looie39

The other day i bought another blue damsel and added him to my tank with a domino (large) the domino harassed him and managed to bite off the poor guys tail.. so i moved the blue to my 30 gallon with a yellowtail and 2 clowns, he was still being harassed by the yellow tail and his tail was concerning me that it would not heal, he has been eating well but i thought it best to keep him from the other fish

today i went out and bought a breeding net (the guy at store said it would work fine for him) and i set it up it is pretty small
so it took me a while to catch him but i finally placed him in the net and since then he has been scared and moping around the bottom and occasionally freaking out and trying to get out

i was wondering if the breeding net is even necessary and his tail will heal on its own or am i just causing him more stress and making him more prone to infection??

Thanks for any advice!

sgould

The tail will eventually heal if it is left alone. If the other fish are bullying him, then you are right to seperate them. Unfortunately, you are also right that if the net is freaking him out the additional stress could cause additional problems. Ideal would be to put him in a hospital tank by himself. This would give him free run of the tank without worrying about bullying. Of course, if you can't get a hospital set up, you have no choice but to go with the next best thing, which is what you are trying now. Keep watching...it's possible he will settle down a bit once he gets used to the confinement. Also, to help speed the healing, you might look into a product called Vita-chem. There is a fresh water version and a salt water version, so be sure to get the right one. It is a little pricey, but will help speed the healing/regrowth along a bit.

defcon11

Just a question, but why are you trying to put aggressive damsels together? No matter what you do, the other damsels are going to harass him.

looie39

well at the moment my hospital tank is occupied by the evil domino who in being returned to the store in a couple of days so until then this little guy is in his tiny home

and the reason i have 2 damsels together is because a friend who knows "everything" about SW fish and reefs and corals and such who got me into this hobby bought them for me the other day after i was talking about getting a few new fish he thought they would get along fine but no lol so unfotunately i am left to clean up the poor little man

one more question.. once the hospital tank is available again should i still switch him to that tank?? or just wait til he heals and return him to the store also since he adn the yellow tail prbably wont get along??
Thanks!

looie39

o i also forgot!
today at the store i bought a medication by Gel Tek (is this a good brand) and it says it is penicillin it also says that it will protect from bacterial infections, cloudy/bulging eyes, mouth sores, and fin rot it is supposed to take place of their normal diet for 5 days.... which leads me to another question.... today i noticed the hurt damsels eye is also begining to bulge is this the popeye infection that i read about?? is it contagious and just due to stress or is it something i really need to be worrying about??
Thanks again!!