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Fish missing fins

Beastije

Fish Addict
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Czech republic
Long story short, today from the breeder, instead of leaving with 10 ember tetras, I left with 11 serpae tetra I cant return until next Tuesday (breeder is not available, not me but it was my mistake).
I put them in a smaller tank, because if I were to put them in a 360l I would never be able to catch them again in time to return them. One of the tetras is missing almost all of the tail fin, the pectorals seem shorter too and the fish is just drifting through the tank, most often upside down and is in no control of its movements. I put it in the net in the tank to at least stop it from spinning through. I read fin damage can be healed after some time, but not sure how much of the damage and if the fish is not needlessly suffering. Should I put it in a small jar instead without any flow?
Do a salt bath? The fish was netted and acclimated and put in a new tank, so super stressful day for it. Dont want to make it any worse but if I leave a vulnerable tetra in a serpae company, I doubt it will see morning
Advice appreciated
 
If it helps i have a 3l jar w mossball some java fern where i changed 50% of water 2 weeks ago, and i have a 30l or so vase filled with java moss that i changed water in also two weeks ago standing on my windowsill. Or a bare new 3l w fresh water or a 50/50 is doable for me too. The tank i put them in is unheated same as the vase/jar, so temp should be the same, but who knows what were they in at the breeders... Expected different fish to put to a different tank
 
pictures and video of the fish?

is the fish still eating?
if not I would probably euthanise it.

fins usually grow back in about 1 month.

there's no point adding salt unless there is an infection.
 
I don't really understand the story - are you wanting to return the serpae because of the sick one? If not, then why did you take them home instead of ember tetra?

Sounds like might be a problem with his swim bladder along with the fins. Could be anything really, something made him weaker, then the others nipped his fins away. Need pics and/or video really like Colin suggests.
 
I ordered via email at a breeder that does drop offs and used the common name and not the latin one and made a mistake (blood vs ember in czech sound similar ). That is why I need to return them since neither of my tanks can support serpae either size wise or tankmates wise ( i would have to put them in with the hatchet fish and embers and both are not recommended tank mates)
I took photos but you cant see anything so will try again tomorrow. I put it in the vase, is hanging upside down stuck in a moss. Don't have high hopes, will see in the morning. It did not eat when I fed the others
 

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It doesn't look good :(
See how it is tomorrow.

If you put a marble or small smooth rock in the bottom of the net, it will hold the net down and stop it from wrapping around the fish.
 
So while it survived the night, it is laying on its side at the bottom of the vase and just gasping for breath, so I will go put it out of its misery :(
 
The space is simply too small the fish cannot escape any aggression. They will likely bully/kill another fish to death if kept in the vase.
That would be true since the vase is vertical and not horizontal. However the remaining 10 serpae tetra are in a 60x30cm 54 liter tank for the remaining 6 days. I will feed them extra well to avoid aggression and hope for the best.
Any tips i could minimize agressions with? Will post a picture
 
IMG_20220601_173735.jpg

At this moment it houses two neolamprologus multifasciatus, three harlequin rasboras and brotia herculea snail. I did a water change on sunday, 20% yesterday before i acclimated the 10 serpae
 
It's just really overstocked and with that comes aggression amongst species because of the lack of space and crowding. Other than moving them to a larger tank, you could try adding more floating plants to the right side. You could also try adding a small/medium piece of hardscape/cave in the middle to further break up line of sight and to act as a territory marker.
 
Best i could do on short notice with what i have at home is this
IMG_20220601_192919.jpg

I don't think the tetra got nipped in my tank but rather the transport bag
 
Ok, so the tetras are finally back at the breeder, so now it is time to nurse my harlequins back to health.
Any recommendation on speeding up the nipped tail fin healing process? Clean water is a given, so will up the water changes to 50% per week instead of 30%
I will leave the moss and the wood in the tank anyways, no harm there. And I guess feeding more protein, so less dried food, more frozen and live?
The serpae were gorgeous btw, sure not full color since they were not in a good environment. The picture is not doing them justice, because the black stripe on the dorsa lfin is amazing
IMG-0337.jpg
, but still
 
Nice looking fish!
Sounds like you know what you're doing with helping the harlequins recover. If you spot any fungus beginning to set in, or they're struggling to heal, then you could step up the water changes even further and try aquarium salt treatment. Instructions for dosage etc in the pinned part of the "fish emergencies" section of the forum. But hopefully they'll heal up fast and you won't need to. :)
 

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