Injured Zebra Danio

[jimboshrimp]

Hi everyone my poor zebra danio got into my filter the other day and its my fault I had the water too high and he just swam in.
I was checking my fish as I do every day and he wasn't counted so I searched for him and found him swimming in the back of the filter. I had to get him out using a small net after removing the filter sponge etc but the noticed his tail was shredded , he is swimming about and feeding ok but I don't want to keep him suffering if he is too bad to recover. Do the tails grow back ?
I know it is not due to illness as I check them every day without fail and he had no signs of anything wrong.
He is in with 3 golden barbs and 2 other danios and my yellow snail so nothing is nibbling him either.
I would post a picture if I could but don't seem to be able to get that right either lol.
 

 

[ADW1988]

I would say the best advice I could give is keep the water as clean as possible till healed.. Lots of water changes should help. Im no expert in fish A&E but have seen this said elsewhere.. I'm sure someone could recommend further advice

 

[jimboshrimp]

Thanks Alex
I do water change 20% and occasional 50%  very regularly as I have been having ammonia problems ( fish in cycle ) but it seems to be settled now yesterday they were ammonia 0.25 ph7 nitrite 0 and nitrate 0 so from ammonia 4 about 10 days ago is definitely coming down now.
All my fish have been feeding well and showing no signs of stress or anything I feed them a little flake each evening so not over feeding either. ( we learn by mistakes don't we ) my snail is my favourite I have to look for him all the time he gets in some funny places
I wouldn't like to think I'm making them suffer any more as they have survived the awful cycle ( wish I'd known about fishless)
Thanks again
Angie

 

[eaglesaquarium]

By clean water, in this case, we mean doing DAILY water changes.  20-30% daily will help the fish stay in the cleanest water possible and allow the fish to recuperate.  Danios are extremely hardy, and given the opportunity to heal, it should. 
 
If you notice it being harassed by others in the tank or a bit more 'sulky' a quarantine tank would be best for it.
 
 
Adding a bit of salt to the water would help also to decrease the chance of infection while it is recuperating.  The standard aquarium salt will be fine - at the recommended dosage on the box (1 TBSP per 5 gallons, I believe).  Just be sure to SLOWLY increase the salinity over the course of 6-12 hours.... Dissolve the salt in a bit of tank water and slowly add some of the 'brine' solution to the tank every few hours.  Give the fish a chance to acclimate to the new salinity and then add a bit more. 
 
 
When replacing water with the water changes, be sure to replace ONLY the amount of salt removed.  Meaning if you are removing 5 gallons of water from a 20 gallon tank, you only add 1 TBSP of salt to the replacement water to keep the same salinity.  If you are removing only 2.5 gallons of water, then you will want to drop the salt to add down by 50% as well.  Don't replace the total amount of salt. 
 
When the fish looks healthy again, the salt can be removed ONLY through water changes.  The key with that is simple.  Continue to do your regular 20% water changes, either weekly or daily, if you prefer... and don't replace the salt.  After about 3 or 4 water changes the salinity will be so low that a 50% water change is possible without causing shock.

 

[jimboshrimp]

Thanks JD
That is really helpful I will definitely do this with the salt and as you say regular water changes daily I've been doing mostly every other day  I've printed this off so I make sure I get it right..i have 2 air pumps going as well as the filter so there's plenty of water movement as well.
What with the shrimp escaping out of the tank and the zebra getting into the filter I wonder if they're trying to tell me something
Thanks again
Angie