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^This is my glyptothorax telchitta. 1 of 2. the other seems fine. They both are eating fine. They have been in this tank for 2 weeks. the day after I got these 2, I noticed this one had exposed dorsal fin spine with an area of loose sheath. It turns red periodically. What the hell is happening? Is it an injury? The exposed length of the spine has stayed the same. Just that the area gets inflamed sometimes. Please help.

Sounds as it is a secondary infection of some kind.
Usually, the skin will heal by itself, but something has to be causing periodic inflamation. In cases like this I usually check all my water parimeters first even if the fish(s) are appearing to eat. Have you checked your water and if so can you post what they are please?

medaka wrote: ↑16 May 2017, 17:16 Sounds as it is a secondary infection of some kind.
Usually, the skin will heal by itself, but something has to be causing periodic inflamation. In cases like this I usually check all my water parimeters first even if the fish(s) are appearing to eat. Have you checked your water and if so can you post what they are please?

Well, this is going to be embarrassing but I decided to not test my water for this tank. I dose EI for this tank. Following this dosing, NO3 levels should be around 25-30 ppm. The ammonia level may be high though, 'cause the substrate is ADA aquasoil (Amazonia). Sorry that I could not post the exact parameters.

The nitrate levels are a tad high, which will be a factor in secondary infections of catfish that require a high level of good water quality. I would recommend using Melafix and carrying out more water changes; say, 20% every 48 hours, for ten days and you should see a noticeable improvement after only a couple of days.

Okay, am doing that.