Sailfin not getting better...or worse

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Hey all,
I thought I would reach out to this group for some help. My sailfin lost her fins two months ago over night and we immediately pulled and treated with antibiotics. Since then we have separated her from our aggressive fish and have been watching. Her behavior has never changed and she is still very active, eating plenty and being the first to do just about anything in the tank. But she isn't healing. At all. Ya got any thoughts?

No other concerns in the tank. All other fish are doing great, no die off at all, healthy and happy corals, and no introductions of other fish. It's only her going through this.
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
At this point it seems unlikely that the fins will grow back. Usually they will regenerate quickly. The fish also seems to have some hole in the head disease and some lateral line erosion. This is a disease that has had several things blamed for the cause. Diet, stray electrical currents, carbon filtration, and high nitrate levels have all been factors. Often the fish recovers, but the scaring from the disease often does not improve. Fish have lived for years with the condition. About the best you can do here is maintain high quality water, with low nitrates, feed a good diet and possibly ground the tank. If your using carbon, you can discontinue it's use and see if it makes a difference.
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Thank you Dave. I have "confirmed" HLLE with this girl. After feedback from you and others, this appears to be the most likely suspect. I stopped running carbon a few months ago, but just put some back in this weekend. I will be pulling that as i will be proving antibiotics and vitamins for her starting again tonight.

What i thought was unrelated, ended up being the most critical part, so i add this for anyone looking at this who runs into an issue.

I have been struggling with maintaining my temperature and thought it was due to our weather and my wife consistently messing with the houses temperature. The tank never left the "safe zone" so i dint think much of it... until... I went to turn off my system to perform a water change and got zapped. My heater was faulty. I put a volt meter in the system and confirmed stray voltage. I pulled the heater, notified the manufacturer, and replaced it that night. No other fish or coral showed any symptoms which is why i thought this couldn't be related, plus i dint know how long the current was stray.

That said, the temp issue was directly in line with her decay, looking back i was just naive. I have been reefing now for around 10 years and have not had a voltage issue before... Lesson learned the hard way.

Folks, when you are having an issue, disclose everything... this will help others diagnose more accurately. Do you know how many times i have heard "fights..." as the issue? Lots and only because something i thought wast related was not disclosed.

end rant/

Thank you Dave... Ill let you know if she recovers.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Since we are on the subject of heaters, I highly recommend getting a heater controller and running the heater via that. I really like Inkbird controllers. They are not that expensive and cheep insurance for your tank. Standard aquarium heaters are the items in out tanks that seem to fail the most often.

Here is the one I use on my tank -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ANCB24W/?tag=reefsanc-20

Note that it can control a heater and chiller or other cooling device, suck as a fan.
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Thanks brother. I traded an AI prime that i wasnt happy with for a digital aquatics controller and some other things. So now I have two heaters plugged into that. I have them set at different temperatures so i can monitor the tank more closely. I will look into the link provided and see if that may be a better route.

I always appreciate it!
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Random update. The fish is still the same, with a little more color. Eating like she has never had food before and swimming like she is healthy. Still not a significant change in fin size, but she hasnt kicked the bucket either.
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
just another update, she is still swimming strong and eating like a tank. I havent seen the healing process take hold like i had hoped, but she hasnt given up yet.
 
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