Watermelon Panaque Injury

[jtizzle]

I think I may have injured my panaque while moving him. I probably should have just picked him up but I was worried he was going to freak, so I used a large net. When I finally got him in his new tank I noticed one of his fins is really sticking out. I mean he hasn't brought his left pectoral fin close to his body like his right one. I am worried that because he freaked a little in the net that it was bent out of the socket or something similar. Has anyone had any experience with this? Thank you in advance for any advice you may have.

JT

 

[mrtoofay]

Nothing you can do but keep lights out and keep up with good water quality. Keep fingers crossed and see if any damage was done. There's a good chance that it's just stressed and no harm done.

You posted in the other post, so I am assuming you've read up on how to handle them. It's best to transfer them when your hand than anything else.

 

[jtizzle]

Please help! I took a picture but cannot post yet. I have been trying to post meaningful replies to make my minimum post count, and I believe I have posted more than 5 today and many others. Perhaps the counter is only for new threads started? Or perhaps the counter doesn't update a members profile immediately. I don't want to simply post, "nice fish" as that seems dumb. Anyway -great community and a wealth of knowledge so far as I have read over the past few months.

If anyone has any advice on what a person might do to help their potentially injured panaque's fin, please post. I can't help but wonder if a person would simply push it back. It sounds painful (and perhaps a dumb move making a bad situation worse), but I am really worried about him. I mean its not like its out at an extremely odd angle, but he isn't bringing in back in and it makes me think that it is sprained or something. This and he has just been moved from a 55G display size quarantine (where he has been for two weeks), and into my main 220G CA cichlid community tank where he is the largest member.... he is probably pretty stressed.

Thanks... JT

 

[jtizzle]

mrtoofray -thank you. Yeah I read the thread I posted in. Im not going to lie... I knew it was a bad idea when I was doing it (moving him from a bucket with a net), but when I did try to pick him up by the head I wussied out. Now I am paying it. I had seen pics of people holding them, and was attempting to mimic but I had never read the "how" to go about it. Thank you for your reply and I will keep an eye on him and hope I didn't jack him up too bad. Thank you again.

JT

 

[jtizzle]

Here is a rather grainy pic as I still don't have lights up. Thanks again mrtoofay for the reply and advice to just hope he isn't hurt bad. I really wish I had read the thread about how to handle plecos, before I transferred him to his new home. I was worried about the transfer stressing him out, but never thought I might hurt him. I will post what happens.
JT

 

[mrtoofay]

Nice looking fish! Don't worry about it too much. What happened already happened, no point in worrying over it. A healthy fish is a lot stronger than you think, can heal from a lot of things. The angle of the fine does look a little odd, just let it relax and eat as usual.

 

[jtizzle]

Perhaps all was a false alarm -he was swimming around in his huge new tank after it got really dark. I checked on him at about 1am this morning (again I was really worried!) Anyway I guess it was either that he was stressed from the move, or did "tweak" the fin a little. He stretched it back into place and now looks good. Thanks for reading. Peace. jt

 

[GEV83]

Hmm sounds like my old pleco I use to have. When he would get stressed he would have both stuck out. They always went back to normal when he calmed down. It never seemed to bother him except when trying to squeeze into a tight spot. Glad yours is doing good now.