Frayed fins, cloudy eye

[ariellemermaid]

Background: our cardinals have been happy and healthy for about 5 years with no signs of disease ever in the DT (everything gets pre-treated and QT’d). They’ve grown a lot and even made it through tank downtime in a hurricane.

Last week I moved them to a 20g QT tank in a new house. Now, both are displaying frayed fins and one has a cloudy eye. They are in a tank with 2 clowns smaller than them. I haven’t witnessed any overt aggression between any of the fish.

What are the top concerns here? They’re really not looking so hot. Anything to treat for? I’d hate to lose these guys after all this time.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Background: our cardinals have been happy and healthy for about 5 years with no signs of disease ever in the DT (everything gets pre-treated and QT’d). They’ve grown a lot and even made it through tank downtime in a hurricane.

Last week I moved them to a 20g QT tank in a new house. Now, both are displaying frayed fins and one has a cloudy eye. They are in a tank with 2 clowns smaller than them. I haven’t witnessed any overt aggression between any of the fish.

What are the top concerns here? They’re really not looking so hot. Anything to treat for? I’d hate to lose these guys after all this time.

I suspect injury to the eye and possibly from aggression from the clowns which may explain the fins. I would not rule out bacterial. How do the clowns look?
Any inverts in the tank?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Background: our cardinals have been happy and healthy for about 5 years with no signs of disease ever in the DT (everything gets pre-treated and QT’d). They’ve grown a lot and even made it through tank downtime in a hurricane.

Last week I moved them to a 20g QT tank in a new house. Now, both are displaying frayed fins and one has a cloudy eye. They are in a tank with 2 clowns smaller than them. I haven’t witnessed any overt aggression between any of the fish.

What are the top concerns here? They’re really not looking so hot. Anything to treat for? I’d hate to lose these guys after all this time.

Looks like aggression to me as well. Might be the clowns, but it could be the cardinals themselves because they got moved into a smaller tank and the dynamics may have changed.

 

[ariellemermaid]

Background: our cardinals have been happy and healthy for about 5 years with no signs of disease ever in the DT (everything gets pre-treated and QT’d). They’ve grown a lot and even made it through tank downtime in a hurricane.

Last week I moved them to a 20g QT tank in a new house. Now, both are displaying frayed fins and one has a cloudy eye. They are in a tank with 2 clowns smaller than them. I haven’t witnessed any overt aggression between any of the fish.

What are the top concerns here? They’re really not looking so hot. Anything to treat for? I’d hate to lose these guys after all this time.

Looks like aggression to me as well. Might be the clowns, but it could be the cardinals themselves because they got moved into a smaller tank and the dynamics may have changed.

Yeah in the past the cardinals have nipped at each other but in the 200g mostly kept to themselves. All I can say is that I have witnessed them herding close together in the 20g. I guess they could be banding together to avoid the clowns though too.

Unfortunately the only other option right now would be to separate them by putting one or both in another 20g but it has 4 demoiselle’s that have nipped each other a lot in the past (although they also like to hide and not come out at least during daylight). I guess a 3rd option would be a fairly small isolation box I’ve used for shrimp in the past.

 

[resortez]

Yea, all that’s from fighting. I’ve seen plenty of rumbles in my day & that PJ is losing the fight.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yeah in the past the cardinals have nipped at each other but in the 200g mostly kept to themselves. All I can say is that I have witnessed them herding close together in the 20g. I guess they could be banding together to avoid the clowns though too.

Unfortunately the only other option right now would be to separate them by putting one or both in another 20g but it has 4 demoiselle’s that have nipped each other a lot in the past (although they also like to hide and not come out at least during daylight). I guess a 3rd option would be a fairly small isolation box I’ve used for shrimp in the past.

Might be a safe recourse , at least for now

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yeah in the past the cardinals have nipped at each other but in the 200g mostly kept to themselves. All I can say is that I have witnessed them herding close together in the 20g. I guess they could be banding together to avoid the clowns though too.

Unfortunately the only other option right now would be to separate them by putting one or both in another 20g but it has 4 demoiselle’s that have nipped each other a lot in the past (although they also like to hide and not come out at least during daylight). I guess a 3rd option would be a fairly small isolation box I’ve used for shrimp in the past.

What about a tank divider? That would give more room than an isolation box.

 

[ariellemermaid]

Yeah in the past the cardinals have nipped at each other but in the 200g mostly kept to themselves. All I can say is that I have witnessed them herding close together in the 20g. I guess they could be banding together to avoid the clowns though too.

Unfortunately the only other option right now would be to separate them by putting one or both in another 20g but it has 4 demoiselle’s that have nipped each other a lot in the past (although they also like to hide and not come out at least during daylight). I guess a 3rd option would be a fairly small isolation box I’ve used for shrimp in the past.

What about a tank divider? That would give more room than an isolation box.

Yeah that’s a good idea; might be able to pick up some egg crate.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yeah that’s a good idea; might be able to pick up some egg crate.

Egg crate is easy to work with, but it does have sharp edges. Some fish, when frightened, will run into that, harming themselves. Cardinalfish aren't likely to do that though....

 

[ariellemermaid]

We were able to spot some cardinal on cardinal domestic violence. Tried the demoiselle tank but it was immediately attacked. So cardinal jail it is! Pretty happy with the solution; this will be good for QT’ing multiple fish together in the future as well.

 

[ariellemermaid]

Yeah that’s a good idea; might be able to pick up some egg crate.

Egg crate is easy to work with, but it does have sharp edges. Some fish, when frightened, will run into that, harming themselves. Cardinalfish aren't likely to do that though....

Yeah that makes sense. It was sharper than I expected particularly on the cut edges although those are glass-facing. Should be good for the cardinals that just float around, but what’s the next best alternative?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yeah that makes sense. It was sharper than I expected particularly on the cut edges although those are glass-facing. Should be good for the cardinals that just float around, but what’s the next best alternative?

I use black plastic nitex screen, but we get that in 100’ rolls, I’m not sure how to source smaller quantities.