Red belly pacus looks like lip was bit off

hey...does anyone know why my female pacus look like someone bit there upper lips off??? I am new to these fish and am having a hard time caring for them. I want to be the best mother for my fish but need.....HELP!!

 

hi, welcome to fishlore , if u r a new aquarist u shouldn't have started with pacus, they r best left to the advanced aquarists with very large tanks. can u post some pictures of it. ???

 

Without seeing it, I couldn't say, but it sounds like they have some sort of disease, probably not an injury. You are going to have to start medicating your fish most likely.

 

;D hello.... about9 months ago, I wanted to start an aquarium. So I went to Wal Mart to buy fish. I bought 3 red belly pacus. they were very small.....WELL.....9 month later they are 10 to 12 inches long. I have a 60 gal tank and I can't keep the water clear and the two female have ugly spots on their upper lips...the male does not. I have watched the fish and the male is always chasing the female into the walls of the tank. could this be the cause of the marks??

and what's up with the orange looking water? I put chemicals in the water and also change the water (25%) each week. is there anyway for me to keep my fish healthy and have clear water?? I do not want to kill my fish. I live in a very small city and do not have any way to get to a fish store or pet store for help.........WAL MART SUCKS!!! no one there told me these fish would be this big. ??? ??? ???

 

yeah, fish stores never warn anybody! they just care about their business >. pacus may grow up to 24 inches!!!! u'll need a 250 gallon tank for them if u want to take care of them properly. I think it will be better if u can return them to the fishstore and buy something else in return. u have to do a lot of study before u buy any fish. what is your filtration system? u will need a very strong and efficient filter for pacus.

 

First welcome to FishLore. I'm sorry to say your tank isn't nearly big enough. Here is a profile from a site I trust and they recommend 300Gallons of water for the first Pacu and 200 G for each additional Pacu. this is why you can't keep the water clean.
In the tank their in now you need to be doing 50% water changes about every three days and mean while looking for a bigger tank or somebody who has a bigger tank to take them.
It sounds like your fish have injured themselves some way and now have an infection. Since I don't what kinds of meds Pacu can tolerate I will refer this to Dino who knows more about them than I.
Carol

 

Is there anyone out there who can help me??  I now realize I can not take proper care of my pacus.  They are in a 60 gal tank and the are about 10 to 12 inches long.  I just bought an ammonia quick dip kit and the ammonia level was high.....sooo like a good mother I changes 25 % of the water and them put in the chemicals and tested it again.....NOW.....it is at the stress level :'(.

I can't keep this up.  I bought the fish as babies at Wal MArt 9 months ago and I was told just to kill them...I can not take them back.  I don't want to kill my fish.  I live in a small town called Elk City, Oklahoma.  Is there anyone out there who could tell me of a place I can take my fish to be adopted in order for them to live a full and healthy life??

I live in a small upstaire apartment and can't get a bigger tank...  WHAT CAN I DO  ??? ??? ???

 

It does sound like an infect after an injury.
Hope you can get them into a much larger tank soon.
Instead of meds, daily 50% water changes is the course of action I would take.
Pacu, like most tetras, are very sensative to most chemical used as medications.

Dino

 

hi, have u asked all fishstores near your town other than walmart? i'm sure someone should take your pacus, do u have any aquarist friends with large tanks? u can give your pacus to them, if not then I think the last choice for u will be to buy a bigger tank. I mean a 350 gallon tank at least.