Mandarin Losing Tail

[Borgy]

Recently got this mandarin and noticed after about a week in my display tank that his tail has begun to get eaten away by something. I have sense moved him to my quarantine tank. Given him a freshwater dip, the quarantine tank gets daily water changes, and he is eating the copepods I have added to the tank. He has been in quarantine by himself for 3 days now and it appears as if it's slowly getting worse. Does anyone know what could cause this? Is there a more effective way of treating what is happening to him?

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Could a tank mate have damaged the tail and then it got infected?
I would begin a antibiotic treatment right away because I can see the tail skeleton either is or soon will be involved. Once that happens, the disease can become systemic and the tail may not grow back.
You should treat in the quarantine tank with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic: Neoplex, furan 2 or Maracyn 2. Be warned that it can take 5 days to even slow the infection down, and the fish is going to get worse during that time.
Jay

 

[Borgy]

Picked up some Neoplex and began using that just now. I don't believe it was another tank mate that caused the damage, but it's possible it happened while I was not around. Everyone has been friendly as far as I could tell. In the case it was not another tank mate, is there something else that may have caused this?

 

[Tuffloud1]

This happened to my Spotted Mandarin a few times throughout his life and I never figured out what happened.

I did nothing and his fins grew back each time just fine.

If he’s eating and otherwise showing no strange behavior, I wouldn’t do anything.

I had mine for 7 years.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Picked up some Neoplex and began using that just now. I don't believe it was another tank mate that caused the damage, but it's possible it happened while I was not around. Everyone has been friendly as far as I could tell. In the case it was not another tank mate, is there something else that may have caused this?

Sometimes, bacteria can be a primary infection - that is, it just invades the fish's tissues without needing an injury by which it can gain a foothold. This isn't really common though, but when you do see it, it is usually an acute infection that will continue to worsen unless antibiotics are used. I should add; choosing an antibiotic to use is purely a guess based on what has worked for similar cases before - it is possible that the bacteria involved won't be controlled by the chosen antibiotic....but it will take 3 to 5 days to slow the progression and then some time after that for it to completely heal.

Jay