Wrasse tail damage: fin rot or healing wound?

[zalick]

I got this pintail wrasse 10 days ago. It was shipped to me and went through a full medicated quarantine by the vendor.

it came with tail damage about equal to the photos below. In the bag there was some white fraying at the edges of the damage.

this occasional white fraying comes and goes during the day. I’m confident it’s not ich.

my question is does this look bacterial in nature or is the healing damage picking up find sand here and there?

The fish appears otherwise healthy and is now eating vigorously. I’ve watched for hours and no observed aggression from other fish.

 

[zalick]

@Jay Hemdal - Do you think there is anything to be concerned about or that needs treatment? My uneducated guess is that its slime from the healing that is picking up fine particles at night or sometimes during the day and as the fish swims around they fall off. The fraying does not appear to be getting worse. Thanks!

 

[zalick]

So the tail damage seems to be ok for a day or so, then become frayed again with a little white fuzzy. Kind of looks like a very mild bacterial infection that won’t go away. This morning the tail looked fine, although damaged, with no fraying pieces. Then two hours later it started looking a little bad again. This has been the case for the last month since the day it arrived in the mail.

here is a current pic and closeup. Sorry for the blue light. It’s a bit of a PITA to change the color on my mitras LX7. When the halides go on this afternoon I’ll try to get another pic.

It is eating and otherwise appears ok. Sometimes it swims a bit lethargically or listless but that might just be normal pintail oddity.

this poor fish clearly had a seriously rough QT and shipping to me.

@Jay Hemdal - is this worth trying to get it out to a hospital tank and administer antibiotics or should I take the wait and see approach? It hasn’t really improved in the last 30 days. But also hasn’t gotten worse. Just won’t heal.

@evolved - any ideas?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sorry, looks like I missed your “ping” back in April!
I would definitely move that fish to isolation and treat with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic.
That sure looks like mechanical damage, and of course, aggression is the most common way for that to happen on a tail like that. Fish are pretty sly, and may behave fine when you are watching them.
It could be a primary bacterial infection, but I would question why it is only on the trailing edge of the fin?
Neoplex or Furan-2 would be two possible meds to use.
Jay

 

[zalick]

Sorry, looks like I missed your “ping” back in April!
I would definitely move that fish to isolation and treat with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic.
That sure looks like mechanical damage, and of course, aggression is the most common way for that to happen on a tail like that. Fish are pretty sly, and may behave fine when you are watching them.
It could be a primary bacterial infection, but I would question why it is only on the trailing edge of the fin?
Neoplex or Furan-2 would be two possible meds to use.
Jay

Thanks Jay.

Occasionally a little damage appears on the anal fin. There was initially some damage and fraying on the dorsal but it appears to have stopped and mostly healed.

there is definitely a little aggression towards the pintail. The magnificent foxface nips at it occasionally and so does the royal gramma. No outright chasing but definitely a nip and short follow here and there. Most of the day the pintail follows the foxface side by side too. It doesn’t learn!

 

[zalick]

Sorry, looks like I missed your “ping” back in April!
I would definitely move that fish to isolation and treat with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic.
That sure looks like mechanical damage, and of course, aggression is the most common way for that to happen on a tail like that. Fish are pretty sly, and may behave fine when you are watching them.
It could be a primary bacterial infection, but I would question why it is only on the trailing edge of the fin?
Neoplex or Furan-2 would be two possible meds to use.
Jay

Well, I’m home every day all day for the most part and always watching the tank. Today I sat back from a distance and saw my foxface Torpedo the pintail right in its side. I got the hospital tank setup as fast as I could with air stone, heater, some live rock from sump. No powerhead. Got the pintail out and on the HT. It had near zero energy. Didn’t even protest when I scooped him out of the net with my hand.

it’s In the HT now just sitting on the bottom. If it makes it through the night I’ll be surprised.

 

[Sam816]

try feeding it. frozen food soaked in fish vitamins(if u have them). hold a brine shrimp/blood worm with a pincer/tong and put it in front of the fish. hopefully it will suck it in. feed it like this every few hours. siphon out any uneaten food or poop immediately. I have revived my betta like this last week. he is a slow eater & out competed during feeding time. last week I found it upside down on the tank floor.
best of luck

 

[zalick]

@Jay Hemdal - when the pintail “woke up” this morning it was swimming like it had the neurological damage. Circles and upside down. Now that I think about it, the last few days it’s been slowly showing those signs. Not quite targeting food accurately and the occasional odd twirl. Very strange phenomenon. If it’s not improved tonight, I’ll use clove oil.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

@Jay Hemdal - when the pintail “woke up” this morning it was swimming like it had the neurological damage. Circles and upside down. Now that I think about it, the last few days it’s been slowly showing those signs. Not quite targeting food accurately and the occasional odd twirl. Very strange phenomenon. If it’s not improved tonight, I’ll use clove oil.

Sorry to hear, I wish I knew what causes this in wrasses....
Jay

 

[jp_75]

Which vendor did you get it from?

 

[zalick]

It spent the last 36hrs breathing normally, with eyes moving, pretty much paralyzed. It would twitch a little like attempting to swim if I nudged it but that would last a second or less.

it didn’t move at all when I scooped it out of the hospital tank with my hand. Just stared at me.

a clove oil bath put it to sleep. Poor guy.