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So a quick update on my little Tail-less Neon.

He seems to be healing well and I even see that there is some new clear tail that appears to be forming from his stump. I am monitoring him closely. I kinda feel silly for spending so much time effort and $$$ on an inexpensive little fish, but it gives me a good feeling!

I will try to get a picture of him a little later!

Uh... victim, if ya read the other posts, you'd know that the tank is now host to three molly fry. The neons have been in a 55 gallon tank for over a week. *ruffles you* Silly.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

The tank is too small, and agression kicked in.

The best you can do is treat it with melafix, or pimafix.

Also, i would advise you to get a bigger tank, the minimum size tank for neons should be no smaller than 10 gallons.

If you dont get a new tank, your neons will probably start fighting.

I rescued a tiny lil betta girl who was being picked on by bigger bettas at the LFS... by the time I got her in a QT tank, I wasn't terribly hopeful that her fins would grow back. Both tail and anal fin were ripped down until there were only a few rays sticking out from her body. Her anal fin was almost entirely GONE. Her tail was little better.

A week later and she's got short, but growing fins. I didn't take pictures of her at her worst, but trust me... when I looked at her, I almost got a sick feeling in my stomach, because there WAS no anal fin except for three rays, maybe 1/4 of the length they should have been, sticking out like wounded fingers. Now her fins are transparent, and have grown out to the lenth of the few rays that were left behind. I have hopes that she'll keep growing out her fins until she's the beauty she promises to be. She's a gorgeous palepalepale yellow white with a touch of spring green.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

That does appear to be in the base.

Excellent!

Hey CD,

I believe it had been damaged right to the base. You can see the image of the neon after it had just occurred at the following link:

http://www.ilikesoup.com/notail_neon.jpg

This clearly shows that there was absolutely no tail left, and that it was just a stump.

I'm curious - had it eroded into the base? I've wondered if it is falsely communicated that when it erodes into the base or is damaged beyond the base it can't regenerate.

Someone here actually had a fish regenerate part of its mouth that had rotted away due to infection.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 22-Mar-2005 22:30

Well, the tank has been given a thorough flushing and has been cleaned squeaky clean.

I changed the substrate in the tank too just to be certain. New filter media was inserted so it should be pretty well like new.

I am fostering 3 cute little Molly fry that "happened" in my co-worker's bigger tank They seem to be content just to nibble at the bottom. I don't know what I will put in here when they grow. I don't imagine it is big enough for anything substantial. Anyhow, don't want to get off topic in the hospital section. Thanks everyone for all the help with my questions!

Great news, danio.

I have also found, similarly, that melafix really has no visible effect on inverts at all. Ghost shrimp tend to be hardier even, than what I keep and have used melafix with, amano shrimp.

I'm happy to hear that the neons hve been moved to the 55, just keep an eye on the "survivor" to make sure nobody's picking on him/her.

What are you planning on putting in the 5 gallon tank now that the neons have been moved out?

So I wanted to make a quick mention that my little Neon has completely regenerated his tail as it appears, and there are no signs of further problems. As he was happy and healthy, and bombing around the smaller tank, I took a chance, and then moved him into my 55 gal with my school of other Neons and Cardinals, and he appears to be just peachy and in good shape with all of them. I am happy to report what now appears to be a wonderful success story!

I have since completely cleaned out the smaller tank with a small amount of bleach to clean out any possible infection. It is going to need to be cycled again, but so be it.

Just keep those botanicals in there for a minimum of 7 days. This will help with healing and prevent infection or fungus from setting into the injury. Tanks are nothing more than a soup of pathogens waiting for the right opportnity.

Ok, so little neon dude seems to have regained stability.

He has two tiny stubs that have formed that appear to be the forks of his tail regenerating. No signs of other illness taking effect. Plenty of color, Eating regularily. Steady as it goes, but looks good so far!

BTW.. I have named him "lucky" for his ordeals!

I kinda feel silly for spending so much time effort and $$$ on an inexpensive little fish, but it gives me a good feeling!

Fish: $1.89
Medication: $10.00

Education: Priceless!

I hope that sums it up. I spent probably 30 bucks trying to save 5 rasboras in quarantine from the same ghastly fate one of the tank mates died from, 24 hours after coming home - mouth fungus. It ate his face away completely to the eyeball in less than 8 hours and he was still swimming around. Needless to say, I had to euthanize. I had to go round after round of med to finally bring it in control within some of the others.

What I learned from the experience was priceless, imho. Some day, I may have a $50+ fish and I will hopefully avoid killing it with medications or allowing it to die from an unnecessary illness. And, I learned all that with cheap fish.

It's well worth it to me.

Hello All,

In a small 5 Gallon tank I have in my office, I did have 6 Neon Tetras, and two Bloodfin tetras. In an unfortunate sequence of dominance, one of the bloodfins ate most of the Tailfin of one of my Neons.

I have since removed the bloodfins from the tank, and they are happy and safe in my 55 Gal at home.

I am curious to know what, if anything I need to do with this little Neon. Right now, he seems to be happy, and healthy and still schools with the rest of the Neons, and eats as he used to. He simply just cannot get around as well as he used to. Will he always be Tail-less? Do tails grow back?

Thanks in advance!

A good measure of how he is doing is whether he is eating or interacting. To me, a handicap fish in my tank is just as welcome provided he has a desire to live and is capable of feeding. A true test is whether this fish can live without repeated sickness. This would tell us that he is highly stressed by his condition.

No problem CD! Naturally I respect your opinion in this matter. I am fortunate to be able to ask my questions to a panel of enthusiasts like this!

Everyone is doing well. I even added the other Ghosts back into the tank, and meds appear to have no effect whatsoever on them. In fact, they almost appear livelier!

Thanks everyone. I will wait to see what happens with my little guy! Heres hoping he makes it through!

DanioMan - I am not certain that Melafix or Pimafix would adversely affect the ghost shrimp, so it is up to you. It is a botanical. I have read on another site where someone was trying extra high doses of melafix on applesnails and they survived full strength without an issue. It was at higher levels they had issues with. Pimafix was not evaluated.

These botanicals can help prevent an infection if there is not one, and can help deal with an infection, to an extent, if there is one. I believe the Pimafix has a calming action, but that is just my suspicion. Since stress plays a role in immune system function, it makes sense to give the fish something that will make it relaxed, but I'm only guessing. . It's just my observation.

Ok, so I picked up some Pimafix at Big Als (our local aquarium store) and I am began with a dose this morn. just a little over half a teaspoon.I also took out the carbon portion of my Aquaclear filter. Everyone is happy so far! I did have 2 ghost shrimp in the tank. I removed both to a different tank before dosing as I heard that medication does not do them too well. Well it actually turns out I had 3 ghost shrimp in the tank as one did appear this morning after dosing. He does not appear affected. It's been over 4 hours now, and he does not appear to have any adverse affects to the dosing. Should he be removed still?

Edited to note "Teaspoon" not "Tablespoon"

Last edited by danioman at 02-Mar-2005 09:10

The salt is good as that little guy is losing his electrolytes and could be in some shock. That almost looks like advanced finrot. Are you sure the whole thing was bitten off and not just some of it? The rest may have regressed to that level.

Definitely add melafix and I'd go the extra yard and add Pimafix at the same time. They are compatible and Pimafix is a little better, imho.

Any tail that has gone deep into the base, is not likely to grow back. Then again, we never thought a fish could regenerate facial tissue after severe mouth fungus, but someone's did in fact do just that. I'd say, keep the water extra clean, do gravel vacs right to the glass to pull out food that can grow bad bacteria.

Let us know how he does. I hope to hear a success story in a few weeks.

I would just limit the tank to neons and maybe a snail, if you have not added parasite treatments ever in this tank. Apple or mystery snail would help clean up some of that left over food.

Thanks for the reply BF!

Unfortunately I don't think the photo does justice to the cleanliness of the tank. I had just recently fed the little guys before I took the photo. the 6 of these guys are very capable, and regularily do "hoover" the bottom of the tank after I feed them. I have tested the water, and the quality is good. I have now began to change the water by 20-40% daily as apposed to bi-weekly as I did before. A touch of Aquarium salt has been added to this tank as well to attempt to keep the stress levels down. I also turned the filter power down to help this little guy out in the current that is giving him grief!