Fins nipped off - seeking advice

[impossible]

I have a 20 gallon tank with two bloodfin tetras and two male pygmy gouramis. After a little fighting when I first got them, my two pygmy gouramis have lived together peacefully for three months, frequently appearing together. Yesterday one started pursuing the other around the tank. I tried to reconfigure the tank to give them separate territories and hiding places, but this morning I discovered that the hunted fish has lost most of his fins.

I currently have the aggressor fish imprisoned in a floating fish hatchery. I have a third pygmy gourami in a 10 gallon quarantine tank (due to tail rot acquired in the 20 gallon tank in July). The 10 gallon tank has aquarium salt in it.

I've done a vastly better job of vacuuming the gravel in the 20 gallon tank since the first instance of fin rot, but I am nonetheless worried that the hurt fish will acquire it. I have been dosing that tank with Melafix.

Any advice would be appreciated, but here are the most pressing questions:

What can I do to help the hurt fish?
Should I acclimate him to the quarantine tank?
(Maybe when he recovers from the stress?)
Should I treat him with medicine?

How long can I leave the aggressor fish in the hatchery?

 

[Chronos313]

Gouramis I find should be bought in odd numbers to displace aggression. The bloodfins you should have at least 6 cuz they are a schooling fish. You could use aquarium salt to help heal the fins. I've also used melafix as a backup against infection

 

[impossible]

Thanks for responding. I have been planning to get more bloodfin tetras. (I would definitely already have them if I didn't have a patient in my quarantine tank.)

I was thinking about the possibility of adding aquarium salt to the tank. It does seem like a good idea for some fish that can adjust to the salt (since the pathogens can't adjust). However, I've read that tetras are highly sensitive to salt since they come from an environment with very soft water, so I'm not sure that they will survive the addition of any salt.

I added in some Prime since it encourages the fish's natural slime coat
(giving some of the benefits of salt). I also increased the temperature a bit.

While I haven't added salt, your suggestion did trigger me to do other things, so thanks!

 

[Retired_AF]

I have salt in my aquariums and have tetras, platys, mollies, gouramis, bettas (female), otos and several other types of fish. They dont appear to suffer any ill effects from it.

 

[impossible]

I have salt in my aquariums and have tetras, platys, mollies, gouramis, bettas (female), otos and several other types of fish. They dont appear to suffer any ill effects from it.

Interesting... This is exactly the kind of data about salt and tetras that I was hoping to find. Could you tell me what kind of tetras they are and how much salt there is and how big a tank it is?

 

[Retired_AF]

Interesting... This is exactly the kind of data about salt and tetras that I was hoping to find. Could you tell me what kind of tetras they are and how much salt there is and how big a tank it is?

In my 20 gallon I have flame tetras and neon tetras. In my 37 gallon tank I have bleeding heart and red serpae tetras. I use API aquarium salt, 1 TBSP per 5 gallons as per the instructions on the box.

 

[impossible]

In my 20 gallon I have flame tetras and neon tetras. In my 37 gallon tank I have bleeding heart and red serpae tetras. I use API aquarium salt, 1 TBSP per 5 gallons as per the instructions on the box.

Thanks for the information. I'm surprised that tetras can tolerate that amount of salt, but I guess you can tell by their behavior how well they are. I will know in the future that it may be possible to put salt in with my tetras. Fortunately my water quality appears to be good enough that the other precautions I took have prevented my gourami from acquiring any secondary infection.

My thanks to both of you for your responses.