently redone the tank? How long has this tank been up and running?

Thanks for the information. I guess my best bet would be to isolate him then. How would you suggest going about that? I have a 10 gallon tank in the basement and a few large goldfish bowls... would a goldfish bowl be alright if i installed some sort of filter for a while, or how should I go about doing this?

We moved tanks about a year ago. We originally had 4 newts about 7 years ago and two of them have died of natural causes over time, and these were the two that were left. We moved them into a larger tank afterwards.