bala sharks entire tail fin missing!

[Jonwes]

Ok, end of the day, just checked on my fish, and my bala's tail fin is gone! its like the entire thing too, the end is just a stub thats all white and bony, I cant stand looking at it. Im guessing it was the rest of the fish that got a little too aggressive (I have 6 other tiger barbs), although they arent picking at him at all right now, I mean, hes well over 2 or 3 times the size of the biggest barb, along with his buddy bala, so I dont see how this happened. It only took 2 days max, as I just noticed it, and could have possibly missed it yesterday. And what do I do??!?! Besides this, hes doing fine, swimming around, getting food at the top, just a little gimped. I don't have a separate tank I can use, as getting him out would be my first choice, thinking of getting one of those dividers at the very least, as I'm broke.
Please respond fast, thanks!

TIA
Jon

 

[CFC]

First of all try to seperate the fish as soon as posible since you have no means of a seperate tank the divider will have to do but some sterile conditions would be better. Then treat the tank with a mild broad spectrum anti bacterial medication, in the UK i would use MYXAZIN for this which is malachite green based, this will help prevent fugus are bacterial infections from taking hold, melafix can be added at the same time to aid fin re-growth.

 

[Jonwes]

yup did exactly that, got a screen divider in place, and added some melafix, he seems to be doing fine now that hes safe. btw, can they regrow their entire fin?it seems to be just his fin, the really thin part, but its totally gone.

thanks much
Jon

 

[david27]

If there are some remains of spine parts of the tail then quite possibly it will grow back if not and no infection sets then it will heal over and he will just have to flap a bit harder to get around.
I've got a cory that was just left with a bloody stump and he is still with me after 3 years

David

 

[Yenko]

As long as your fish survives, it will be just fine. I've had a cherry barb with a crushed tail for months. The tail is about 1/6 of its original size, but he gets around fine, and competes extremely well with my other male cherry barb for mating rights to my female (He seems to win, actually).