help! my tetras tail is gone!

[THEGENOS]

My neon tetras tail is gone. Im not sure what happened. It's having a hard time swimming now. Will the tail grow back?

 

[THEGENOS]

ok never mind. It couldn't fight the current in the tank so I said my farewells and flushed him . This is my first fish death. I'm not sure what happned but I found him trapped under the shipwreck. I dont know if it tail got caught in something un there or if another fish attacked him and he was hiding in there. Once the fish was disables I noticed that there is a seriously bad current in the tank. It was spinning around like water going down a drain. The take is a 10 gallon rectangle and the filter is for a 10-15 gallon tank. It has a pickup tube into the filter and it discharges like a waterfall. I can see the bubbles being created from the fall nearly reaches the bottom of the tank. Should I put something in there to diffuse the waterfall as it enters the tank? Its probably really hard for the fish to swim.

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi THEGENOS,

Fish do have remarkable regenerative skills....

if it is just the fin that has been damagaed and it isn't into the main body of the fish then with good water conditions it should be able to grow it back.

kepp an eye out for secondry infection - you could try a broad spectrum bacteriacide as a preventative precaution. I'm a fan (some arn't) of a product called Melafix.

2 days ago one of my rainbows i presume got 'spooked' and jumped out the water. I only heard the bang but I think he must of hit his head on a cross member on the tank (which is quite close to the water)(rio400). He took a sizeable chunk out of his head, and went mad arround the tank for a while. It didn't look nice but I treated straight away with melafix and wound has almost healed over and the colour come back to that area...

hth

 

[wetwetwet]

Depending on the filter.....

if the outlet can be under the water and angled to the surface or against a side

or fit a spray bar to diffuse

or as you say put some decoration in the way.

This should allow some less turbulent areas for the fish to retreat to..

 

[THEGENOS]

well now I have 1 neon left . I went to feed them this morning and I saw one of them was stuck to the filter inlet. I know they are schooling fish but I feel reluctant to get more just to have them sucked into the filter. I have a feeling this is what happened to the first neon but he was able to get away with just a missing tail.

 

[carey]

This has happended to me a few times but I keep large fish and I put plants around the filter, Well about 6 cm away (fake plants) and then the fish can use that as an extra filter ya know?

 

[aquatrippe]

Hi Genos,

I just want to let you know the most humane way to kill a fish is to put it in a small plastic container with water from the aquarium in the freezer.

The fish painlessly "goes to sleep" and does not suffer. If you leave the fish in for 30 minutes he will have peacefully died.

Flushing a living fish down the toilet is a slow and painful death.

I am sure you didn't know this so don't feel bad..but the next time you have the right information.

Aquatrippe

 

[CFC]

Dont do it! freezing is an awful way to go,look up the post in tropical chit chat titled Vodka and you can read up on the good ways (if ther ever is a good way )of dispatching fish,and why freezing is possibly the worst

 

[aquatrippe]

Wow, now I don't know what to think..

Every expert source, book, personal etc.. I have read suggests freezing is the most humane way to kill a fish..

The theory is the body processes slow down as in hybernation and before any pain is felt the fish is numbed...I am not a biologist so I don't know for sure...I have just never heard anyone recommend what the poster in the other thread does...

I was hoping the person who gave this information could provide some perspective on why so many sources recommend freezing and what are practical ways to humanely kill small fish that are terminal?

Aqutarippe

 

[aquatrippe]

Hi All,

I did some research on the internet about fish euthanasia and I am not so certain as I was about freezing as a humane method.

There seems to be some controversy over the method of which I was completely unaware.

I don't have the answer yet, I am going to research it further... its a tough topic thats for sure.

One biologist seems to think freezing is only applicable to coldwater fish and that tropicals don't have a hibernation state..that seems to make sense..

So I withdraw my advice about freezing as a humane method.

Thanks for letting me know!

Aquatrippe