Injured new fish, treatment recommendations?

Blinky

Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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Argh!
I was so excited - I purchased my newly set up (fishlessly cycled) Southeast Asian tank's first inhabitants today. I bought two female cherry barbs from what looked like a very healthy tank.
Unfortunately, when I arrived home I saw that one of the fish had been injured - I'm guessing clumsy netting at the LFS is to blame. She's got a red patch nearly the size of her head right in the centre of her body, and several of her fins look like they're bleeding. Both the fish are in the tank (lights off) cautiously exploring, and the injured fish doesn't look like she's doomed, but I'm very concerned she'll get an infection if the injury itself doesn't kill her overnight.
I added 1tsp of salt per gallon of water to the tank to prevent infection and increase slime coat, and now I'm at a loss. Is there anything else I can do for this poor little thing?
 
yes i strongly recomend melafix. At the petstore i work at, we had some gold fish come in with huge wounds on there sides and bellys. Put melafix in there and none died and they were all fixed up in a week or two.

-Dan
 
Oh wow, I can't believe I didn't even think of that! I think I've got some left, and yes, it is great stuff. Thanks guys, much appreciated. She's swimming around with her friend so I'm not going to give up hope yet :)
 
sounds like it might be internal, which means melafix wont do much. It might also be a bacterial infection and the fish was already infected (i think its called red streak, or red streaks); did you pick out the two fish, or did you catch a look at the barb before you bought it? The bacterial infection is also an internal problem, so treatment is hard. Watch out for problems occuring down the line (spread of spot, hemmorage, etc)

dont give up! (unless there is no chance of curing your fish, in which case euthanizing would be best to stop suffering).
 
I did take a good look at the tank and fish before I bought them - I'm pretty picky, if there are any sick/dead/listless fish in the tank I won't even think about buying anything. As far as I could tell, they were all very healthy. The LFS staff is (usually) very good at catching/bagging the fish, but this guy seemed to have a bit of trouble, so I'm thinking he must have squashed/whacked the poor thing and not noticed. After they catch the fish, they take them to a counter, put them inside another bag along with the paper form you use to indicate which fish/plants you'd like. My fish were put in one bag with three plants and this form, so I couldn't really see them and, honestly, didn't think I needed to check them (I will next time!).
This morning both barbs are up and around, so I'm hoping she'll be okay. I'm going to do frequent water changes and keep up the salt/MelaFix and cross my fingers, and if it does turn out to be bacterial, I'll investigate getting some medication.
Thanks for the help :)
 
Well, I'd like to thank you guys for trying to help, but she died while I was at work today :( Poor thing was hurt so badly, I feel like calling the store and telling them their employee needs to learn how to catch small fish gently, but I'm sure it was an accident.
 
I'm sorry Blinky. I also feel like telling my LFS a lot of stuff also. It seems I know more then them and I am a beginner. Maybe we just care more than them.
 
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