Fish with no fins.

[Joey waid]

so as the title says we a have a fish with no fins at all. It's a spiny box puffer. He got mauled by a porcupine puffer. Will he live? If needed we will hand feed and dose meds when and if needed. Thanks..

 

[ReefQueen]

Aw poor guy can we see a pic so we can see how extensive the damage is? Ha e you seperated him in a QT yet? I have this little jerk, and while he does have full pectoral fins and most of the tail fin, he is seriously lacking everywhere else. This does not impact him in anyway at all, he is the boss of the tank and has no problems showing the other fish (and my hand and arm) he is in charge!

 

[Ann_A]

I believe the best chance he has is if he can put in a separate quarantine tank that can be medicated with antibiotics and can have a lower salinity.

The treatments I would recommend include hyposalinity and maracyn 2. Dropping salinity to 1.010(ish) helps slightly reduce physical stress on the fish as their internal osmotic balance is lower than typical seawater and their organs will have to work less hard to maintain this balance if the surrounding water is at a lower salinity. The maracyn 2 would be to help prevent infections in the open wounds.

Flow in the QT should be quite low to help prevent the puffer from being blown around the tank, adding additional stress.

To be quite honest I don't think the chances of recovery are all that high if he really has no fins whatsoever left but I wouldn't give up on him just yet.

 

[Joey waid]

I believe the best chance he has is if he can put in a separate quarantine tank that can be medicated with antibiotics and can have a lower salinity.

The treatments I would recommend include hyposalinity and maracyn 2. Dropping salinity to 1.010(ish) helps slightly reduce physical stress on the fish as their internal osmotic balance is lower than typical seawater and their organs will have to work less hard to maintain this balance if the surrounding water is at a lower salinity. The maracyn 2 would be to help prevent infections in the open wounds.

Flow in the QT should be quite low to help prevent the puffer from being blown around the tank, adding additional stress.

To be quite honest I don't think the chances of recovery are all that high if he really has no fins whatsoever left but I wouldn't give up on him just yet.

Yea, he is by his self in a ten gallon tank with only a hang on filter and a air stone. He absolutely has not one strand of a fin, so taking pics is moot.

 

[Tahoe61]

Do you want this moved to the Fish Disease and Treatment forum, for a run down on medicinal treatment?

 

[Joey waid]

Do you want this moved to the Fish Disease and Treatment forum, for a run down on medicinal treatment?

I really don't know? I have almost every med known to mankind. I just have never had a fish with just a body.

 

[pugcrush]

Is he eating? Can the fish still swim? How's the tail? Fins won't regenerate per say, but part of it can grow back. My clowns have threaded their fins slightly at times. By the following week, it's brand new.

 

[Josett Waid]

That's the puffer but as you can kinda see, he has no back fins or side fins. So basically no fins at all but he is moving around surprisingly.

 

[miyags]

He might be able to regrow some of his fins in time,

 

[ahiggins]

Dropping salinity to 1.010(ish) helps slightly reduce physical stress on the fish as their internal osmotic balance is lower than typical seawater and their organs will have to work less hard to maintain this balance if the surrounding water is at a lower salinity.

I had no idea...

 

[Joey waid]

It's already in a lite bath of acriflavine and chloroquine phosphate.

 

[Joey waid]

I had no idea...

Me either!!

 

[miyags]

But its tail fin looks like it's down to the meat.

 

[Josett Waid]

But its tail fin looks like it's down to the meat.

It might be actually I'll have to look at him in a min but the big puffer literally grabbed him by his back tail fin and started trying to rip it off.

 

[Josett Waid]

All his back fins are to the meat, but it's not like exposed flesh just little nubs of fin are left.

 

[miyags]

I've seen a royal gramma regrow it's fins after fin and tail rot treatment. Just keep him well feed,and see what happens. I'm rooting for him.

 

[Ann_A]

If the puffer is able to move around a little on his own he has a much better chance than I was originally thinking. It'll take a couple weeks but as others have stated it's possible that he may regenerate a decent portion of each of his fins, enough that he could live a full and mostly normal life once he adapts.

Again, the main concern I would have at this point is preventing infection with an antibiotic and making sure that he continues eating.

I had no idea...

It's a slight (and often overlooked) benefit of hyposalinity but the majority of the time hypo is used for treating external parasites. Whenever I'm quarantining a sick fish I do hyposalinity at 1.012 as a precaution against parasitic infections and to help lower stress.

 

[Josett Waid]

If the puffer is able to move around a little on his own he has a much better chance than I was originally thinking. It'll take a couple weeks but as others have stated it's possible that he may regenerate a decent portion of each of his fins, enough that he could live a full and mostly normal life once he adapts.

Again, the main concern I would have at this point is preventing infection with an antibiotic and making sure that he continues eating.



It's a slight (and often overlooked) benefit of hyposalinity but the majority of the time hypo is used for treating external parasites. Whenever I'm quarantining a sick fish I do hyposalinity at 1.012 as a precaution against parasitic infections and to help lower stress.

Yeah he's moving around slowly but at least he's moving and he pecks at the rocks on the bottom. We're going to try and feed him soon and see if he try's to eat.

 

[melypr1985]

He might be able to grow back some or parts of his fins with time. You want to be careful of infection right now. Acriflavin was a good choice for the QT. You'll want to watch for white fuzziness (that's a technical term ) around the fins or redness. Heavy breathing might be a problem and you want to be sure he keeps eating. Add vitamins to his food every single time he eats. A dip in methyline blue could help him heal as well.... if you feel it's needed.

 

[Empress]

I think he should just rest for a few days. Don't force him to move around, but make sure he stays upright. You may have to hand feed him for a while. And try to keep the water as clean as possible so infection doesn't set in. Low salinity, high oxygen, quality foods and medications. And lots of rest. Hope he makes it.