Paracanthurus hepatus with a cut.

[charlie lisanti]

Hello,
I recently purchased a Paracanthurus hepatus. The fish was in good shape when I got him to my home aquarium (apparently). The fish has been there for about three days. The fish is eating very well. It has been coming to the top for flake food (feeding live, frozen and flake), and spends very little time hiding. The fish was very jumpy the first two days, and would not come out the first day.
Yesterday I was finally able to get a good look at the fish. I noticed what appeared to be a red streak down the side of the body. I am assuming that this is a cut. It is about an inch long, and not very wide. It is a rich red color.
I am pretty sure none of the other fish did this to the tang. I have three green chromis, one percula clown, and one pygmy cherub angel. All three are pretty small. I have about 16 pounds of live rock, and 10 pounds of dead coral.
Does this description sound like a cut?
How do I treat this cut? I have added Tetra's Aquasafe to help with the slime coat, but other then that, I do not know what to do.
How does a fish cut itself, and what can I do to prevent this from happening again? The fish was not cut when I first saw it in the store. It may have been cut in the catching process. The fish was a bit difficult. Since yesterday was my first good home look, I cant be positive when the "cut" happened.
Thank you,
Charlie.

 

[fshhub]

if you are not sure, it possibly could be a cut, take a good look at the scales around the mark, if hey are flaky looking, it very well may be(i know tangs have small scales, but this is the bestindicater i can think of), and if it were mine, i would start giving them vitamins in the tank, and food, and watch him very close for a couple of days, also, if you have a cleaner shrimp, they may help by keeping the wound clean dn dead scales removed(they did with our clown and chromis, after they both got bullied by the female clown mate, the bullying only lasted overnite when we introduced them), i am not sure what the cleaner was picking off, but i guess it was dead tissue, because iit was on and near the bite marks
actually i would probably watch for ick and be ready to quarentine him if need be, being a tang and the fact he just moved tanks, maybe even start garlic to help prevent the possibility(it may ONLY help prevent it, no guarentees) of ick
HTH

 

[trigahappynigerog]

if the water quality is good it should heal in no time.