zebra has "munched" tail

[millym]

hi
after months of peace in our tank we notice the other day that one of our zebra danio has lost the top part of his tail fin. aaaargh! we think it could have been after we tried our fish with some live food - shrimpy things, the red eye tetras we have ( which normally do nothing apart from 'bob' around in the water) went beserk when we put this food in & may have nipped the danios tail in excitement.
excuse my complete ignorance but will the tail grow back??? or does this poor danio spend the rest of his life with half a tail. he doesnt seem bothered by his injury - is still swimming around at a million miles an hour as they always do.
any help appreciated - we dont want to lose him/her/think its almost definately a him!!
oops i dont think this should be in tropical fish emergencies id move it to chit chat but dont know how - sorry.

 

[juliethegr8t]

Unless your danio has his tail bitten all the way to the base, he should be fine! I actually had a very similiar experience - when I brought home 4 of my long finned Zebra Danios, I noticed one of them had the entire bottom half missing. I'm happy to report that it's completely grown back and I have a very difficult time picking that fish out anymore. So I would imagine that the same thing is going to happen with yours! Keep an eye out for any problems - red or white edges to the affected fin. There's always a possibility he'll get a fungus or an infection, but if you catch it early and treat it with the appropriate medications (or even just a salt bath) he should be fine.

 

[alexwatson]

Yes, I had the same thing. I had four Danio's in the tank and one Zebra got picked on. The tail and everything grew back in no time. In my case it was fish boredom. I found live food and some extra fish cured the problem by distracting the other fish.

 

[Kossy]

Yes Live food will help as will nice clean water...if its a severe case you may want to use some medication. However this is not necessary if your fish is salt tolerant then add some salt.

 

[millym]

thanks everyone
the zebra is still swimming around at a million miles an hour skipping through the filter current despite his sad tail! we'll keep an eye for any signs of infection though.
its strange if he got picked on as he's a big strong fattie compared to the other danios(little skinny things) & after our nasty experience with kribs (eating all the other occupants of our tank - we returned them to lfs) we do keep a close eye to make sure nothing is being victimised

 

[Kossy]

Hopefully he will get better soon