1 year and fins not growing back?

TonyNguyen · Apr 11, 2018

Hello reefers, I was supposed to pick up this Yellow Tang a year ago. The tang gotten beat up pretty bad and it got separated in the sump area. It's been in my buddy sump for 1 year and the fins still haven't grown back. So I finally made the trip to recuse the fish, and here are the pictures(images). I had the tang in my sump also because I have a small LED light to slowly acclimate the fish to full blown lighting. It has been in a sump with very little or none lighting. I been feeding it Selcon with Spectrum pellets, Nori and shrimps.. The Yellow Tang is skinny and I am in the process to fatten it up a lot. The good news is the fish is eating everything I am putting in. So back to the question of the day will the fins grow back? Need some expert advice on how to regrow these fins... Did some google and nothing shows up, as far as getting the grow to start or triggering it... Thanks!

20180411_135545 by Tony Nguyen, on Flickr

TonyNguyen · Apr 11, 2018

Here is a more clear shot:

20180411_140743 by Tony Nguyen, on Flickr

Best Fish-Jake · Apr 11, 2018

To me, it seems that the dorsal fin has already fully healed but didn't do so in a way that allowed for the fin to regrow in the correct shape/size. I have seen some people recut the fins on larger fish to allow them to heal properly but its a purely cosmetic procedure that i wouldn't consider to be worth the risk in your case.

So long as the fish is healthy and shows no signs of distress from the malformation, I'd just keep feeding quality foods and not worry about it too much.

Del’s Reef · Apr 11, 2018

TonyNguyen said:
Hello reefers, I was supposed to pick up this Yellow Tang a year ago. The tang gotten beat up pretty bad and it got separated in the sump area. It's been in my buddy sump for 1 year and the fins still haven't grown back. So I finally made the trip to recuse the fish, and here are the pictures(images). I had the tang in my sump also because I have a small LED light to slowly acclimate the fish to full blown lighting. It has been in a sump with very little or none lighting. I been feeding it Selcon with Spectrum pellets, Nori and shrimps.. The Yellow Tang is skinny and I am in the process to fatten it up a lot. The good news is the fish is eating everything I am putting in. So back to the question of the day will the fins grow back? Need some expert advice on how to regrow these fins... Did some google and nothing shows up, as far as getting the grow to start or triggering it... Thanks!

20180411_135545 by Tony Nguyen, on Flickr

If you look close, have you ever seen soft/white “skin” where the fins were damaged?

Del’s Reef · Apr 11, 2018

Best Fish-Jake said:
To me, it seems that the dorsal fin has already fully healed but didn't do so in a way that allowed for the fin to regrow in the correct shape/size. I have seen some people recut the fins on larger fish to allow them to heal properly but its a purely cosmetic procedure that i wouldn't consider to be worth the risk in your case.

So long as the fish is healthy and shows no signs of distress from the malformation, I'd just keep feeding quality foods and not worry about it too much.

^this