Injured Serpae Tetra

One of my serpae tetras has been found laying on the bottom of the tank and he or she looks totally out of it . One of the tetra just keep attacking the injured tetra. Will the injured serpae tetra survive? I used to have six of them . One of them died couple of week ago from infection . But I got the infection under control. I do not want to take the serpae tetras back to the store since I grow to love them and attach to them dearly. Now I have six diamond tetras , two zebra Danios and five serpae tetras . What should I do?

 

could u by any chance get a better pic of the injury?

 

Hello , here are the close up pictures I am isolating the fish right now to see if it will recover . I am afraid to release the fish from isolation because I am sure the other tetras will continue to nip it and eat it alive . I do not want to flush the injured fish down the toilet because it will be too painful I do not know why the injured fish is just lay there . Not sure if it was tramatized by getting nip by other serpae tetras . I fed all the fishes this morning . So I did not know why they attacked each other. At this point the injur fish won't eat anything . What should I do ?

 

I truly wanna help and don't wanna steer u in the wrong direction or make ur tetra suffer. I would call on AllieSten , KimberlyG or CindiL ....these 3 ladies r superb

 

What infection did the last tetra die from? What medication did you use to treat the infection?
Dying fish are often attacked by tank mates.

 

CindI is on vacation.

Do you have a small tank you can transfer the injured Tetra into? Something about 1-2 gallons with a heater and an airstone. That way you can monitor him more closely until we figure out what to do

To echo what KimberlyG asked, what infection were you treating?

What are your tank parameters? What size tank?

 

I truly wanna help and don't wanna steer u in the wrong direction or make ur tetra suffer. I would call on AllieSten , KimberlyG or CindiL ....these 3 ladies r superb

Caitlin 86 thank you very much

What infection did the last tetra die from? What medication did you use to treat the infection?
Dying fish are often attacked by tank mates.

Sorry everyone I was running around like crazy trying to find get a small nursery tank for my serpae tetra . The last serpae tetra died from lymphocytis infection .


When the last serpae tetra was dying from lymphocytis the pet store recommended me to use ParaGuard. Unfortunately, the little one did not survive. He got like a mucus stuff Coking of his belly. KimberlyG can you please tell me why the the health fish attack the infectious fishes?

 

They sense that something is wrong. I have seen it time and time again where the weakened fish is chased and picked on. Why they do that is a mystery to me, but I am sure there is a reason. Let us know what happens with the ill fish and keep an eye on the other fish.

 

CindI is on vacation.

Do you have a small tank you can transfer the injured Tetra into? Something about 1-2 gallons with a heater and an airstone. That way you can monitor him more closely until we figure out what to do

To echo what KimberlyG asked, what infection were you treating?

What are your tank parameters? What size tank?

AllieSten, the water parameter was perfect I just brought the water to be tested by the store I purchased the fish from . The tank size is 20 gallons . I just bought a small hospital tank for the little injured fish . The first store said it hard to say if he will survive. Since he got a big chunk of his fins and and tail nip off. I added the stress coat to the tank reduce stress and repair damage tissue. Right now the little guy just lay on the corner of the hospital tank and he won't even eat or swim much

 

Poor guy. We will have to see how he is in the morning.

 

For the future could you be sure to have the fish store write down your parameters. Sometimes their opinions of "perfect water" are different than the reality. Totally not your fault, but it happens a lot more often than you think. Next time we need actual numbers.

With a tank that large, I would invest in an API Freshwater Master Test kit (liquid). Then you can test your tank all on your own. No need for the pet store.

We will just have to wait and see if he makes it. The best you can do is keep him safe overnight. See if in the morning we can possibly treat him. He may need to be in that tank for a couple weeks to heal those fins. That will be done with good water quality. So lots of water changes. That will be easy in the small tank. Plus you can keep a good eye on him. It is ok if he won't eat for a day or two. He has been traumatized. Just keep him quiet and pretty still for the next 24 hours. Let him recover.

Good luck. Hopefully he makes it through the night.

Edit: I just was able to see the pictures. Did you get a breeder net instead of a separate tank? It will be more difficult to do water changes, but it still can be done. Just on a larger scale. So No worries.

 

Poor guy. We will have to see how he is in the morning.

I am nursing student too so I just cannot sit back and watch and do nothing. Let us hope he will be okay

 

I am nursing student too so I just cannot sit back and watch and do nothing. Let us hope he will be okay

I am a medically disabled RN. I have a hard time sitting back also. Been disabled about 6 years because of rheumatoid arthritis. Fishkeeping is new to me. But I find myself drawn to the illness side of it. Not surprised by that at all lol

 

For the future could you be sure to have the fish store write down your parameters. Sometimes their opinions of "perfect water" are different than the reality. Totally not your fault, but it happens a lot more often than you think. Next time we need actual numbers.

With a tank that large, I would invest in an API Freshwater Master Test kit (liquid). Then you can test your tank all on your own. No need for the pet store.

We will just have to wait and see if he makes it. The best you can do is keep him safe overnight. See if in the morning we can possibly treat him. He may need to be in that tank for a couple weeks to heal those fins. That will be done with good water quality. So lots of water changes. That will be easy in the small tank. Plus you can keep a good eye on him. It is ok if he won't eat for a day or two. He has been traumatized. Just keep him quiet and pretty still for the next 24 hours. Let him recover.

Good luck. Hopefully he makes it through the night.

Edit: I just was able to see the pictures. Did you get a breeder net instead of a separate tank? It will be more difficult to do water changes, but it still can be done. Just on a larger scale. So No worries.

AllieSten , thank your vet very much. I will have look into getting the testing kit now. My question to you is if he decided to eat again what kind of food should I give him. The whole time that I have serpae tetras I do not see them swim to the surface and eat their food compare to my other zebra Danios and the daimond tetras. I have dry bloodworm, baby first bite baby fish food, dry sea planktons, and normal flake food. Today I just bought micro wafers. The only time I seen serpae tetras eat is that when the food sink to the bottom


P.S. I am not sure if I am allow to post pictures of the food but I will erase them right away if this violate the rule of the forum

I am a medically disabled RN. I have a hard time sitting back also. Been disabled about 6 years because of rheumatoid arthritis. Fishkeeping is new to me. But I find myself drawn to the illness side of it. Not surprised by that at all lol

LVN student in training here I wish that some day I can become RN just like you . You rock ! Thank you very much for the info AllieSten

 

I would soak 1 or 2 blood worms in water, then add them to the tank. They are high in calories and fat. So they are good for healing. Definitely wait until tomorrow before you offer any food. And just a couple small worms to start.

If you enjoy nursing, you will enjoy using the test kit. It is like drawing blood AND testing it for chemistries all at the same time. Way quicker results and no one to hunt down to ask why it is taking so long lol

 

I would soak 1 or 2 blood worms in water, then add them to the tank. They are high in calories and fat. So they are good for healing. Definitely wait until tomorrow before you offer any food. And just a couple small worms to start.

If you enjoy nursing, you will enjoy using the test kit. It is like drawing blood AND testing it for chemistries all at the same time. Way quicker results and no one to hunt down to ask why it is taking so long lol

AllieSten, so the dry blood worm that I have is good enough ? Or do I need to buy a live ones or the frozen cube kinds . Once again thank very very much . I will try to offer some food tomorrow

 

AllieSten, so the dry blood worm that I have is good enough ? Or do I need to buy a live ones or the frozen cube kinds . Once again thank very very much . I will try to offer some food tomorrow

Dried are just fine. Take a small amount of tank water and just soak them before to offer to him. That way they are soft and easily digested. Usually only need to wait a couple of minutes to rehydrate before feeding. You could look into frozen foods also. But not necessary immediately. Frozen brine shrimp or frozen blood worms are both good. Dried will work for now though.

 

Dried are just fine. Take a small amount of tank water and just soak them before to offer to him. That way they are soft and easily digested. Usually only need to wait a couple of minutes to rehydrate before feeding. You could look into frozen foods also. But not necessary immediately. Frozen brine shrimp or frozen blood worms are both good. Dried will work for now though.

Thank you thank you thank you very much AllieSten

 

Thank you thank you thank you very much AllieSten

You are very welcome. Hopefully he survives tonight.

 

How is he this morning?
Yes use the bloodworm as Allie mentioned. For future reference, the frozen bloodworms are a better choice but the dried are fine. Stay away from live bloodworms. Certain live foods are known to cause problems.

 

How is he this morning?
Yes use the bloodworm as Allie mentioned. For future reference, the frozen bloodworms are a better choice but the dried are fine. Stay away from live bloodworms. Certain live foods are known to cause problems.

KimberlyG and AllieSten thank you very much for the advices and suggestions. Unfortunately he did not survive. I am glad that I was able to do all that I can according to everybody suggestion. Hopefully the last four serpae tetra will survive. So far I do not see any kind off infection among my serpae tetras, diamond tetras, and the two zebra Danios. I am a little lost now on what to do next . I am debating if I should bring back the serpae tetras to the petshop or not . The owner told me that once I am done using them to cycle my tank I could bring them back in along the zebra Danios and trade them in for other fishes. I have grown attach to them but at this point if they continue to be this aggressive and hurting their tank mates may be it should give them back where there will be with a larger group of their own kind ? I only have four serpae tetra lefts and two zebras and I have heard that they need to be keep in a group of six so that they won't be aggressive. Also since I put in the diamond tetras the serpae tetras do not hang out in a group anymore they are all scatter. And I do not know if that is a good thing or not. At first the serpae tetras try to nop the diamond tetras but now they get along just fine . Also would the swordtail fishes get along with serpae tetras , zebra Danios, and diamond tetras

Thank you very very much everyone

 

I am so sorry for your loss. You will have to make the decision whether or not to take them back or not. If you don't I would up their numbers to try and curb any other aggression.

 

I am so sorry for your loss. You will have to make the decision whether or not to take them back or not. If you don't I would up their numbers to try and curb any other aggression.

Thank you AllieSten, although I lost home I learned a lot and and nursing intervention never stop . I will will try and see if I can bring both zebra Dino and the serpae tetras back today thank you once again . You rock please keep on rocking