Help- Fish Has Chunk Bitten Out Of Its Side

[fishnovice]

This morning I noticed Tiny Tim my smallest jewel cichlid had a raw red patch near the anus/tail end on his right side. Looks like someone took a nasty bite out of him, though it's possible he may have collided with something in the tank during a high speed chase.Poor Tiny has been bullied and chased all his life by his nasty larger sibling and sometimes by other cichlids in the tank.He's 14 months old now, still smaller than siblings and hasn't turned red.
I've isolated him in a Critter tank inside the main tank as I don't have spare filter and heater for hospital tank, At least he will be safe from attack and further injury there. He#s still swimming actively and it was quite a job to catch fim.
Will he survive? What if anything should I do to treat him?

 

[Jenste]

I don't know how to treat wounds specifically....but clean water is essential. Doing extra and larger water changes will mean the world to him. Someone else (like Wilder) will probably be able to point you in the direction of more involved treatments, but I do know that the first step is the cleanest water possible.

Good luck with the little guy!!

 

[fishnovice]

I've positioned the Critter tank so one of the spraybar outlets is directly above the tank vents and added Stresscote ans a few drops of ESHA2000 (the only med I have) directly to Critter tank which has its lid on. Now i am able to examine poor Tiny, it looks like a skin and flesh wound, nothing too deep so I'm hoping internal organs are unaffected and he will be OK provided it doesn't get infected. Fingers crossed.

 

[WILDER]

That's fine.
For cuts and wounds you can dab methylene blue onto the wound.
Also melafix can be added to the tank, or dabbed on the wound. Be careful with melafix as not all fish tolerate it to well.
Best to half dose first to see if the fish handle it.

 

[fishnovice]

That's fine.
For cuts and wounds you can dab methylene blue onto the wound.
Also melafix can be added to the tank, or dabbed on the wound. Be careful with melafix as not all fish tolerate it to well.
Best to half dose first to see if the fish handle it.

Sorry to sound dim but how do you apply methylene blue to wounds? Surely you can't take the fish out of the water to treat it? or do you just add a few drope to the tank? Placed the critter tank in a large tank with a 3 spot gourami and dwarf common plec. Worried about Tiny's long term future though even if he recovers. Tried to rehome him but it's not easy to find a home for a cichlid that's too much of a wimp to live with other cichlids but potentially too aggressive for a community tank. It looks like poor Tiny will have to live out his life in solitary confinement, unless he can share with the gourami. Problem is, the gourami is also a bully and may have hassled the other 3 gourami I had in with him to death, though they could also have died of old age.
PS Tiny is swimming actively and wound is now pinkish rather than bright red. May also have slight mouth injury so I think he was definitely attacked

 

[fishnovice]

That's fine.
For cuts and wounds you can dab methylene blue onto the wound.
Also melafix can be added to the tank, or dabbed on the wound. Be careful with melafix as not all fish tolerate it to well.
Best to half dose first to see if the fish handle it.

Sorry to sound dim but how do you apply methylene blue to wounds? Surely you can't take the fish out of the water to treat it? or do you just add a few drope to the tank? Placed the critter tank in a large tank with a 3 spot gourami and dwarf common plec. Worried about Tiny's long term future though even if he recovers. Tried to rehome him but it's not easy to find a home for a cichlid that's too much of a wimp to live with other cichlids but potentially too aggressive for a community tank. It looks like poor Tiny will have to live out his life in solitary confinement, unless he can share with the gourami. Problem is, the gourami is also a bully and may have hassled the other 3 gourami I had in with him to death, though they could also have died of old age.
PS Tiny is swimming actively and wound is now pinkish rather thna briggt red. May also have slight mouth injury so I think he was definitely attacked

 

[fishnovice]

That's fine.
For cuts and wounds you can dab methylene blue onto the wound.
Also melafix can be added to the tank, or dabbed on the wound. Be careful with melafix as not all fish tolerate it to well.
Best to half dose first to see if the fish handle it.

Sorry to sound dim but how do you apply methylene blue to wounds? Surely you can't take the fish out of the water to treat it? or do you just add a few drope to the tank? Placed the critter tank in a large tank with a 3 spot gourami and dwarf common plec. Worried about Tiny's long term future though even if he recovers. Tried to rehome him but it's not easy to find a home for a cichlid that's too much of a wimp to live with other cichlids but potentially too aggressive for a community tank. It looks like poor Tiny will have to live out his life in solitary confinement, unless he can share with the gourami. Problem is, the gourami is also a bully and may have hassled the other 3 gourami I had in with him to death, though they could also have died of old age.
PS Tiny is swimming actively and wound is now pinkish rather than bright red. May also have slight mouth injury so I think he was definitely attacked

 

[fishnovice]

That's fine.
For cuts and wounds you can dab methylene blue onto the wound.
Also melafix can be added to the tank, or dabbed on the wound. Be careful with melafix as not all fish tolerate it to well.
Best to half dose first to see if the fish handle it.

Sorry to sound dim but how do you apply methylene blue to wounds? Surely you can't take the fish out of the water to treat it? or do you just add a few drope to the tank? Placed the critter tank in a large tank with a 3 spot gourami and dwarf common plec. Worried about Tiny's long term future though even if he recovers. Tried to rehome him but it's not easy to find a home for a cichlid that's too much of a wimp to live with other cichlids but potentially too aggressive for a community tank. It looks like poor Tiny will have to live out his life in solitary confinement, unless he can share with the gourami. Problem is, the gourami is also a bully and may have hassled the other 3 gourami I had in with him to death, though they could also have died of old age.
PS Tiny is swimming actively and wound is now pinkish rather than bright red. May also have slight mouth injury so I think he was definitely attacked

 

[fishnovice]

That's fine.
For cuts and wounds you can dab methylene blue onto the wound.
Also melafix can be added to the tank, or dabbed on the wound. Be careful with melafix as not all fish tolerate it to well.
Best to half dose first to see if the fish handle it.

 

[WILDER]

When you have to dab wounds, you wrap the fish in a clean cloth soaked in tank water.
Ask someone to hold the fish down while you dab the wound. Don't keep the fish out of the tank for long.

Or just add half dose of melafix to the tank.

 

[fishnovice]

When you have to dab wounds, you wrap the fish in a clean cloth soaked in tank water.
Ask someone to hold the fish down while you dab the wound. Don't keep the fish out of the tank for long.

Or just add half dose of melafix to the tank.

Thanks, didn't realise you could do that though I'm not sure if I feel brave enugh to attempt fish out of water treatment. Tiny is doing fine, swimming actively and wound is healing. He's happier now that he no longer needs to fear bullies. Worried abut what to do with him afterwrds though, he certainly can't go back into the cichlid tank or he'll be killed for sure next time. This is the first instance of injury I've had in the cichlid tank in almost 10 months.Guess it was bound to happen sometime.
PS: Computer got stuck yesterday so I pressed the SEND button 3 times and ended up with 3 identical posts. Apologies to all

 

[WILDER]

Bless him.

Could buy another tank for him if you are very fond of him.
The only other option is to rehome him.