Blue Crayfish bit my cichlid!!!

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Infamouz88

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May 26, 2012
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Hey guys I need some advice on what to do, today I woke up and turned on the lights from my tank to find my cichlid with top of his head partially eaten. I have a crayfish that has been molting and growing fairly quickly and has eaten a kholi loach so far. I'm guessing the fish was able to escape but not without getting injured. The problem is, will the fish be OK the way it is or should I euthanize the poor guy. He is swimming like normal and isn't hiding or anything. Any advice?


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You might want to check/cross check in here or with google to see whether it might be a disease called Columnaris.

Do any other fish have any fuzzy or cottony patched on their mouthes or dorsal fins? It could be that it takes a few days to progress, if it is.

Otherwise if it is a pinch from the Cray, then keep the water very clean and you might consider StressCoat from API or other concoctions. Some disagree with it working I have used them and had decent results, imh but not scientific opinion.

And then of course, you need to feed that Cray and move him to a new tank with super fast moving fish who don't sleep at the floor of the tank. They are just doing what Crays do, if he is the one who did the damage!!!

Do a water test, and I would up your pwc frequency and decrease the feedings to smaller amounts about 25% of what you are feeding divided by 2 if it is Columnaris. And make sure your temp isn't too high.

If it is you will need meds. I used Kanamycin II when I had an out break. 2 - 50% pwc if your test results are out of whack and then treat. I would use an additional air pump for extra aeration if it ends up as Columnaris too. There are several strains very fast moving (everything dead in a couple days), medium death, and slower around 3 days.

If it was just a pinch from the Cray trying to capture it then he may well recover.
 
You might want to check/cross check in here or with google to see whether it might be a disease called Columnaris.

Do any other fish have any fuzzy or cottony patched on their mouthes or dorsal fins? It could be that it takes a few days to progress, if it is.

Otherwise if it is a pinch from the Cray, then keep the water very clean and you might consider StressCoat from API or other concoctions. Some disagree with it working I have used them and had decent results, imh but not scientific opinion.

And then of course, you need to feed that Cray and move him to a new tank with super fast moving fish who don't sleep at the floor of the tank. They are just doing what Crays do, if he is the one who did the damage!!!

Do a water test, and I would up your pwc frequency and decrease the feedings to smaller amounts about 25% of what you are feeding divided by 2 if it is Columnaris. And make sure your temp isn't too high.

If it is you will need meds. I used Kanamycin II when I had an out break. 2 - 50% pwc if your test results are out of whack and then treat. I would use an additional air pump for extra aeration if it ends up as Columnaris too. There are several strains very fast moving (everything dead in a couple days), medium death, and slower around 3 days.

If it was just a pinch from the Cray trying to capture it then he may well recover.

It's definitely the Crayfish. I've been checking on them every day and I actually recorded my fish yesterday and that fish didn't look like that. His forehead looks pinched as well. So you think his body will regrow?

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Good that it isn't disease.

Thinking of it like an injury to a human, sometimes it will recover and sometimes no. You can give it a couple days to see if it is starting to look like it is getting better or not. If it starts listing sideways or floating or looking too unwell. You might need to make the call for euthanizing it. (Clove oil - order from the pharmacy - make sure they get real and not artificial clove oil the later is cheaper.)

Clean water is your friend in aiding a speedy recovery. Can't be too fresh - perfect water parameters is ideal for healing. Are you using Cichlid salts/minerals?
 
To be honest with you I wasn't aware that I needed cichlid mineral salt. Is it really necessary? And if so is it safe for plecos, crayfish and scale less fish? And I'll try to do more close water changes, hopefully he doesn't die.

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It's by far not a requirement- but if you're trying to get an injured cichlid healthy it's easier for them to heal under ideal parameters..... In a perfect world, anyway.

I have a different stance on adding anything other than conditioned AND aged water as rapid changes in parameters to a tank, even if it is making "ideal" species specific parameters, is often more stressful then leaving them in the "non ideal" parameters they are used to while they are healing.

Cichlid salts can be used with scaleless fish so long as it's premixed in clean treated water. I use rodi water for use with salts, personally, so I'm not sure about how to figure out how much is added based on tap parameters. I'm not sure if they are safe for use with inverts, though
 
I was just wondering if you did. My experience with many Cichlids is limited so I can't specifically provide info for if you need any salts. That depends on your water and which types of fish you have.

As for the injured one, Epsom Salts, not really a salt - magnesium sulfate could be added into the whole tank, it is a good healer. If you choose to do that make sure that you add only dissolved Epsom salts. It is added 1/4 -1/3 every few hours til full dosage for the tank. You can use 1 tablespoon per gallon dosed for the whole tank. Add more in per gallon for each pwc.

You might want to double check with the Cichlid side to make sure there aren't any issues using. I have used the Epsom salts with Betta, crays, all kinds of tropical fish including Cories with no ill effect that I have ever seen. After treatment time, say a couple weeks, as you do future pwc, just do not include the Epsom salts and within a few weeks you will have pwc'd all the Epsom salts out.
 
Oh- and I think the conflict may be territorial- both the Cichlid and the crayfish prefer caves and rocks and are notoriously territorial. I don't think you will be able to keep the 2 together without dealing with this kind of injury more often then you would think and usually ends in one or the other dead. If you are going to keep fish with crayfish- especially larger Aussie specimens- keep fast moving schoolers or larger peaceful center piece fish that occupy the top 1/3 of the tank that you won't be upset to have die.
 
Epsoms are ok with most cichlids as well, but monitor to make sure. I've used them on neutral community cichlids and hard water africans but not on my nw breeders so I don't have any experience with that side of it
 
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