Help! Beat Up Male

[krista522]

I keep my male and female in a divided 7gal tank and my male somehow got over the divider into the females side and she seems almost untouched (2 splits in her end tailfin) but my male has several splits and some still hanging off. What should I do. I put the female in the other divided tank next to another female. I have dropped the water levels in both tanks so they wont make it over the dividers but I thought it would be stressing for my male to still have her next to him. Both my heaters are on the fritz so im using two lightbulbs on all day and i put a towel over the tank at night with the covers off (so i can place the filter on the other side of the divide because my lid is fitted for the filter) it stays pretty close to what I had with the heaters until i can get new ones. what can i do to help my poor male?

 

[Jenste]

do lots and lots of water changes! nothing heals battle wounds, and being turned down, than a very clean environment.
you will see his tail regrowth in no time as long as you do lots of water changes

 

[helterskelter]

Yep water changes are good, but you also want to use something like melifix or myxazin to stop secondary infections from setting in. As fungal infections are very common.

Good luck.

 

[BethK]

Yup, I would use an anti-bacterial/finrot solution to aid in recovery at this point. Where as fresh water is very good, when the wounds are that impacted on a fish, they need an aid. Esp if he has a longish tail.

Good luck x

 

[krista522]

Thanks guys I will do a bigger water change everyday (I do small water changes every day as long as im home long enough to do it because I had to do fish in cycles started about two months ago in the tank he's in. even if it is cycled by now i like doing small water changes every day, gives me peace of mind.)

 

[loraxchick]

melafix is no good to use with bettas. some react very bad to it. i also do not advocate using antibiotics straight away. givethe fish two weeks in clean water and feed more high protein foods. if that doesnt sort out the tail issue, or if you notice rapid degradation/erosion of the remaining fin in that time, only them would i use antibiotics.
fish are more resilient than we give them credit for sometimes, and an otherwise healthy fish should have no problem with a clean water treatment and begin to heal on its own.
cheers

 

[krista522]

melafix is no good to use with bettas. some react very bad to it. i also do not advocate using antibiotics straight away. givethe fish two weeks in clean water and feed more high protein foods. if that doesnt sort out the tail issue, or if you notice rapid degradation/erosion of the remaining fin in that time, only them would i use antibiotics.
fish are more resilient than we give them credit for sometimes, and an otherwise healthy fish should have no problem with a clean water treatment and begin to heal on its own.
cheers

Thanks loraxchick! I was going to give him some time anyways. he's not resting or acting different at all! He still does his ballet for me in the morning when I wake up and turn his light on and he doesn't lay down at all or rest like i thought he would.

 

[krista522]

Almost all of the splits in his tail have healed since my female attacked him. With 25% water changes ever day and 45% every 3 days. Yay!

 

[Tolak]

I've had plenty of beat up fish dealing with cichlids, fresh water without melafix heals just as good as fresh water with melafix. If anything for severe cases I'll add a little acriflavin, which acts as a bit of a topical antibacterial agent, this is out of the water by the second day.