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new Julii cory missing a fin!!

3K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  Byron 
#1 · (Edited)
One of the new false julii cories (corydoras trilineatus, Byron;-)) I got on Wednesday is missing a fin!

I added them to my tank Wednesday late afternoon. They seem to be going through an adjustment period slightly longer than my other cories did, but my tank is well set-up and I pay attention to the water condition so I'm pretty sure they'll come around.

I got home from work today to find one of them stuck to the filter input! I assumed he was dead, but noticed that he was still breathing. I unplugged the filter, and to my surprise he swam away. Unfortunately I think the filter ripped off one of his side fins. He mostly is vertical in the water now, and can't swim in a straight line when he rights himself. He is having a lot of trouble. The other 2 still seem scared, but fine.

What can I do? All his other fins are fine, there is no sign of disease, but he is missing his left fin. I feel awful. Think he'll make it? Do those fins regenerate, or is he permanently handicapped?

EDIT

On closer inspection, he is also missing his front "whickers" or feelers, whatever they are called on catfish. His head looks read under the skin, making me think there might be some internal bleeding from being caught in the filter. Oh no! I put him in a QT tank, unfortunately I don't really have a real one so it's just a large tupperware container that I added an airstone to and switched my powerhead over. It's shallow, so figured he might not feel so stressed out in a smaller space.
 
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#2 ·
Any internal injuries, from either the trapped issue or before you got him, will be un-treatable. Watch for fungus if a fin is torn off or the fish's skin is scraped off and open. The swimming behaviour and the redness are not good signs, suggesting more of an internal problem that simply missing a fin.

Byron.
 
#3 ·
He died :(

I feel awful because I don't know how long he suffered trapped in the filter suction. It could have been up to 9 hours, as that's my normal time away from home on a workday. He died quickly afterwards, he died probably within an hour of being moved to isolation.

I'm trying to decide if I should hold on to him until Monday to take him back to the store, or if I should consider it yet another lesson learned why I shouldn't buy fish from chain stores.
 
#4 ·
What sort of filter intake is it? I ask because if it is something into which a fish can swim but not get out the other end, they are usually trapped, not being able to swim backwards. I have lost fish that get stuck in the surface skimmer unit, so I removed it. But if it is an intake such as on a canister filter, the fish would be quite weak in order to be pulled against it.
 
#5 ·
It's an aquaclear 20 filter. It has several "guards" on the intake that prevent from being sucked IN. He was very weak, the only other time I've had a fish get stuck to the intake was right before they died/after they were dead and I discovered them there.
 
#6 ·
I would be inclined to think the fish was injured when you got it. This can occur from simply netting them, if the store person inadvertently caught the fish against the glass with the net for example. It doesn't take much to injure fish internally. I would take it back, hopefully they will replace it.
 
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