Will fins grow back?

[pmetz]

My roomates and I have a Maroon goldstripe clown. It has been attacked by something, and had a few fins mangled. Will they grow back?

 

[cnlight]

:yes: :happyfish

 

[ophiura]

Yup, but try to figure out what mangled them. Was it a new fish with shipping damage? Having trouble with another fish? Or something nastier like a crab or mantis? Worth paying attention to..

 

[reefer44]

its definitly something like a crab or mantis.........maroons are pretty mean and generally can hold their own against other fish and inverts..
Brad

 

[pmetz]

We have a butterfly fish, three yellow tangs, a much smaller perc, a three stripe damsel, a blue damsel, an Imperator juvenile, and a powder blue tang.
As for crabs, all we have are emerald crabs, and we have some small hermit crabs.
We are thinking it is the butterfly (which I actually don't have the name of, but its from Finding Nemo, with the long white fin on its head). He picks at a lot of things in the tank, but so does the juvenile Imperator.

 

[hewetton]

The soft tissue part will usually grow back to its original shape, but not the skeletal part. This depends upon the degree of damage done. In most cases, you won't notice any difference in a few months. But, bacterial infection could impede the healing process, thus possibly leading to a deformed state later on.

 

[ophiura]

Can I ask what size tank this is and how old it is? How long have you had the "butterfly." If it is the one from Finding Nemo it is a Moorish Idol, perhaps the worst long term survival rate in captivity, often voraciously consuming everything and suddenly dying a year or so later. If a heniochus butterfly, its survival is far better but the can be pests in smaller tanks. If this tank is under 100g, which I hope not, there could be all sorts of possible aggressive fish in there.