Mmathis
TurtleMommy
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
- Messages
- 14,256
- Reaction score
- 8,317
- Location
- NW Louisiana -- zone 8b
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Clamped fins.... A sign that your fish is under stress, and is telling you that it doesn't feel well. At this point, it's not an automatic death sentence, but a WARNING to you to look for a cause.
Could be from its environment (ammonia level elevated).... Could be from illness....
Before you act, react, or overact, look at the whole picture and ask yourself some questions:
From that point on, it's up to us to figure it out and treat the fish based on our findings.
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I'm not learned yet on fish diseases & medicating, so mostly my treatment plan for my fish was isolate and observe.
Last week I had a fairly new Wakin that was about 2 weeks past quarantine that presented with clamped fins, lethargy, and his color was off. First thought: ammonia level. But water tested perfect. None of the other fish seemed affected. I put him in QT again and did a scraping that I guess was neg.(newbie on the scope). Otherwise, he looked normal, except that when he went after food it was like he wanted to eat but couldn't open his mouth. I was going to sedate him and look for a foreign object in his mouth but never got that far. He perked up and was acting WNL after about the 3rd or 4th day. Only treatments were to move him to QT, give him a salt dip, then raise the salt level in the QT. Never did know what was wrong with him, but I suspect either a piece of gravel that he was able to work out on his own, or maybe just an injury to his mouth.
Or maybe he just wanted a little TLC..... May be that we'll never know.
But my point is that we need to stay calm and THINK IT THROUGH without jumping to conclusions. Don't rush into treatments until you've taken the time to LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE!!!
Could be from its environment (ammonia level elevated).... Could be from illness....
Before you act, react, or overact, look at the whole picture and ask yourself some questions:
- How are the other fish acting? Are they doing the same thing or are they acting normal?
- Is it showing an interest in food?
- Check your water quality.
- Have there been any recent changes or additions to the pond -- new fish, new plants, new water products....?
- Isolate the fish and have it where you can observe it closely: how is its behavior compared to normal? Is it swimming normally? Look for abnormalities on its body &'fins. How does it react to stimuli? IOW, HOW if any is it acting different from the ordinary?
From that point on, it's up to us to figure it out and treat the fish based on our findings.
=========================================
I'm not learned yet on fish diseases & medicating, so mostly my treatment plan for my fish was isolate and observe.
Last week I had a fairly new Wakin that was about 2 weeks past quarantine that presented with clamped fins, lethargy, and his color was off. First thought: ammonia level. But water tested perfect. None of the other fish seemed affected. I put him in QT again and did a scraping that I guess was neg.(newbie on the scope). Otherwise, he looked normal, except that when he went after food it was like he wanted to eat but couldn't open his mouth. I was going to sedate him and look for a foreign object in his mouth but never got that far. He perked up and was acting WNL after about the 3rd or 4th day. Only treatments were to move him to QT, give him a salt dip, then raise the salt level in the QT. Never did know what was wrong with him, but I suspect either a piece of gravel that he was able to work out on his own, or maybe just an injury to his mouth.
Or maybe he just wanted a little TLC..... May be that we'll never know.
But my point is that we need to stay calm and THINK IT THROUGH without jumping to conclusions. Don't rush into treatments until you've taken the time to LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE!!!
