Red Tail shark in a very bad way

[physicsdude]

Hi- I recently saved a red tail shark from being detsroyed by some african cichlids. It's a beautiful fish, about 3" long with a rich black color to him. I have no idea why she bumped him into a tank with baby africans, but she did and he got the worst of it it seems. His finnage has been chewed on quite a bit. His left side, between fins, has had the black scales(I think its scales at least- I can't tell for sure) ripped off, exposing large amount of white flesh. There is no open wounds from what I can observe.

Anyway, I took him from her, promising to hopefully help it. He's in a 10 gallon now, all by himself. He seems lethargic though, like for example he'll kinda hang vertically along a rock for periods of time. He eats sparingly. I took him in a few days ago, and it would seem the white skin is slowly being covered back up by the black scales. I keep light levels low to hopefully calm him. Honestly, I have nevr had a sick fish before- no ich or anything else, so this is my first time helping a finned friend out. Any advice on what could better help him heal? Thanks!

 

[Zagz]

Clean pristine water, lights off and some melafix and pimafix should help. Light feedings and clean clean water, I can't stress that enough. Patience, allow him time to heal and not be stressed. Is he in the tank by himself?

 

[physicsdude]

yes he is. ill buy some of that pimafix tomorrow. his wounds are getting better it seems but he seems very letahrgic, remaining in the same spot for seemingly hours upon hours. id like to think hes conserving energy while hes healing..is that right or is something else going on?

 

[Zagz]

It very well might be that he is conserving energy. Time will tell. If his wounds are improving that is a very good sign.

 

[physicsdude]

Well there's a good and bad news.
First the good news: I looked at him today- his wounds are much better. The scales seem to be growing back in the areas where he was wounded. They look like light gray spots. His appettite remains very small, but he seems to be a bit more active.

Now the bad news: his overall color has changed to become much lighter. The red on his tail is almost non-existent and the black on his body has become like a seagull gray. It gets worse: the tank he was in sprung leak, so I set-up a 5.5 gallon hospital tank for him yesterday! I used like 1/2 of the water from my established tank to ease things, with other half being plain dechlorinated tap water. Will this hurt or possibly kill him?

 

[Zagz]

Water contains no beneficial bacteria. Can you take the substrate from the established, leaking tank and put it in the new QT tank? His loss of color is most likely due to stress.

 

[physicsdude]

Good news! He mad eit throughthe night, his coloriing has imrpoved, and hes out and about! I bought some melafix, as recommended, and he seems to be doing much much better! I think hes turned a corner.

EDIT: What I did zagz was use the same filter from his old tank to his new one. I think it did the trick. Substarte is a good idea, but it was a fine sand. I'm just too lazy to move it!

 

[Zagz]

Glad to hear he is doing better and his color is coming back. That is a good sign.

 

[physicsdude]

yes, and i thank you so much for advice and such. you've been a great help!

 

[physicsdude]

last update i think. hes swimming around alot now. his color ahs returned, his fins are almost completely regrown. that mealfix worked a wonderful job! again, thanks zagz!