Tropical Fish Forums

Zowie72

I have 5 corys in my community tank which are very entertaining, especially and feed time. However I noticed the male bronze was not to be seen for a couple of days, I wasn't too worried to start with as there a loads of places to hide.

However after no appearance again at feed time I had a proper hunt, picking up the ornamentation and driftwood... finally found him completely stuck in a small hollow under one of the pieces of driftwood Shocked

. After a bit of gentle manhandling he came out, but is looking very sorry. He was practically bent in half with his head and tail inside the hollow. He has several pale patches on his head, his tail is nearly worn away and his side is pale with bloody looking bits on it where he was bent in half Sad

.

Not knowing what else to do I put him straight back in the tank as soon as he was free. Do you think he will be alright, is there anything I can do to aid his recovery? He is currently just sitting on the bottom in a quiet corner.

Zowie.

PS. I don't know how he got in the hollow, but it is now filled in with some stones which I forced into it!

Zowie72

Well thankfully my cory seems to be improving, moving around more and eating, that's got to be a good sign. The bloody looking patches have also faded just leaving the pale patches. So I think he may be alright! Smile

Hopefully he'll keep improving and the pale patches will go soon, and his tail will regrow.

carpalstunna · New Members Joined: 25 Mar 2011 Location: Canton, OH

I had a recent tragic accident that resulted in a similar injury to one of my dwarf gourami. About 3 weeks ago, due to my negligence, he got sucked up in my filter and had a run in the with the impeller. By the time I got him out his tail fine with gone and a portion of the back of his body. I thought there was no way he would survive this stress. However, I added a tablespoon of aquarium salt and did a 20% water change and used a heavy dose of API stress coat plus. The label claimed it contained aloe with helps his heal. The next day I think I put a couple extra squirts in as well. To my surprise he healed surprisingly fast. He is swimming around and acting normal eating normal and has been for really a few weeks now. He was in bad shape for about 3 days but made improvement from then on.
So maybe give that a shot, won't hurt anyone else in the tank and I really think it helped him heal.

Zowie72

Thanks for the reply, I'm glad to hear your gourami healed so fast. It's horrid when they get hurt isn't it, I keep wondering how long my cory was stuck there and if only I'd searched earlier...

Anyway my cory is now acting almost normally so is obvously feeling better, I'll be happier when I can see his tail regrowing. I considered the salt but corys are very sensitive to it, so I decided not to. I did put in some melafix to try and aid his healing and prevent any infection from setting in, which I'm most worried about.

carpalstunna · New Members Joined: 25 Mar 2011 Location: Canton, OH

You are right I felt sick to my stomach when it happened. Especially because it was my fault. My wife kept telling me it was just a fish but I felt so guilty. I told her it was my job to care for them and I did a bad job obviously. Sounds like you have it under control. I think as long as you keep your water pristine you won't have any issues.
I have 6 loaches and I was always told they were sensitive to salt but I have never had any problems. It has seemed to benefit them. However, when I do put it in it is usually at about 30% the reccomended amount. So you probably could get away with a little.
But if its not broke don't fix it. Let us know of any new developments.

deborah_claro · Advisors Joined: 11 May 2006 Location: Virginia, USA

Zowie, take a look at this:

http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=36662

An alarming event, but it ended well!

Your cory was healthy at the time of the accident so he should make a full recovery. Clean water, gentle Melafix (you don't need to use it full strength to get the benefits) and good food - but not too much! - is the key. I would avoid salt. No other stressors and if you can increase the water circulation just a little, that will help, too.
Very Happy

_________________

Zowie72

Thanks Deborah. Wow, poor Mac, the injury looked awful, so glad he made a full recovery. Hopefully my cory will have a speedy recovery too. He's certainly not acting the slightest bit sick now, so I should think he'll be fine.

My water is nice and clean, ammonia at 0ppm, nitrite at 0ppm and nitrates around 5 to 10ppm with weekly 30% water changes. I think I'll keep on with the Melafix, but maybe at a lower dose, for a few more days yet.

Zowie72

Well my cory's definitely on the mend, pale patches have almost gone and I think I can see the start of some regrowth on his stubby tail! Very Happy

Zowie72

White patches all gone and tail definitely regrowing!