Pipefish is hurt

[crabbygirl]

A couple of weeks ago one of my banded pipefish had a couple of notches taked out of his tail. The tail repaired itself. This morning the same pipefish has a shredded tail. He was lying on te rocks this morning, which he NEVER does. He hasn't eaten today and is having difficulty swimming. I fear that I will lose him. I am a bit baffled as to what is happening. He shares the tank with another banded pipefish, six seahorses, five peppermint shrimp as well as a bunch of corals. I have never seen him go near the bottom of the tank, so I would be surprised if it is a shrimp. I am questioning if it is the other pipefish, but I have never seen any aggression towards each other. I have noticed that they no longer "hang out" like they use to when they were little. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[PsaltySeahorse]

That is odd.... I had a pipefish with a shredded tail once and like you said it repaired itself very rapidly especially when I added Fish Protector. the best way to prevent it from happening again is find its source. How large is the damaged area? Shape? Does it appear to be cut, slashed, bitten or abrasion type of damage. I found my source was actually being caused once by process of elimination and them removed the factor from the tank and have not had once re-occurrence since

I have not seen pipefish show aggression towards each other before either but they are after all still fish. Even the most passive species of fish will sometimes harass/bully a wounded or sick tank mate for unknown reasons.

How is the wounded pipefish eating? It may be best to keep him in a QT/hospital tank until he is completely healed to avoid any bacterial issues that could arise and add to his healing process and make matters worse .

Hope he is doing better!

 

[mfinn]

What kind of corals?
Some corals can and will sting pipe fish.

 

[India]

Powerhead or overflow edge?