Please help my severely injured dojo loach

[goalorientation]

3:30 am and too warm to sleep. So I awake and power the aquarium light on. Upon minimal inspection, I notice the bubble bar halfway uprooted from the small gravel. This is no surprise considering this is my smaller cichlid tank, so they redecorate at will. Upon further inspection, I noticed a dojo loach looks much smaller than usual. This particular loach has suffered a trauma of having its tail brutally removed (and ultimately shortening the fish by 1"), as with as having all of the fins except the ones close to the dojo loach's face removed. I immediately proceeded to do a PWC for something seems real fishy. Added melafix and aquarium salt and am really in need of knowing the best method of treating this dojo loach right now, because even though it was obviously recent and likely to be deadly fast- the fish is still alive and swimming aimlessly like an injured snake. This may be due to the mix of aquarium salt and melafix which I would imagine burn the open wounds in order to encourage healing I Whether the dojo got stuck somewhere and had to "lose a limb to live" or was jumped by my convicts or jewel cichlids- I know not. Chances of 1" convicts and jewels doing this extreme of damage to a fish I would question, which makes me believe the loach got stuck- maybe in the 10lb coral.

29g 3 Clown Loaches, 3 Jewel Cichlids, 2 Convicts all 1", 1 BP 3", 1 Synodontis Eupterus 2", and now one and a half dojo loaches. HELP!!!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Does it looked like it was attacked (red open wounds)? Or does it look more like something has eaten the fins away? I would remove to QT definitley and try melafix. Try keeping the lights off to.

Hope he pulls through.

 

[plecoperson]

Oh, poor loach. I would definitely suspect the tankmates. It really sounds like a lethal injury, and perhaps you should consider euthanasia-that has got to be painful, especially w/salt and Melafix in the water. I'm so sorry for your loach-love those little guys...

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I would probably bypass the salt and QT him using Pimafix and Melafix in combination.

 

[plecoperson]

Is the loach still with us?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

How's the loach doing?