please help injured oranda

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kelly82

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Jun 1, 2007
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Lincolnshire, UK
my blue oranda has gotten himself injured, he managed to squish himself under the bottom of my filter, and im guessing as he was trying to get out or turn around, he has snapped his front fin. the main bone, im guessing its bone, that runs along the front of the fin is completely snapped about halfway down his fin, its hanging down, and the fleshy softer part of the fin is slowly tearing. hes swimming ok, eating well etc, the only thing is he keeps shaking it, rapidly, and i think its him doing this which is slowly tearing it. i dont know what to do, any advice? should i just leave it to fall off? will he heal, i do keep the water in excellent condition, readings of ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrates less than 20. weekly water changes. is there anything i can do for him?:help:
 

Blueiz

THE TypoQUEEN
Sep 5, 2005
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I would leave him be, continue with the water changes, and keep an eye out for fungus or infection. There really isnt much you can do. I would fix the part where he got stuck so that he cant get stuck again. Like taking a piece of sponger or something and wedging it in the place he got stuck..

Good luck
 

kelly82

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Jun 1, 2007
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Lincolnshire, UK
yes as soon as i realised i dropped the filters down so he can no longer get under there. i just feel so bad i didnt do it when i thought about it after the water change yesterday. the base of his fin is slowly turning very red, will this just be because hes consatntly flicking it?
 

Turbosaurus

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Dec 26, 2008
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I want to preface this with:
This might be the completely WRONG thing to do, I am not a vet and have no medical training, and I only keep tropicals not goldies but its what I would do anyway...
Amputate at the site where the front bone is broken. A nice clean cut with a really sharp pair of disinfected manicure scissors. If the bone is broken and hanging, I can't see it repairing itself and I don't think it will heal as well if the force from him moving it through the water keeps ripping at it.

Again, I could be wrong, but its an option and I thought if I brought it up someone else might be able to add a yeah or nay.
 

kelly82

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Jun 1, 2007
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turbosaurus, i too thought about doing this,just to stop the pulling of the dead end bit on the rest of his fin, i really dont think i could though. i do have clove oil so i could anaesthetize (sorry for spelling) but im just concerned id be so squeemish i couldnt cut through my fishy! i now have him in a 20 gallon with much less water movement, but the fin is hanging still. hes stopped flicking it around as much, but its ripped maybe 2-3 mm down the fleshy part, following the lines of the fin. hes stopped moving around and is now just sitting on the bottom. i hope i dont loose him, hes eaten a few fish pellets, nowhere near what he would usually eat though. hes seems depressed, he was like it in the main tank too,so i know its not the move to the smaller tank which has made him worse. will it ever grow back do you think?
 

Flaringshutter

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Oct 17, 2006
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kelly, I would agree with turbosaurus and amputate. It's much simpler than you think. Very quick and easy.

You'll need a plastic tub in which to do the surgery, an air pump with airstone, small steel scissors, gallon-size plastic bags and the clove oil.
Add the clove oil at 5 drops/gallon to dechlorinated water in the plastic bags. Seal up the bag and shake vigorously until it is thoroughly mixed. Dump into the tub, and repeat until you have just enough water in the tub to cover your fish. Add the airstone to keep the clove oil in solution.
Sharpen the scissors to ensure they will cut, not tear, his fin. Boil the scissors to sterilize them, then net your fish and put him in the tub. He will swim around for a while, then roll over onto his side. Once his gill movements have slowed and he doesn't wiggle away when you touch him, lift his fin out of the water and clip away the fin just above where it has broken. Leave a nice straight, clean edge so there is no place for fin rot to set in. If you like, you can carefully dry off the edge with a paper towel and smear Neosporin or Bio-bandage on the edge to promote healing.
While you are doing all this, keep his head underwater and ensure his gills are still moving. If they slow down too much, add some fresh water to dilute the anaesthetic solution in the tub.
Once you are finished, remove the fish to a bucket of clean water. It will take him a few moments to wake up, and he will be a little unsteady. You can hold him and move him gently back and forth in the bucket to swish water over his gills and speed his recovery. Once he can swim on his own, return him to the tank.

It's a super simple surgery, really, and will help prevent fin rot or infection from setting in. He will heal much faster if you do the surgery, and you will probably prevent a lot of pain. It would hurt him much less to have the fin amputated and healing than to have the injured fin flopping around.
 

mel_20_20

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Sep 1, 2008
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Deep in the heart of texas
Awesome, detailed, instructions flaringshutter. I'm going to copy and paste your post and save it in my "Aquaria" file on my desktop.

I agree that amputation is better, but how far up will she need to go to do the cut. It seems that the tearing has extended into the fleshy part of the fish.

Also, I think prophylatic antibiotics would be advised; maybe Macaryn II, do you think?
 

kelly82

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Jun 1, 2007
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Lincolnshire, UK
well Trouble has made a full recovery, i forgot i posted this and didnt reply again. his fin broke off just an hour or so after i posted last, and he never had any problems, you can hardly even tell he was injured, hes now back to his normal self, just with one slightly smaller fin than the other. thanks for the advice anyway everyone.
 

mel_20_20

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Sep 1, 2008
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Deep in the heart of texas
I'm so glad he's ok. Good to know.
 
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