Fish Fin Healing

[holy carp]

I'm posting this to document something I found to be quite remarkable. One morning I noticed my Randall's Goby had somehow cut up his dorsal fin. It didn't really look like there had been a fight (all tank inhabitants seem to get along swimmingly, ha ha), but he may have been trying to squeeze into the Randall's Shrimp burrow. That shrimp is tiny and there's no way this fish could fit.

 

In any case, I started researching how long it would take for the fin to heal, and I didn't find too much to provide any indication. I used to have betta fish, and when they got fin rot or other fin problems, it would usually take 1-2 months to heal, so although the damage to this time wasn't that extensive, I was somewhat disappointed to see this happen to the goby's beautiful fin.

 

Here's how he looked before anything happened:

 

 

And here's the progression I saw when I found him with the damaged fin - all photos were taken around 9am of the day identified:

 

Day 1 - 8/20 - 2 main obvious points of damage:

 

Day 2 - 8/21 - noticeable improvement:

 

Day 3 - 8/22 - this fish is like Wolverine:

 

Day 4 - 8/23 - just a bit left, but not much change:

 

 

Day 5 - 8/24

 

Day 6 - 8/25

 

Day 7 - 8/26

 

Day 14 - 9/02 - Weird, it almost looks like some regression

 

Day 15 - 9/03 - Sorry to report that I won't have any more updates on the healing process... Today this fish jumped through my eggcrate tank cover and died. :-(

[CJJon]

Looks like damage from aggression. That tail fin looks busted too. What else is in the tank?

[holy carp]

The tank also has the following residents:

a pair of ocellaris clowns (1 regular female and a DaVinci that may still be juvenile)

an orchid dottyback

1 blue coral banded shrimp

1 peppermint shrimp

the aforementioned tiny Randall's shrimp

an emerald crab

Plus some assorted snails as CUC

 

any usual suspects?

[HarryPotter]

I know coral banded shrimps can do that exact type of damage, but I've never heard of blue banded shrimp.

 

If it's the same species, I believe it is the perpetrator

[holy carp]

The blue CBS are the smallest and allegedly most docile coral banded shrimp - completely different from the standard CBS. That shrimp and dottyback live in the same cave where the Randall Goby sometimes hides.

 

Here's their description from coralimports:

Description

Blue Coral Banded Shrimp are very useful and colorful shrimp. They resemble other Coral Banded Shrimp, but have a deep bluish purple body. They have white, yellow and red bands on their claws and tail as well.

Blue Coral Banded Shrimp can be kept in most sized aquariums from 20 gallons on up. Blue Coral Banded Shrimp reach a maximum size of around 2 inches. They are considered peaceful shrimp and will not bother other inverts, coral or fish in reef tanks. Some aggression can be seen between multiple Blue Coral Banded Shrimp in the same aquarium though.

Blue Coral Banded Shrimp are amazing cleaners and are known to pick parasites and dead skin off of various fish species. Blue Coral Banded Shrimps are also scavengers and will eat some food leftovers found in your tank. Blue Coral Banded Shrimps tend to be good at controlling populations of bristleworms in your tank as well. Supplemental feedings of small meaty foods can also help your Blue Coral Banded Shrimp thrive in your reef tank.

[yoshii]

Woah that healed fast!

[holy carp]

That tail fin looks busted too.

You're right. I hadn't really noticed the tail fin as the dorsal fin damage was pretty distracting... I'll guess it also happened the same night, but can't say for sure.

[holy carp]

I've updated the original post for the healing progress, but sadly this goby jumped through the eggcrate lid and dried up on my floor. This was especially surprising and disappointing since I'd never seen him swim within 2 inches of the surface, preferring to stay low to the bottom of the tank.

[lkoechle]

That sucks. I have seen my clown fish heal pretty quickly too when they would fight. Wish we could do that :]

[holy carp]

It has actually made me wonder if the fin injuries could possibly have happened from a jump into the eggcrate lid. I can't imagine the fish jump through without hitting the edges. They must jump in and get sort of stuck and then wiggle their way either up or down depending on how far through they get.

[GTi]

Sorry to hear that he jumped.

 

To add a data point about fin healing - I had a Hi Fin Goby and a Red Firefish. Between tanks they were in a holding tank with a 6 Line Wrasse. The Wrasse had been in the display since he was tiny and I never saw any aggression. One day both the Goby and Firefish were missing their dorsal fins completely. After trading the Wrasse both fish regrew their fins although it took more than a few days.

[holy carp]

Glad to hear those gobies recovered.

 

I just got back from a week's vacation. On 8/30, before I left, my orchid dottyback had some damage to his left pectoral fin. This was the best I was able to photograph it:

 

I was suprised to see little if any improvement while I was away - either it's being reinjured, or perhaps the wound is infected... Or could it be disease and not injury? He seems healthy and hungry, and for the most part behaves normally, though I have seen him dart at the clowns, which I've never seen him do before...

 

I also wondered if pectoral fins may have a much different healing process than the dorsal fin.

 

I couldn't get any photos in focus today - that fish won't sit still, so I took some video. I slowed it down to see better.

 

Should I be blaming that emerald crab for this? If so, he may have to live out his days in the sump with the chaeto...

[holy carp]

OK, so they say in aquaria good things only happen slowly, but it seems some bad things may also happen slowly... I've been trying to keep an eye on this fish's fin, and for the most part it had seemed unchanged since the video. This morning I was able to get a closer look, and what I see is concerning me now. Is this some kind of an infection? disease? parasite? healing process?

 

There now appears to be a small white lump at the end of the pectoral fin. I have no idea how fin spines regenerate and whether this is part of a painstakingly long healing process, or an infection, or if it's getting re-injured. I wish this fish would stop trying to snuggle up with the emerald crab...

 

His appetite is fine, though he does seem a little more defensive/territorial over the past few days to week with the two clowns.

 

Can anyone recommend a treatment? I don't have a hospital/qt tank at this point, but thought maybe a dip in HydroPlex might help. Not sure if the stress is worth it if this is part of the healing process... Or perhaps I just need to move the crab to the sump (he'd be a lot easier to catch, too). The crab's supposed to be the janitor, but I also noticed this week that his back legs are full of white stuff. It almost looks like it could be pineapple sponges on the crab's legs. (I'll try to get some pics later; he's in hiding now) If they live together, could that white stuff on the crab's legs have attached to the fish fin?

 

Testing shows:

pH 8.4

Mg 1400

dKH 7.3

Ca 420

NO3 0.00

PO4 0.02

sg 1.025