Do guppy's fins grow back?

Question

my guppys fin (not her tail) is a lot smaller than the other one and she cant swim. she lies at the bottom of the tank. i guess another fish may have bitten it off because she used to swim fine. i have been picking her up and hand feeding her but will it ever regrow?

i have two other fish in the tank. a catfish (the small pinkish ones) and a zebra fish? they dont seem to be bothering the guppy and the guppy only seems to be getting a little better. she is active but just cant swim. the one fin is the only one that is broken off.

Answer 1

Yes the fins will grow back provided she can still swim well enough to eat. Some other fish will keep nipping you may want to quaranteen to a breeders net for now.

Answer 2

The answer would have to be maybe - it all depends on the exact cause of the problem, and how far the damage has occurred.

While you may be correct about the catfish causing the problem, usually other fish would be picked on as awell. This makes me believe that your guppy may have a bacterial fin rot. See the photo and info in this link: http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Finrot This is caused by a bacterial infection and/or poor water conditions. May sure you're doing water changes of 25% of the tank volume once a week, or whenever your water test results shoe ammonia or nitrite greater than 0.5 ppm, or nitrates above 40ppm (I keep mine even lower). This is improtant regardless of the cause of the infection so that a secondary infection doesn't happen and the fin can heal. The primary infection can be treated with a broad-spectrum antibiotic (better to do in a separate tank or container if you can so that the antibiotic doesn't affect the beneficial bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle. If you must treat in the main tank, do a good water change and use a gravel vacuum to clean debris in the substrate before adding the antibiotic. You'll also need to remove any carbon from your filter.

As long as the damage hasn't reached the base of the tail, the fin will regrow. If the damage has already started onto the body of the fish (where the cells needed to regrow the fin tissue are located) there's a good chance the tail won't regrow.

I'd discourage picking up the fish with your bare hands - You could be adding more bacteria or pathogens to the tank and removing the slime coat on the fish - this give other pathogens more opportunity to cause in infection. You might try netting her and moving her to a plastic container like a box for shoe storage - if the water is only about an inch deep, she shouldn't have a problem feeding, and the shallow depth will allow oxygen to diffuse without a filter. You can add an airstone to the hospital tank for air if you want.

Answer 3

I think that they can grow back but it will take a while so you just separate the poor fish into a different bowl/tank for it to recover faster.

Answer 4

i don't know if the fin will grow back , that hapend to me and didnt end well so if u have another fish in the tank get it out but if not keep bring it up to feed

Answer 5

Yes it will grow back use stress coat sold at your local pet store .

Answer 6

yes