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Post by murdock6701 on Dec 30, 2008 18:24:04 GMT -5
have noticed over the last few days my male yellow lab has been chasing the 2 females a lot - today I came home from work and one of my neons in missing the upper fin on his tail - this is NOT fin rot - is it normal for the lab to be aggressive to the "dither" fish? any chance of saving the neon?
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Post by murdock6701 on Dec 30, 2008 18:57:23 GMT -5
just noticed one of my von rio orange flame tetras has a small chunk of tail fin missing as well - no inflammation, just like something nipped him!
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Post by Carl on Dec 30, 2008 19:46:02 GMT -5
This is not normal, but not out of the ordinary for Yellow Labs (they were called Electric Yellows by my clients). As long as your Tetra does not develope an infection, the prognosis is good. A medicated bath twice per day with salt/MB would be helpful. You can also treat the display tank with Melafix, or Triple Sulfa or even the Usnea I sent you a few weeks back (this is an excellent healing treatment). A 6 oz brew will treat 10-20 gllons of water every day to every other day. Maybe try isolating the male Yellow Lab in a breeder net until he "chills" Carl |
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Post by murdock6701 on Dec 30, 2008 20:21:42 GMT -5
which tetra, the neon or the von rio? the von rio seems no worse for the wear, it's the little neon I'm worried about....the male lab or eelectric yellow is almost 4" long - I have a breeder net that's 7" long x 5" wide x 6" deep - really think I should put him in there huh?
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Post by Carl on Dec 30, 2008 21:20:22 GMT -5
which tetra, the neon or the von rio? the von rio seems no worse for the wear, it's the little neon I'm worried about....the male lab or eelectric yellow is almost 4" long - I have a breeder net that's 7" long x 5" wide x 6" deep - really think I should put him in there huh? The Neon needs the bath for sure, and maybe the in tank treatment as well (you can also use the Usnea in the bath as before). As to your male Yellow Lab, I have placed adults in breeder nets of just this size as a "time out" for a day or two with no ill effects. What I cannot guarantee is that the time out will mellow him, this works sometimes, and sometimes it does not, but at least while he is in there, the other fish can heal. Carl |
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Post by jonv on Dec 30, 2008 22:47:48 GMT -5
It's the space issue now John. Not enough dimensions where he won't see the neons or other fish. If he is chasing around the females, he's mature enough to breed, and much like South Americans as well, when it comes time for that, they will go into a frenzy "protecting" the spawning site. Because there isn't enough room to keep the other fish out of sight out of mind, he's perceiving the other fish as a threat. This goes on in my tanks as well in the main and the 100, but because of the more space available, the others usually just wander off to a different part of the tank when it gets too much for them. I'd say normal in the aspect this is triggered by sexual maturity setting in for the male, with not enough space for the dithers. You might want to try maybe danio's or something that moves quite a bit faster. Not to mention also John that neons need such pristine conditions, the stress of trying to stay out of sight probably wouldn't help them too much.
Try if you will, moving all the stuff in the bottom around for now. This should give some confusion in the male to where he is, for a short period of time, and force him to pick out a new site he wants to lure the females to.
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Post by jonv on Dec 30, 2008 23:00:35 GMT -5
I'd also like to add, the second brood following from the ones I gave you John, I just moved up to my 100 gallon today, I counted 45. I wonder how many she's holding now.
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Post by babygeige on Dec 30, 2008 23:32:35 GMT -5
I treated my red female betta's fin damage with melafix when she got abused by the pink girl betta. It worked like a charm! Her fins are gorgeous now.
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Post by murdock6701 on Dec 31, 2008 7:51:43 GMT -5
thanks everyone - I have danios in there as well - they are unmarked - I might move the others to my unused SA but will definitely rearrange my hidey holes and decor in the African
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Post by Carl on Dec 31, 2008 10:34:44 GMT -5
Excellent point Jon, I have noticed and recorded much as to the effects of stress on disease, and constantly hiding, or living in "fear" is a major contributor to many opportunistic infections.
I will admit that I too have rearranged tanks so as to "chill" an aggressive fish, however this too may only help temporarily as Jon also noted, so moving out the Tetras as I read you plan to is the best solution IMO.
As babygeige noted, Melafix is a good alternative organic treatment as with the Usnea.
Carl
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Post by murdock6701 on Jan 2, 2009 12:43:03 GMT -5
the tail fin on the neon is regrowing! the damage was to his fin, nothing to the body - I never medicated him as when I tried to catch him he avoided me w/ great skill and disturbed the whole tank in the process so I took the "let it be" and watch approach - this time it looks like it worked
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Post by Carl on Jan 2, 2009 13:28:21 GMT -5
the tail fin on the neon is regrowing! the damage was to his fin, nothing to the body - I never medicated him as when I tried to catch him he avoided me w/ great skill and disturbed the whole tank in the process so I took the "let it be" and watch approach - this time it looks like it worked Great John! Sometimes relief from stress (for the fish that is) and good water quality is all you need, which is the emphasis of my Aquarium Disease Prevention Article, which BTW is one of my least read articles, and I am not sure why since many of the points really make a difference. Carl |
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Post by goldenpuon on Jan 2, 2009 18:40:08 GMT -5
That's great John! My fish are known to do similar. Sometimes the wait and see is the best method.
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Post by eve on Jan 2, 2009 18:53:39 GMT -5
me personally, i stay away from medications as much as i can, for several reasons
one of my silver tipped tetras, got his complete back fin bitten off (don't know the correct term for it)
i noticed it, but instead of medicating, i just kept a close watch on it
and it's regrowing, without me medicating
only keeping the water at perfect parameters, meaning no ammonia and low nitrAtes
fish can be very strong, stronger then we might think
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