can I medicate my hurt mommy cichlid?

[lesli]

I have a pseudotropheus auratus that just spit out her 5th brood yesterday. Then, today, another (much larger) fish apparently attacked her. I separated her first, then moved the attacker to another tank. So,... her tail fin is almost completely gone!,..and she is so stressed out (but alive) to be alone in the solo tank.
So, could anyone help me here?
*Will she heal?
*Can/or is there a medication I could get to help her heal?
*Could I put her back in the big tank with her babies now?
Thank you thank you in advance for someone to help advise me here!!
Lesli

 

[Orion]

She will heal in time. There isn't a med that will help her heal faster, but you will want to keep an eye out for any fungal or bacterial infection on her tail while she's healing. For me, melafix has done the trick most of the time for minor damage when caught soon enough as a preventative measure, so I don't think it would hurt to dose some in her tank for the first little bit to make sure she gets back on the right track.

As far as her being stressed out, is the new tank cycled and the water pretty close to that of her old tank? This can also cause undue stress. She is also going to need some hiding spots to feel secure, and some dither fish probably wouldn't be a bad idea either if she's alone.

 

[sphed]

take the fish out, get a qtip and dab the wound with neosporin. Make sure you dont keep the fish out of water longer then a minute.

Dont use melafix, it doesnt work.

 

[JWright]

Here's a good independant review of MelaFix:

MelaFix Melaleuca Eucalyptus Oil for fish wounds: KoiVet.com Koi & Goldfish health and disease information

In my experience, MelaFix does promote healing. It doesn't "cure" infections, but it does help sores and other injuries heal faster.

~JW

 

[SinisterKisses]

sphed, you're about the only person on the face of the planet who doesn't think Melafix works.

It works, and yes, it does help speed up healing. If you're worried about the fish, then you can add some to the tank...its all-natural anyway, so its not like you're adding chemicals.

 

[sphed]

Yea that website is garbage. The wound on the fish didnt even fully heal.

Water changes are a 100 times more effective then melafix. Notice the directions on the bottle says to do water changes. There is no better "natural" medication then clean water. Next time there is something wrong with your fish that you think melafix can cure, try doing water changes instead of wasting your money on snake oil. Who knows if this stuff is even safe to put in your tank. You people can keep putting some weird tonic in your fish tank that hasnt even been proven to work.

 

[Orion]

Some people believe that putting aquarium salt in their tank is good for all fish. While others wouldn't dream of running a filter without carbon. We are all here to share information, idea's and practice's with each other. Not shove it down each others throats.

 

[SinisterKisses]

I'm not saying to run around throwing Melafix into your tank every time you have a problem with a fish. And I'm well aware that clean water alone does wonders to heal a fish...kinda falls under the "duh" category to me. But I firmly believe it does work very well when it is needed, and can help a fish recover. To each their own.

 

[HomeSweetFishTank]

Everyone's got their own good ideas and opinions, I agree. Here's my opinion on Melafix as a remedy for the very first time.

Bottom line, I've had great results with Melafix. I've only used it this once and tomorrow will be my final day of the week trying it.

I bought a smaller yellow lab last week that had his tail get totally chewed up by my Maingano. The little guy was still energetic and fighting back so I figured he had a chance and tried the Melafix stuff at the suggestion of a friend who also keeps mbuna. A week later (tomorrow) he's got about 90% of his tail back and growth seemed steady every day. I must admit I was pretty impressed with the results. I'll use it again on my upcoming 10g quarantine tank if I have anymore issues.
-HSFT

 

[Katie217]

Melafix does work, I've used it on beaten up africans before, same with Pimafix. Both meds are fantastic and I highly reccomend them. I'm with Sinister on the "duh" factor of clean water...seems obvious