Help!!! Lionfish With Broken Tail

[Rejoice]

I have a beautiful dwarf lionfish who I discovered today has a very broken tail. Half of it is missing at the base. He's lost his appetite from it, but was able to convince him to eat a ghost shrimp.

What can I do?

[melosu58]

If you mean that alot of the tail is missing ,it will grow back in time.

[Rejoice]

His tail looks like it was ripped off, approximately 50% of the tail fin is gone, the wound at the base is pretty clean. He struggles a little getting around the tank. Thanks for the note, I hope he makes it through and his tail grows back.

[Brenden]

Keep your water quality as high as possible. Do you have any zoe?

Is the tail missing down to the flesh or just the extended boney area?

Cheers
Steve

[Rejoice]

I'll be keeping a close eye on the water. I don't have any Zoe, What is it?

His tail is ripped down to the flesh, the wound healed over pretty quickly though. He's been moving around the tank pretty well, almost acting like nothing wrong, tough little guy! His little tail moves back & forth 3 times faster then it normally does. Kinda looks like a dog wagging it's tail. Kinda funny.

I hope he makes it through, Pokey's my fav.

If you have a cycled QT, you should move the fish there and lower the salinity towards 16 ppt. It will help reduce the chances of secondary infection and reduce energy consumption of the fish while trying to maintain osmotic balance with a large open wound. I would also suggest adding either Kents Protech Marine or Seachems Stressguard. Both contain a protein binding agent that will help the fish heal faster.

If you do not have a QT, watch the fish carefully for signs of infection and still use the above additives, just watch the skimmer output. Make sure you soak the foods in a liquid marine vitamin (Zoe, Zoecon, Selcon) and be very careful of water quality. I would proactively step up the water changes to twice a week in the interim to help keep DOC down and the potential for secondary infection at bay.

Cheers
Steve

[roka64]

You might want to try and figure out what did it. At my LFS, they have a Wrasse that hai no (Lateral?) fin. She said since they like to rest w/their tails in the substrae, she thinks something ate it. It was "eaten" all the way to the "flesh" and will not grow back....

[Rejoice]

It is with a heavy heart that I lost my greatest little buddy, Pokey didn't make it.

Thanks for all your advice.