Nipped fin treatment

[Ponch]

Have had a run of bad luck with sick fish lately - latest casualty in my "wobbly molly" post in the unhealthy fw forum. anyway, came home today to see my alpha-male mollie in a very odd straightline position under some javamoss. it looked like his tail had been chopped off, but come to find out after i netted him he was just clamping it. But his behavior was very erratic ....swimming very shakey-like....so I moved him into the QT (which the other molly just passed away in). Looking closer his fin on the left side is not moving a whole lot and actually looks like it is missing a good portion of it. Will side-fins grow back just like a nipped tail will?

I added two young female sail-fin mollies to my display tank yesterday and i wonder if he tried to get overly-aggressive with one of them? are sail-fin mollies know to be feisty or nippers? Don't think this would have been from the other two mollies in the tank who are inseparable with the alphamale... and it certainly wasn't the neon tetras .... so i suspect the new sail-fin mollies did it. What is the best cure for a nipped fin? Knowing he is in the QT that my panda mollie just died in for unknown reasons, should I be doing anything special like a massive water change or other? Thanks

 

[Bettacrazy]

Nipped fins usually heal on there own. The problem is when while the nipped fins are healing they can get fungal infections which lead to death. I would suggest putting aquarium salt in the tank. It helps heal injuries and prevents disease. Mollies in general like tanks with aquarium salt. And the salt also helps with stress.

 

[Ponch]

Thanks Bettacrazy - I'm going to look into that tonight

 

[Bettacrazy]

No problem

 

[Ponch]

Should I add a full dose of aquarium salt right away or go gradually? I'm thinking the latter.

 

[Barakis]

Should I add a full dose of aquarium salt right away or go gradually? I'm thinking the latter.

with fish, its definitely recommended all or nothing, dissolve the salts for the total volume in a small bowl/cup of tank water, then add it to the tank somewhere near the filer. dissolving it first means none of the fish will come into contact with harsh levels, and it will go round your tank a lot quicker.

I never used salt myself, but i have been close to it, so all the research has been done

on that note, melafix is a natural product designed to cure a whole hoste of bacterial issues. many people use it for fin healing. again i have little actual experience, as this is the first time ive used it, but from what i have read, seems to work really well for fin healing.

 

[Bettacrazy]

with fish, its definitely recommended all or nothing, dissolve the salts for the total volume in a small bowl/cup of tank water, then add it to the tank somewhere near the filer. dissolving it first means none of the fish will come into contact with harsh levels, and it will go round your tank a lot quicker.

I never used salt myself, but i have been close to it, so all the research has been done

on that note, melafix is a natural product designed to cure a whole hoste of bacterial issues. many people use it for fin healing. again i have little actual experience, as this is the first time ive used it, but from what i have read, seems to work really well for fin healing.

i agree with this advice. Your molly should heal soon.

 

[Ponch]

Thanks for the reassurance barakis and Bettacrazy. I just added a dose to my 10 gallon QT tank and Molly is hiding behind the heater. Intersting reaction thus far since he's never had salt in his water before.

Separately - something i should have asked prior , aquarium salt won't harm the tanks beneficial bacteria, will it?

 

[Barakis]

Separately - something i should have asked prior , aquarium salt won't harm the tanks beneficial bacteria, will it?

Absolutely not, reef tanks have bacteria too, I know it's a different type of salinity (saltiness lol) but theory applies.

Also don't worry about water hardness being affected, mollies/guppy etc can cope with VERY hard water.

 

[jlk]

Just something to keep in mind here. If the rays (bones) were badly damaged or broken on the fins, they likely will not grow back. I really don't believe anything is necessary here beyond healthy water & keeping an eye on the damaged area for any signs of infection. Fish are surprisingly resilient to minor injuries.

For future reference, I would add pre dissolved salt in gradual doses- fw fish need to adjust to increasing salinity as well as decreasing salinity especially when using it in medicinal amounts (1-3tsp per gal).

 

[Ponch]

Absolutely not, reef tanks have bacteria too, I know it's a different type of salinity (saltiness lol) but theory applies.

Also don't worry about water hardness being affected, mollies/guppy etc can cope with VERY hard water.

Awesome - so glad to hear it. I just saw the Molly out of hiding, pecking around for algae which makes me feel good. He is missing a fair chunk of his left fin, so not sure how long he will need to heal, but so far so good I guess.

One more question - what is the better treatment for a damaged fin... Salt or Melafix? Can they be used together or is it really one or the other? Cheers.

 

[Barakis]

Awesome - so glad to hear it. I just saw the Molly out of hiding, pecking around for algae which makes me feel good. He is missing a fair chunk of his left fin, so not sure how long he will need to heal, but so far so good I guess.

One more question - what is the better treatment for a damaged fin... Salt or Melafix? Can they be used together or is it really one or the other? Cheers.

As far as I know, the fin will grow back on its own, the meds only stop any bacteria from causing infection and slowing down the healing - so in short, they're pretty equal.

Although this one may need someone else to confirm...