HELP - injured red bellied pirhana

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Mikepirhanaman540

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I have been housing 4 red bellied pirhanas in my 60 gallon aquarium for about 7 months without any issues with behaviour, only to find out today that one had gotten its entire tail ripped apart and was forced up inside a home made pop bottle sponge filter I have inside my tank.

I have since removed him from the original tank with his 3 other mates, and placed him in a small 15 gallon hospital tank that I have set up.

QUESTION- straight up , is this poor fish going to make it?

- if he does make it he would surely have to be kept solely on his own? In his own aquarium?

- if he did heal up ok, would this still be wrong to keep him alive without his back tail?

Thanks in advance, any advice is appreciated.

PS I do feed my pirhanas ALOT of variety, twice a day and I do not believe they should be so hungry as to kill each other off for feeding reasons....
 

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I have been housing 4 red bellied pirhanas in my 60 gallon aquarium for about 7 months without any issues with behaviour, only to find out today that one had gotten its entire tail ripped apart and was forced up inside a home made pop bottle sponge filter I have inside my tank.
You have been lucky for 7 months. 4 Pirhana in a 60G can only end one way.

Does this mean you have 2 Pirhana tanks? Last month you mentioned a 55G with 3 RBP.
 
Piranha do tend to kill each other off when kept in aquariums. You might get lucky and end up with a pair or you might have 1 fish.

As long as the injured fish does not develop an infection in its tail, it should recover. The easiest way to keep infections down is by doing big (75%) water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for 2 weeks. This helps dilute disease organisms which might infect the wound.

Monitor the damaged area over the next few days. If it goes white and fluffy then a fungal infection has gotten into the wound. If it goes red and looks inflamed, then a bacterial infection is in the wound.
If it does get infected, then you will need to treat the fish with Methylene Blue or Triple Sulpha.

You can add a bit of salt (sodium chloride) to the tank. Use 1-2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of tank water. Keep the salt there for about 2 weeks.
 
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Luckily you still have all your fingers.:#
 
Uhh guys the fact that red bellied piranhas fight and kill until only one is left is not even true. is not true at all. I have a red-bellied piranha tank which is hale and harty. [me and by best friend made it and have kept in my basement for fish].

82517786_640.jpg
 
Moony42, the tank in your picture has a lot of fish in and that is why they don't kill each other. The fish also appear young and most problems occur when the fish mature. Then a dominant male or pr take over the tank and kill everyone else. In big tanks with lots of room and lots of fish, the aggression is spread out over all the fish and deaths are less common.
 
No way!! I've had this tank for two years
 
It is about 400 gallons [I might be wrong].
 
the tank in your picture has a lot of fish in and that is why they don't kill each other.
And that's the key. If you want to keep pirhana you have one or you have a big group. The 60G of the OP cannot accommodate a big group (in truth its too small for one).
 

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