Irritation On Males Front Two Fins

Andrew C · Post by **Andrew C** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:45 pm

I just noticed today my breeding male has what looks like an irritation on the tips of his two front fins.
He should be sitting on some fry just now, which are due out this week.
The irritation on the tips of his two front fins, make me think his cave is too small and he is rubbing the fins against the side of the cave when fanning the eggs.

Has anybody had experience of this ?

chanettt · Post by **chanettt** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:33 pm

your male is really big. i never experience this yet since my biggest male is a little more than 3 inches. that must be hurt, how big is he? hope that doesn't bother daddy job.

smithrc · Post by **smithrc** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:48 pm

I've seen this in our alpha male - normally after a trapping attempt.

I've not seen it from guarding fry though...

What size is he and the cave opening?

our alpha male is just over 4" - his cave of choice at the moment is approx 50mm wide by 25mm high.

Hope that helps..

Keep a close eye on them though I've seen nasty pictures of infected fins

Andrew C · Post by **Andrew C** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:17 am

The male is 4" long, his cave opening is 32mm wide * 25mm high (internal dimensions).
I am going to put a larger cave i have for some other plecs in the tank, think they are 50mm wide by 35mm high, hopefully he will end up using that and i don't need to evict him from his current cave.

The female was in his cave overnight three weeks ago, that is why i think he should be sitting on fry.
Though he has been acting differently from normal hatching mode in the last week, instead of being constantly deep in his cave tending the eggs, he has been hanging out the caves entrance, especially this week, which has me wondering if he dos have fry, will check tomorrow.

Andrew C · Post by **Andrew C** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 6:28 pm

Checked his cave, he's not sitting on fry, which is a relief, so it must have been a trapping attempt, like SmithRC said.

SmithRC, i take it that the irritation will go away without any treatment, as you didn't mention if you used anything in the tank to help it heal.

Plastic Mac · Post by **Plastic Mac** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 7:54 pm

I wouldn't treat it at present but instead just keep a close eye him for a day or two. If it gets worse then treat it but mine have had injuries like that a couple of times and they always heal up fine.

32mm cave width does sound a little thin though, my smallest are 36mm wide.

Andrew C · Post by **Andrew C** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:40 am

Put in the larger cave beside his cave, maybe he'll move into it in his own time.

Will need to make a few wider caves, 40mm & 50mm, 32mm was a size i picked up on the forum a while ago, but it dos look a squeeze for the large male.

Thanks for the replies.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:03 pm

might be similar to this one: http://www.zebrapleco.com/forum/viewtop ... highlight=

Can't find the picture right now, but will put it back when I find it. It was the same redness on the tips as yours have

Andrew C · Post by **Andrew C** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 6:56 pm

Hello McEve
It is definately not fighting that has caused the irritation, as there is only a pair in this tank.
It must have been something to do with trapping the female in his cave and she wasn't ready yet.

Over three weeks ago, i noticed the female not in her usual hidey hole, then the next day i found her back in her hidey hole and four whte eggs outside the males cave, but assummed he still had some in there with him, which is why i thought he was sitting on eggs.
Last week he was not deep in his cave tending eggs as i thought he would be, but hanging out of the front of his cave instead, so it must have been a trapping attempt around that time, which ended up causing the irritation.

Make some 50mm * 25mm (internal dimensions) caves and put one in yesterday and he moved to it, but since then he has been deeper in his cave and i can't inspect his fins anymore, but they did look like they were getting better the next day.
Next day pictures;

sam · Post by **sam** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:58 pm

I have a fish with the same problem but the redness goes all along the front fins. Its been like this for some time now. I'm reluctant to use chemicals as all the other zebs are fine. I was hoping it was going to heal up on its own. I'm also 99% sure its a female so I dont think its a case of rubbing its fins on the caves. Would I be best isolating the fish and trying to cure the problem with chemicals anti bacterial?
any ideas?

Post by **TwoTankAmin** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:49 pm

The first line of defence to help with healing minor injuries is good clean water. Doing extra water changes might be all it takes.

If you want to remove the fish to treat it, either via clean water, or if that fails with meds. The only issue is catching it w/o a lot of tank rearranging. You could then start with something mild like Melafix. If that doesnt help and the problem gets worse rather than better, my next line of defence would be antibiotics.

My experience with most fish that are injured from fighting/spawning is they tend to heal up fine w/o much need for the fishkeeper to do anything. However, it is a lot cheaper to treat when needed in a smaller tank. This also makes it easier to monitor them plus it should remove any stress from other fish bothering the injured one.

Andrew C · Post by **Andrew C** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:25 pm

As TwoTankAmin said, the injury on my fish's fins went away on it's own after a week or so.