Very Damaged Juivenille Foxface

[PintoSeahorse]

So a business that I clean tanks for has a juvenile foxface fish (no bigger than 2.5") in a 55gal tank that has extremely picked on by every other fish in the tank. Odd enough, the worst bully has been a larger percula clownfish. It has been constantly hiding and has virtually no fins on its body left. It swims very poorly and is pale and generally in very bad condition. The employer let me take it home to rehabilitate it. Im not exactly a foxface expert, but I want to do everything I can to promote his health again. He is currently sitting in a 30 gal FOWLR with no other fish, light current, and close monitoring. I have a picture of him from 4 months ago, but nothing current. Once he comes out of hiding in my tank at home, I'll try to get a new picture of him and maybe a video. Warning: it looks like he went through a blender. lol :headwallblue:

I happened to have a foxface fish at home that I swapped with to replace the fish at the office temporarily. Mine is large, fat, and happy so Im sure he'll be fine there. Plus, I don't want to try having 2 foxface in one tank. 0.o

So! My question is, what have you guys done in the past to promote new fin growth? I havn't done much other than give him shelter from other fishes and offer him fresh food. He's been lightly eating frozen mysis shrimp/veggie blended food and he has lettuce to graze on freely during the day. But he hasn't been interested in the lettuce as far as I can tell. Any advice would be great!

pic of him from 4 months ago. Much worse, and more recent picture to come.

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[aleonn]

Wow, he looks bad. I'd replace lettuce with Nori seaweed (more nutritious), and soak foods with Selcon supplement. Maybe soak in garlic to stimulate his appetite as well.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Also feed spirulina flakes and spirulina-enriched frozen brine shrimp. Try putting broccoli leaves in for it to graze on and they are pretty nutritious. The fins should grow back with good food, no stress, and time.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

FINS will grow back - but if he's missing entire dorsal spines, he might be looking like that forever.

 

[sarahlovesfish]

That reminds me, I went to some fish store, not my LFS but one downtown, and I saw a juvenile foxface all ripped up and torn. I think worse than that one. The mouth looked like it was chopped off, and its fins are really shredded, and it was dark, but was still moving.It didn't even look like a foxface at first. It was also kept with other foxfaces in a small tank. I could tell that they didn't know much, because I also saw them keep 3 or 4 royal grammas with shredded fins in a small tank. To help with fin growth, you should give it different varietes of foods like nori and broccoli.

 

[sanchoy]

He looks unique. I'm sure he will pull through under your care

 

[anaya]

My fimbriated moray tore my foxface up pretty bad. Multiple bite marks, scales ripped off, multiple skin lacerations, torn fins. I removed the fish immediately as the attack was occurring. Put him in a small critter carrier inside the tank with a return line pointed in cage. Used Stress coat marine and kept the water quality up. Left both green and red algae in the cage with him constantly, feed spirulina brine daily (small amounts) and had a small rock with macro in with him as well. Took about 4 to 6 weeks but he healed up to the point of no evidence of the attack was visible. He now lives in a 300+ gal frag system at my local LFS, seems way happier there.

I believe if you keep a close watch, provide the best husbandry possible and give the little guy time it will pull through. Even if it has lost some spines it should in theory be able to adapt to a new way of swimming. Although it will probably not be as agile or confident when it comes to dealing with other aggressive fish or high water flow.