help injured shark

[leopardshark]

i have health problems with my shark. i have a big hermit crab and i put him with my leopard shark. the hermit ate 3/4 of his dorsal fin and put a gash out of his left side. any medication i need to put in the tank. will it get infected? will his fins grow back?

 

[novice150]

I had the same thing happen to my pork puff, and most people I told about it, didn't believe me. IMO, any fish which spends a reasonable amount of time on the substrate is potential prey to large hermits.
You sharks fins will grow back on their own if he remains healthy. But if your concerned about infection, or if the shark begins to show signs of infection, you may want to medicate. I personally would recommend penicillin or macrocyn 2 to prevent infection. You may want to check with Beth or TerryB on this as well.

 

[leopardshark]

ok thanks .

 

[irenicus]

Get rid of the Large Hermits, they cause too much problems in my opinion. These things are not to be kept with fish you can't bear to see injured.

 

[splash1914]

how big is the hermit? got any pics? I have 2 semi large red hermits (looks like I better start watching them!)...

 

[irenicus]

Yeah splash, you have some really nice looking fish. I'd hate to see a hermit snag one of them

 

[grouperhead]

Moving this do disease. You will probably want to treat with some antibiotics....Bo

 

[leopardshark]

the hermit is about the size of a baseball with it's shell and its a red scarlet reef hermit. i never saw the damage that they can do until now. i would definetily be careful splash.

 

[beth]

I could have swore I responded to this a day or so ago....hmmm.
Well, my initial recommendation was to disinfect the wounds if the shark was docile. However, at this point, hopefully, the wounds are healing up.
If you see signs of infection, you can treat with antibiotics as suggested.

 

[tvan]

My hermitts only bother the sharks when feeding.
So I feed the crabs first to distract them.
HTH
Tom