Help: Part of fin bitten off
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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bigpuff
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 122
- Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
- Location (country): United States
Help: Part of fin bitten off
So I got my two GSP's today (yay!) and I'm drip acclimating them right now. One of them has a fin that has clearly been partially bitten off - half of it is missing and the top is completely red. What should I do? Do I need to take any steps right now? Will it grow back? I seem to remember a product called Melafix being mentioned on here for such things, should I use this? Of anything I need to do, please post whether or not it can wait until tomorrow of if it needs to be done right now. Thank you!
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bigpuff
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 122
- Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
- Location (country): United States
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
Here is a picture of it, sorry I couldn't get a very good one. It's the puffer on the near side and it's the top fin, just before his tail. You should be able to see the red.
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eieio
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 1033
- Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:34 am
- My Puffers: *
The Congo Puffer:
"olivia"
and.......
The DP:
"cream puff"
RIP cream puff :-( - Location (country): U.S.A.
- Location: Prescott, Arizona
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
the sooner the better:
clean water, clean water, clean water............
Melafix is good to prevent or treat infection
Pimafix is good to prevent or treat fungal infestations
both can be used at the same time (READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY)
add airstones to increase aeration when treating with either or both
if the tank is otherwise healthy, fins usually grow back just fine
clean water, clean water, clean water............
Melafix is good to prevent or treat infection
Pimafix is good to prevent or treat fungal infestations
both can be used at the same time (READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY)
add airstones to increase aeration when treating with either or both
if the tank is otherwise healthy, fins usually grow back just fine
"I plan ahead. That way, I don't have to do anything right now!"
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bigpuff
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 122
- Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
- Location (country): United States
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
So I should use both then? And how frequent of water changes would you recommend? I did a 50% pwc yesterday and a 10% today before I added the fish - the tank is fully cycled but I didn't want to run the risk of the puffers overloading my bioload so I added some SafeStart. I've heard if you do water changes within the first 2 weeks you can remove the SafeStart material but I don't think thats likely because I added it directly to the filter. Could someone weigh in on this? Pufferpunk, I think you said I'd be fine with water changes before, right?
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bigpuff
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 122
- Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
- Location (country): United States
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
Just to give you more info: his fin is moving absolutely fine and he's super active, so I don't think it's impairing him at all.
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eieio
- Mbu Puffer
- Posts: 1033
- Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:34 am
- My Puffers: *
The Congo Puffer:
"olivia"
and.......
The DP:
"cream puff"
RIP cream puff :-( - Location (country): U.S.A.
- Location: Prescott, Arizona
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
it's up to youbigpuff wrote:So I should use both then?
if it were mine, I'd go with the Melafix, but have some Pimafix on hand just in case any fungus shows up
often enough to keep ammonia @ 0, nitrites @ 0, nitrates @ <10bigpuff wrote:And how frequent of water changes would you recommend?
what are your parameters now, what size tank?
it would be very helpful to know all the info in the red box, above
have you looked at it?
"I plan ahead. That way, I don't have to do anything right now!"
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bigpuff
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 122
- Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
- Location (country): United States
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
Yes I have, I just post so often on here I don't always put it, sorry! Tank is a 55 gallon, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrate 5ppm. Filter: Fluval 306. Temp: around 78 degrees.
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Hillehaus
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:45 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP.
- Location (country): United States
- Location: Maryland
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
Did it happen at the fish store? Or while you were drip acclimating? Keep an eye on them...make sure one isn't aggressive.
The fins should be fine and will likely grow back. Mine looked pretty ragged when I got him/her as well due to nipping in an overstocked lfs tank. 6 months in and all the fins are back and great looking!
The fins should be fine and will likely grow back. Mine looked pretty ragged when I got him/her as well due to nipping in an overstocked lfs tank. 6 months in and all the fins are back and great looking!
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bigpuff
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 122
- Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
- Location (country): United States
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
Thats good news! The fin was like that before I got it. I got them right as they arrived to the LFS and they were in a bag of about 10-15 of them (hadn't been put into a tank yet), so it could've been from one of the fish in there or it could've happened before. The one with the chipped fin is actually the more aggressive of the two I have, but they both nip each others fins (but always the tail fin - not the injured fin). The other GSP barely nips the injured one, I think he just does it in retaliation. It's about a 10:1 ratio in favor of the chipped fin fish to give you an idea of the aggression. Since I've just added them I'm assuming they're just figuring out territory and pecking order and that it's nothing to be worried about, but correct me if I'm wrong.
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Hillehaus
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2014 12:45 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: 1 GSP.
- Location (country): United States
- Location: Maryland
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
Yeah, in a tight condition like that, there will be a lot of nipping going on...I think there were about 20 in the 20gal tank I got mine from. most of them were pretty chewed up.
I'm not sure about the other thing. I've only ever kept a singleton as I only have a 40g tank. I'd suggest you keep an eye on them until they settle into their separate turfs. Be prepared to at best increase the amount of decoration to break up sight lines and at worst, if they really start pounding each other, relocating one.
They should settle down soon enough. Are yours in brackish or marine?
I'm not sure about the other thing. I've only ever kept a singleton as I only have a 40g tank. I'd suggest you keep an eye on them until they settle into their separate turfs. Be prepared to at best increase the amount of decoration to break up sight lines and at worst, if they really start pounding each other, relocating one.
They should settle down soon enough. Are yours in brackish or marine?
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bigpuff
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 122
- Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:07 pm
- Location (country): United States
Re: Help: Part of fin bitten off
True. Yeah, I have a lot of decor already that breaks up the lines of sight so I'll just see how it plays out over the next week or so. The tank is very low end brackish right now (1.002), I'm in the process of raising it to 1.006-1.010 (will depend on how big they are when I measure them) and in a year or two ill probably convert to full marine.