Brought Large Severum Home ...pic

[Faythee]

Seems to be doing fine in my tank. Yeah ! He is about 6.5-7 inches long.

Well I think it is a HE...Can Anyone tell me if it is a M or F ?

See second pic. Tail fin has 2 good tears. One is about 1/4 of the way up from the bottom. Other is just below the top. Also one on the dorsal. Should I use some Melafix to help healing or will it heal in time on it's own ? Maybe add a bit of salt ?

What do you feed them and how much ?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Those are very small cuts.

Add a small dose of salt. (1 tsp. per gallon if you don't have any scaleless fish or inverts) to discourage any bacterial secondary infections. Thats about all thats needed. Melafix/Stress coat can be added, but it is probably not needed. I would say, if you got some already, go for it, but if you need to run out to the store for it, then don't worry about it.

 

[Tobigara]

i don't think salt is needed. split fins heal pretty quickly with or without melafix or stresscoat. if you want to add something to aid in healing, melafix is better than stress coat but i wouldn't add salt.

as for feeding... i feed my severum sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and beefheart as a treat maybe once a week. they eat most fish foods that fit in their mouths. they're pretty good like that.

 

[Faythee]

Thank you all. I do have Melafix but it stinks up the whole room. I will wait and see if they heal okay. I have to feed him sinking food as the Tinfoil Barbs eat anything up as soon as it hits the water. Bought the only sinking cichlid food I could find "feeding frenzy" and he doesn't care much for it. Fed him a few peas last night and he loved them.

 

[cheesy feet]

Those are very small cuts.

Add a small dose of salt. (1 tsp. per gallon if you don't have any scaleless fish or inverts) to discourage any bacterial secondary infections. Thats about all thats needed. Melafix/Stress coat can be added, but it is probably not needed. I would say, if you got some already, go for it, but if you need to run out to the store for it, then don't worry about it.

Why use some old school treatment which can do as much damage as good when you have melafix?Salt is the one which isn't needed.

Thank you all. I do have Melafix but it stinks up the whole room. I will wait and see if they heal okay. I have to feed him sinking food as the Tinfoil Barbs eat anything up as soon as it hits the water. Bought the only sinking cichlid food I could find "feeding frenzy" and he doesn't care much for it. Fed him a few peas last night and he loved them.

If I were you I would go ahead and dose it, this will stop any infections and aid healing.Without it they could get worse.
Beautiful sev btw

 

[Faythee]

Okay. I have a huge bottle Melafix so I am going to do it.

I bought 2 more sinking foods today. The first one he tried and spit it out. The second one he ate only one pellet. I wish I knew what the previous owner fed him. He does not come out to eat flakes. I am thinking fresh veggies. Can I feed any type of lettuce and do I need to blanch it first ? Also read that they like black worms. I have never seen those. Can I try any type of worm ?

He is just hanging out in back corner of tank at the bottom behind plants tilted to the side a bit. Hopefully he will come out

Thank you for the compliment Cheesyfeet ! He is a beauty

 

[cheesy feet]

Try some peas and frozen food.He's just stressed from the move I should think.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

cheesy feet,

How is salt old school? Salt is a very important part of treatment and sometimes is the perfect compromise when looking at other harsh medications. Salt is a good for stress, adding a small amount can help soothe fish that have just been transported. It is really good at aiding in the extermination external parasites like Ich. You can concentrate it in high amounts in the form of a salt bath and use it to treat Columnaris and other fungal disease. This is why I recommended it. A lot of times wounds can end up getting fungus as a secondary infection. Salt should help prevent anything that starts to develop as the fins are healing.

I like to use stress coat when adding new fish too. It helps with healing damaged fins, so I don't see any harm in using it.

Melafix can be used, but like I said, it really isn't needed. Some salt to prevent secondary infections and a little extra Stress Coat should help the fins regenerate without any problems.

 

[Faythee]

I keep 1 tblsp. per 10 galllons in the tank anyway.

How much Stress Coat do you use when adding new fish ? Enough for the whole tank ?

I seen where someone said that fins do not always come back and heal. Is this true ?

 

[cheesy feet]

cheesy feet,

How is salt old school? Salt is a very important part of treatment and sometimes is the perfect compromise when looking at other harsh medications. Salt is a good for stress, adding a small amount can help soothe fish that have just been transported. It is really good at aiding in the extermination external parasites like Ich. You can concentrate it in high amounts in the form of a salt bath and use it to treat Columnaris and other fungal disease. This is why I recommended it. A lot of times wounds can end up getting fungus as a secondary infection. Salt should help prevent anything that starts to develop as the fins are healing.

I like to use stress coat when adding new fish too. It helps with healing damaged fins, so I don't see any harm in using it.

Melafix can be used, but like I said, it really isn't needed. Some salt to prevent secondary infections and a little extra Stress Coat should help the fins regenerate without any problems.

What do you mean harsh medications?Some fish can tolerate almost no salt and if you overdose others can become very stressed.This damage on the sevs fins are very little and all you need is some melafix (which has been especially formulated unlike salt), .'Melafix rapidly repairs damaged fins, ulcers and open wounds.Melafix promotes regrowth of damaged tissues and fins
API Melafix cures cloudy eye, pop eye, body slime and mouth fungus'
Its never failed me...
Were not treating ich, fungal/bacterial infections yet, and even then usually there are better treatments for those.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

cheesy feet,

How is salt old school? Salt is a very important part of treatment and sometimes is the perfect compromise when looking at other harsh medications. Salt is a good for stress, adding a small amount can help soothe fish that have just been transported. It is really good at aiding in the extermination external parasites like Ich. You can concentrate it in high amounts in the form of a salt bath and use it to treat Columnaris and other fungal disease. This is why I recommended it. A lot of times wounds can end up getting fungus as a secondary infection. Salt should help prevent anything that starts to develop as the fins are healing.

I like to use stress coat when adding new fish too. It helps with healing damaged fins, so I don't see any harm in using it.

Melafix can be used, but like I said, it really isn't needed. Some salt to prevent secondary infections and a little extra Stress Coat should help the fins regenerate without any problems.

What do you mean harsh medications?Some fish can tolerate almost no salt and if you overdose others can become very stressed.This damage on the sevs fins are very little and all you need is some melafix (which has been especially formulated unlike salt), .'Melafix rapidly repairs damaged fins, ulcers and open wounds.Melafix promotes regrowth of damaged tissues and fins
API Melafix cures cloudy eye, pop eye, body slime and mouth fungus'
Its never failed me...
Were not treating ich, fungal/bacterial infections yet, and even then usually there are better treatments for those.

Yes, we aren't treating Ich or fungal/bacterial infections. We should keep this way, thats the whole reason why I am recommending it. If I am not mistaken a Severum isn't a scaless fish, invert, or catfish, so I am pretty sure he will be okay with the recommended amount of salt for the majority of freshwater fish. 1 tps. per gallon of salt is even a pretty low dose, you could easily double it with no problems.

Faythee,


If you are going to add more stress coat, it should say on the back of the bottle the exact amount to add for healing scales and fins, but you could double what you are putting in at the moment. Don't worry about it not coming back, it will be fine. It should even heal without all this medication and extra stuff, but it is always better safe then sorry.

 

[Tobigara]

i think salt can be good but it can easily be bad for the fish. dosing and tank stock are the keys to this. cichlids are decended from salt water fish so they can deal with small amounts of salt in the water. but very few fw fish do well with it. if you have nothing but cichlids in the tank then salt is fine but if you have other types of fish, you should ditch the salt.
personally, i save the salt for salt baths. but it's a preference and solely up to you.

Here's a link about salt in an aquarium. look it over. it never hurts to know the science of something

http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/22...Aquarium-Salt-/

Going to feeding again. Severums are omnivores but (i think) with a preference for veggies. i forgot to say this in my earlier post but i throw some shelled peas too. also try looking for spirulina enriched foods. it's usually better for the fish

 

[cheesy feet]

cheesy feet,

How is salt old school? Salt is a very important part of treatment and sometimes is the perfect compromise when looking at other harsh medications. Salt is a good for stress, adding a small amount can help soothe fish that have just been transported. It is really good at aiding in the extermination external parasites like Ich. You can concentrate it in high amounts in the form of a salt bath and use it to treat Columnaris and other fungal disease. This is why I recommended it. A lot of times wounds can end up getting fungus as a secondary infection. Salt should help prevent anything that starts to develop as the fins are healing.

I like to use stress coat when adding new fish too. It helps with healing damaged fins, so I don't see any harm in using it.

Melafix can be used, but like I said, it really isn't needed. Some salt to prevent secondary infections and a little extra Stress Coat should help the fins regenerate without any problems.

What do you mean harsh medications?Some fish can tolerate almost no salt and if you overdose others can become very stressed.This damage on the sevs fins are very little and all you need is some melafix (which has been especially formulated unlike salt), .'Melafix rapidly repairs damaged fins, ulcers and open wounds.Melafix promotes regrowth of damaged tissues and fins
API Melafix cures cloudy eye, pop eye, body slime and mouth fungus'
Its never failed me...
Were not treating ich, fungal/bacterial infections yet, and even then usually there are better treatments for those.

Yes, we aren't treating Ich or fungal/bacterial infections. We should keep this way, thats the whole reason why I am recommending it. If I am not mistaken a Severum isn't a scaless fish, invert, or catfish, so I am pretty sure he will be okay with the recommended amount of salt for the majority of freshwater fish. 1 tps. per gallon of salt is even a pretty low dose, you could easily double it with no problems.

Faythee,


If you are going to add more stress coat, it should say on the back of the bottle the exact amount to add for healing scales and fins, but you could double what you are putting in at the moment. Don't worry about it not coming back, it will be fine. It should even heal without all this medication and extra stuff, but it is always better safe then sorry.

You seem to jump onto the idea of salt to quickly, as shown in many other threads, with your extensive salt knowledge I'm surprised you didn't mention that salt can harm some fish, and did not even ask about his stocking?
Aquarium salt is so ridiculously untested for you to make those statements in your first post, there are loads of posts where bignose has explained what salt actually does, for one, I remember that it does not actually reduce stress and can badly damage fish that are primarily freshwater fish (meaning they have always lived in freshwater).Even fish which have evolved from salt water fish have taken millions of years to do this, so even while they may tolerate it, it will certainly not reduce stress.
Imo it is better to treat with the tested, therefore, correct, medication instead of salt.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Maybe I read wrong, but I thought he had him in quarantine?

Most fish can handle small amounts of salt, as Tobigara said, Cichlids especially have a pretty high tolerance to salt. I believe I also warned that salt shouldn't be used if he/she has inverts, scaleless, or catfish in the tank. Yes, if used wrong, and if you add too much there are some side effects, I believe it can damage gills, and if the fish are exposed to it for a long period of time, it can hurt some of the internal organs. I honestly don't see why you are fighting it so much, salt has been used practically as long as fish keeping has been around, the key is just using it correctly. And with that, I am done arguing my point, I am not going to reply to what ever you want to post cheesy.


I must've gotten two threads mixed up, because I thought I have warned about about some fish/inverts not handling it that well.

 

[cheesy feet]

You seem to want to reply but not to let me reply, maybe I came across a little blunt but o well.I can't see anything on the thread which says anything about qaurantine?
I was just making a point, maybe a little blunt, ahh well...Oh and I said salts an 'old school treatment' because it was used before there were all the new medications.