destroyed tail

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Scott Far Thunder - 29 Sep 2004 12:17 GMT

Hau kolas..

I have a year old electric yellow lab which was pretty torn up by a red-top
afra..long story short, the lab's caudal fin was pretty much destroyed to
the base of he rays and secondary infections hit hard, despite efforts to
avoid them, the next day. he's been resting in a hospital tank for about
three days now, holding his own and today was actually swimming around. Even
though the caudal fin is mostly gone, he can still manage to manuever around
the tank. The question: some pieces of the rays are still attached at the
base of the fin and just sort of dangling off the tail. Should I remove
these pieces? Is there some sort of fish gangrene that can/will set in if
these remain attached? the fish was/is in very bad shape; frankly I'm
suprised it has lived until now; I'm wondering if trying to remove or trim
these pieces of fin would tip the scales. Any advice?? TIA!

lila pilamaya
**FREE PELTIER NOW**

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Happy'Cam'per - 29 Sep 2004 12:33 GMT

Leave the fish alone completely unless feeding or changing water. The less
stress the better at this stage. We had the exact same thing happen to
exactly the same fish here at work. The fish is still alive and well but
minus the tail! No problems with mobility though. Depending how close to the
caudul peduncle the damage was, there may still be a chance of the tail
growing back. Melafix will aid with the healing process. If Melafix is
unavailable to you then add some aquarium salt to aid in preventing
secondary infections. Leave the 'dangly bits' for now, the fish has gone
through too much stress already. HTH.
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

> Hau kolas..
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> lila pilamaya
> **FREE PELTIER NOW**

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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / September 2004

destroyed tail