I have an injured fish. Should I seperate him or who I think injured him?

Question

I have a black moore who is injured (scratch on his skin by his eyeball and his tail is getting feathered).. I think it is my tiger barbs who are doing this to him. They are in a 40 gal. tank. I have a 10 gallon tank that I am getting ready for seperation. Should I pull the two barbs out and let him heal in the big tank --- or should I pull him out and let him heal in the 10 gallon tank?

I just read, "This colorful barb is frequently chosen for a community tank, unfortunately they are not an ideal choice for all aquariums. When kept singly or in groups of two three, they will terrorize almost any fish that is unfortunate enough to reside in the same tank. Yet if they are kept in groups of a half dozen or more, they will usually keep their quarrelling to themselves.
Regardless of the numbers kept, it is never advisable to keep Tigers in the same tank with docile, slow moving, or long finned fish."

What should I do??? And HOW do I help him heal??

I went ahead and put the two barbs and two albino corys in my 10 gal tank. We are planning on taking the barbs back to the pet store soon, tomorrow maybe. Can I help him heal while he's in the 40 gal or do I have to put him in the 10 gal and help him heal?

Answer 1

He'll heel on his own if he's given clean water and if the source of the injury is removed, which you did.

While what you're doing now is good, my ultimate suggestion to you would be to move the goldfish into the 10 gallon permanently (and look into upgrading to a 20 gal for him eventually).

You could then keep the barbs - but get several more. As you read, they are indeed less aggressive towards other fish if they are kept in larger groups. I would not go with anything less than 8 of them.

I make this suggestions because goldfish are coldwater fish and barbs, cories and plecos are warmwater fish, and they really shouldn't be mixed together.

Either way, just add salt to the water and keep the water clean, and keep the fish happy and well-fed, and he'll be just fine.

Answer 2

For now he needs time alone to heal.
Move him to the 10 gallon tank, but first put
some of the water from the 40 gallon tank in
with the new chlorine removed water.
You don't want to shock him.
Ask at the pet store about his injury. I forgot
what can be used. Check on line to.
When he's better, I would move him back to the 40 gal.
tank, and move the Barbs to the 10 gal, tank.

Answer 3

Get him a 20 gallon tank of his own. Goldfish can't live long in small tanks because of the ammonia they produce making the water toxic. Yes, the barbs probably did this, they will do this in larger groups as well. You want to add melafix to the water with the moor as well, it will help heal the fish and prevent bacterial infections.

Answer 4

You should keep the tiger barbs seperate because they are terrytorial fishes so if u remove goldfish seperate the tiger barbs will usually harm another fishes as i had experienced same problem with my fishes or u can give them back and replace them with other non-aggressive and non-terrytorial fishes

Answer 5

You are on exactly the right track. To help him heal don;t bother buying all kinds of chemicals to toss in the tank. Give him very clean water with some salt in it (about 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons) to help ward off fungus and feed him well on a variety of protein rich foods. Bloodworm, brine shrimp and black worms are all good choices. Be sure to limit the feeding of thesse foods to at most once per day and rotate them with feeds of a good quality flake food to prevent digestive problems. He will heal on his own, but be aware that it can take a long time to completely regrow damaged fins.

Answer 6

separate the injured fish until it heals up, then switch them out or buy more barbs. but until the fish heals he needs no competition for food and no stress.