Is this internal bleeding?

[UncleSalt]

I have this CBB in my DT for a little over a month now. He's very active, eats anything I put into the tank, and will follow me wherever I go. However, this morning I noticed he was still in his sleeping spot, when I put brine into the tank, he immediately swam out, and did all he could to eat a ton of it - heck even grabbed the floating cube. Normally by the time I get up, he's out patrolling the rocks. After he ate, he continued to scour the rocks some, but seemed skittish.

I've noticed that he has a small brown/purple spot near the rear of his body. I've kept an eye on it, and unfortunately, it appears to be getting bigger. He's not breathing fast or anything. The fish allowed me to snap a picture of it today, and I am hoping like hell it's not internal bleeding.

Any suggestions?

 

[Paul B]

Yes it probably is. (I wrote an article about that in copperbands) It is very common in thin fish like that and there is nothing you can do about it. I have autopsied quite a few of them with that spot and found bleeding. I think in thin fish a rib, or other bone is puncturing the tissue at that spot. It almost always happens in that spot. Sorry.
Of course if the fish recovers, I am wrong.
This one started out with the same spot that you can barely see. In a short while this fish died and internal bleeding is what I found. You can barely see it on this fish. On these types of thin fish, you need to look very closely at those very faint dark spots. I think it happens during collection or shipping.

 

[UncleSalt]

Yes it probably is. (I wrote an article about that in copperbands) It is very common in thin fish like that and there is nothing you can do about it. I have autopsied quite a few of them with that spot and found bleeding. I think in thin fish a rib, or other bone is puncturing the tissue at that spot. It almost always happens in that spot. Sorry.
Of course if the fish recovers, I am wrong.
This one started out with the same spot that you can barely see. In a short while this fish died and internal bleeding is what I found. You can barely see it on this fish. On these types of thin fish, you need to look very closely at those very faint dark spots. I think it happens during collection or shipping.

I was actually going to PM you about it as I read that article earlier today. I hope like heck it's not, he's a great fish! I'll monitor him very closely and see if it improves.