Will fins every recover

[Bad Inferno]

I have had some juvies which have grown quite well in the last 4-5 months...however they had been attacked when they where young and suffered some fin damage. I have tried salt and a I have tried one course of Malafix and a 5 day course of Myxazin (Waterlife antibacteria) and although the fins are no worse they are not getting any better. There is a noticable chunk out in the lower fins especially now they are growing up

Do I just live with this or should I keep trying to repair these fins.

rob

[Mattzilla]

do you have a picture?

the softer outer rim of the fins will usually grow back but the harder inner rim of fins may not

pics of the damage will help to see whether it is likely to grow back or not.

keep up the salt treatment that will definately help!

[Bad Inferno]

Pictures, bit of a blur but you get the idea

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/rjconway/IMG_0021.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/rjconway/IMG_0029.jpg[/img]

[sammigold]

Sorry I cant help with the fin question but that one on the right is gorgeous.... (what strain are they?)

[G-1000]

Sammi

They look to be blue turk x standard brown discus

No idea about the fins though

G

[scott bowler]

i think this is one for LR she would know i bet they are nice fish

[Bad Inferno]

Hey... forget the strain, what about he fins ?

I have four of them only paid 25 each as very young juvie's...they where sold as alenquea (spelling ?)

[Merrilyn]

Lovely round shape on those alenquers Rob.

If those fins haven't regrown in three months, they're not likely to.

If it really bothers you, you can take some drastic action and trim them back to the damaged part, and then the whole fin should regrow evenly. This is often done with wild caught discus, which often arrive with lots of fin damage. Only seems to take a couple of months for the fins to fully regrow.

If you decide to take that action, make sure you have some very sharp, sterile scissors. Hold the fish in a wet net, and trim the damaged fin, right back to healthy fin tissue (there won't be any blood). You can carefully touch the cut area with some full strength antiseptic on a cotton bud.

The fish should be returned to a very clean tank, with a little salt in the water, till the fins begin to show some good growth. After that, it can be returned to the community tank.

OR ........ just leave them as they are, if they don't worry you too much.

[Bad Inferno]

The four juvie fish I have are great and I think I'm keen to give one a trim and see the results on the rear fin...

Any tips on what anticeptic I can use to dab onto the cut fin ?
Can I cut half the rear fin off ?

Hope it doesn't just swim around in circles for the next month :(

rob

[Merrilyn]

LOL it won't swim around in circles Rob.

You will need to take it back to an undamaged section, so that means half the caudal fin on that particular fish. I've seen fins rotted off almost to the flesh fully recover after a careful trimming operation.

You can use Acriflavin or Mercurachrome (not sure of the spelling on that one, but the red stuff we used to paint on kid's scraped knees. The pharmacist will know what it is.)

Dry the cut edge carefully with a tissue, and gently dab with the antiseptic. Allow a few seconds to dry, and return the fish to a sterile tank.

[Bad Inferno]

Thanks Ladyred

I'll put on the white coat, talk my wife into holding the patient and do the deed..

cheers

[the german]

Hi there

i dont know about cutting fins.................................??????????
usually fin damage like this comes from a ph shock or a bacterial disease
and they grow back quite fast(6-8 weeks)
i would never cut fins on my fish...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i bred discus for more than 9 years in germany and now live down under.

[Bad Inferno]

Welcome to the forum German.

I only paid $25 each for these four fish and they have grown so nice I wish I had purchased more and had 8 in a display tank. I am at the end of the road as far as trying to get these fins to grow. All other Discus in tank are perfect.

Ph Shock ...interesting point as about 6 weeks ago I did run out of CO2 and the ph shot up from 6.4 to 7.1 which it is currently running. Have not refilled my bottle. However these fish did get attacked early on months prior to ph going up.

I am going to give it a go on one fish and see how it goes....I have no other option that once cut I have to return into the same tank.

I'll do some before / during operation / after pictures just to make you cringe a little bit more :)

cheers rob

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum German.

Under normal circumstances I would agree, however this is an extreme case. The fin damage has not regrown in three months.

I've been breeding discus for over thirty years, and although trimming may seem extreme, I have done it on several fish over the years, and it's always been successful.

In fact I'm breeding veiltail black angels at the moment, and their huge fins often prevent the pair from spawning successfully. I trim all their fins, pectoral, caudal, dorsal and anal fins, and they quickly regrow. I have even trimmed broken or bent ventral fins, and they regrow straight.

Just as long as it's done properly, with due care, the trimming is quite successful.

[ozarowana]

Soft rays should grow back and the tail definately will. I don't think the hard rays (spikey fins towards the fishes head) grow back, but I may be wrong.

[Bad Inferno]

The job was easier than I thought. Although wife does not like the idea I used her scissors....I did sterilize them in boiler water before / after and put antiseptic liquid on them...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/rjconway/fins-1.jpg

[the german]

ok,sounds like you know what you are doing there ladyred
never heard of this before but when it works well it must be ok.
hey bad inferno most time the ph shock happens when it is big,
say from7 to 5 or so,i saw it when poeple get discus from
brasil and there was long time in their bags,after they put
the discus in their own tanks it happend in seconds.

[Bad Inferno]

I was surprised at how the fins actually cut...they were harder then I thought, like cutting plastic film.

[nicholas76]

Woudl really appreciate an update on the fish and what they look like!

any issues ? please post pictures