what to do?

[tara527]

I have 4 fish in my tank. They have been there since the beginning, 4 months.
3 are dansels and the other is a clown. They have all gotten along fine. All of a sudden 2 of the fish are picking on another one. They have eaten quite a bit of his tail fin. I don't understand why. He seems ok, but is having a hard time swimming. I have not changed the feeding. What can I do?

 

[daniel411]

Move to fish being picked on asap. Is it the damsels picking on the clown? Or one of the other damsels. In general damsels are an aggressive and territorial fish.

 

[karajay]

Unfortunately, I was told to cycle my last tank with damsels (darn LFS) and two them never made it because they were picked to death. The more the victem gets beaten down the more they will pick until it's dead. Definately time to move out.

 

[oregonbud]

If you do not want to remove the fish from your tank permanently you could try a couple things (I have had some success with both of these methods as I had a mean mean damsel that would pick on everything else, and he has finally mellowed out)
If this is new behavior, you may want to test your water, I noticed that when my nitrate/nitrite levels would rise in the beginning phases of my tank (not the original cycle, just the normal fluctuations in levels) my fish, especially the damsels would get really grumpy. Just an idea, not sure if it has any basis, but it was an observation I made during the first few months.
If you have LR or other decorations, the first thing I would suggest trying is rearranging the rock, this will "remove" the territory that could be the cause of the debate. If that does not work, you could try removing the problem causers, and place them in a QT tank for a while, then re acclimate them to the system. This would make them the new kids on the block again and hopefully cause them to mellow out. I have had more success with rearranging my rock work, then seperating the livestock.
HTH,
OB

 

[tara527]

Acctually it is the clown and another damsel picking on a damsel. They are alll about the same size. I think I will try rearanging some of the decorations that I have in the tank. Thanks

 

[nacl-man]

If you don't want to take the fish out of the tank but feel that he is being picked to death by the others... get an 'in-tank' quar unit, they should sell them at ***** or Pet's Mart... or your LFS. It's basically a net that hangs in the tank... you can but the weaker fish in there and wait for him to strengthen up (also will give you the opportunity to feed him special food if need be).
Just an idea. Good luck!

 

[lesa]

The picked on fish could also be sick or fixing to go to fish heaven and that is why they are picking on him, because he is weak I would remove him asap.

 

[tara527]

I got a breeder net and put him in there. He seems to be doing ok. He is eating and swimming to the best of his ability. Atleast they cant peck at him anymore. Will his tail get better or is he going to swim like this til he dies. He seems to be fine other than the swimming problem.

 

[karajay]

If your fish remains otherwise healthy that tail will grow back out. Give it a few weeks.