How to help stumpy the stingray

[yargnits]

i recently had a litter of pups born in the early hours of the morning. when i came down at about 7.30 i was greeted by three lovely pups but on closer inspection one of the pups had had its tail bitten by one of the adults probably thinking it was a worm or suchlike

i quickly removed the pups from the tank and placed them in a holding tank with hopes for the one with the bitten tail.

next day the bitten tail was growing the dredded fungus and had gone all white and furry ;( .

i set up a hospital tank quick as i could and placed the ray in it with salt dosage.

here she is today ....



the pups is active and seems happy but is dragging along what seems to be a dead appendage. the fungus seems to be receeding but i think all hope is lost for the tail

can only hope that she makes it though the ordeal even if she will be without a tail .

wish her luck

 

[STINGRAYED]

AwWWW poor girl i would think cutting the tail off quikely would help right where she has the exposed meat would help on the other hand might create more stress up to you really ....The tail is Obviously dead up to that point .....

 

[frnchjeep]

I agree. You are going to have to amputate if she is going to have any chance of survival. After you do, keep the water super clean and use uv in the hospital tank if you can.

 

[TriciaT]

Keep the fungus and infection at bay, the tail will eventually die off. No need to stress the pup any further by trying to amputate

 

[johno27]

I would think cutting it off is your best bet I can't imagine that she could survive the toxins from the rotting tail. If it was me I would rubberband it as close to the wound as possible and snip it off while she still has good weight since she will probably go off food for a while due to stress.

It is a tough call though I hope she makes it for you. Maybe one of the experienced breeders can chime in with some first hand experience

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[DIDYSIS]

That's a tough call to make.

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[yargnits]

you guys are saying the same things i was thinking. should i cut it off or no .

circulation is lost so i dont think there will be any danger from the toxins in the tail directly because there is no blood flow between the ray and the tail as far as i can tell.
however, having the deteriorating flesh in the tank could bring the water quality down and so affect the ray that way.

cutting it off will also stress the pup out big time and could kill it off

i guess the need to know question is how long will it take to fall off on its own ? the flesh will rot but the bone structure will surely take much longer to deteriorate.

i dont think at this point a rubber band would help as circulation is gone anyhow.

thanks for all your nice comments. she is still alive so far and will keep you updated.

 

[montyblue]

Congrats on the pups, but so sorry about your little one's tail That's a tough call to make; I'd probably leave it so that the stress of amputating wouldn't overtake her, as long as the infection isn't spreading still. Remember that rays have no bones in their body - I'm not a cartilage expert, but I'd think that perhaps it would breakdown a bit faster than we'd assume. Are you treating with any antibiotics or antifungal meds?

 

[rup_pilot]

You need to remove it. A decaying tail can lead to sepsis and death. The tail is clearly dead and rotting and leaving it attached means exposing the ray to harmful bacteria and fungi. Not to mention issues with water parameters. Rays can live a healthy life without a tail. Remove the ray and place it on a wet towel and cut where the tail is already broken with a clean and sanitized blade. Make sure the blade is new and sharp to make the cut clean and quick. Then place the ray back in its tank. Keep the water perfect with frequent water changes. Skin should grow over the stump and it should heal well, just keep an eye out for further fungal infection. You should be sure to get more weight on it before putting it in a tank with other fish/rays.


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[yargnits]

Congrats on the pups, but so sorry about your little one's tail That's a tough call to make; I'd probably leave it so that the stress of amputating wouldn't overtake her, as long as the infection isn't spreading still. Remember that rays have no bones in their body - I'm not a cartilage expert, but I'd think that perhaps it would breakdown a bit faster than we'd assume. Are you treating with any antibiotics or antifungal meds?

thanks and thanks for the reminder regarding cartlidge too ! just using salt as treatment, being so young im not sure she would respond to meds or what the meds could do to the water so just sticking with salt.

You need to remove it. A decaying tail can lead to sepsis and death. The tail is clearly dead and rotting and leaving it attached means exposing the ray to harmful bacteria and fungi. Not to mention issues with water parameters.

after a quick wikki, sepsis is blood poisioning but as you said the tail is dead because there is no blood flow so im not sure sepses / blood poisioning is going to be an issue although im not medical expert so i can only guess ?

the fungus on the tail stops at the healthy flesh but as has been mentioned earlier the shock of removing the few days old pup from the water and also having its tail removed could easily kill it.

the options are really to remove the dead tail and risk killing the pup in doing so or leave the tail to fall off on its own which could also kill the pup. :s

for the time being the pup seems ok (asside from the tail) so for now i will increase the salt dosage slightly and keep up the daily water changes and monitor it.

right now im thinking cutting the tail off will do more harm than leaving it to fall off on its own but i will post up some more pics as the situation progresses.

thanks for all the comments and sugestions