# Microspecies only tank: Pygmy cory had tail bitten off



## JaydeDancer (Feb 27, 2016)

Hi,

I do not currently own a betta, but I have in the past. This question is regarding my 20 gallon long microspecies tank.

The tank currently contains:

1 hasbrosus cory (Yes, I know. Shoaling species. I am trying to get him more friends, but my LFS doesn't have any in stock atm. When they do I'm going to get at least 6.)
11 ember tetras
8 pygmy corys
4 assassin snails
A ton of Malaysian trumpet snails.
Two large wood pieces
A lot of live plants
A large rock that fish can hide behind, and some smaller rocks for decoration.

Substrate is a mixture of hummate, gray sand, and black fluorite sand.

I discovered last night that one of my adult pygmy cories was completely missing their tail. Someone had bitten it off. I have had issues in the past 6 or 7 months with fish of various species turning up without their tails in my tank. I assumed (because my LFS told me) that it was the male guppies I had temporarily placed in my tank that were the tail nipping culprits. However, I do not have any guppies in that tank atm, and I haven't had any in there for at least 4 weeks.

I've moved the finless cory to a hospital tank and added melafix to the water, but is there anything else I can do for him? Is there something else I can put in the water that will help him heal faster?

And how do I figure out who the fin nipping culprit is? And how to I stop it from happening again?

Thanks.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

For healing the tail make sure the water is kept very clean, I'd be doing 25% to 50%, depends on the size of the hospital tank, every other day. Add Indian Almond Leaves and Seachem StressGuard to the water, both will help with healing and the StressGuard has an antiseptic in it that will bind to the wound and help prevent infection.

Are you sure that they cory's are not ripping their tails on the rock, or maybe on the filter intake tube? My betta managed to rip half his tail off on the filter intake tube.


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## JaydeDancer (Feb 27, 2016)

Oh goodness!

Poor betta. . .

I don't think that tearing their fins on the intake tube is likely; the pygmy cories almost always stay in the bottom 1/3 of the tank. The intake for the filter is a little bit higher than that. Plus it had a grate over the intake, which is frequently clogged with duckweed. It would be hard for them to get their tails stuck in there I think.

None of my other fish have any noticeable damage to their fins, but, total transparency, these fish are small, very fast, and they like to hide, lol. It is hard to get a good look at them sometimes.

My injured cory is missing pretty much his entire tail fin. All he has left is a stump where his body ends. That's what makes me think that this was done by another animal and wasn't the result of an accident.

I have a fairly wide variety of pygmy cory sizes in my tank atm. From .25 inches up to .75 inches, which is my largest. I only have one that is that large, and the one that got his tail bitten off was the next largest after that one. It kind of makes me wonder if it wasn't the larger pygmy cory or the lone hasbrosus that is responsible. 

The injured pygmy cory is still alive this evening. I'm hoping that he'll recover. I'll make sure to do a partial water change at least every other day, and I really appreciate the tip about the Seachem Stressguard. I'll go out and get some tonight.


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## Cranly (Apr 14, 2014)

I don't know if it's the same - but if you had a picture of the fish with his missing tail - I had an experience with one of my julii catfish losing his tale completely. Completely - like, no indication of ripping or chunks missing. 
I assumed he would pass away - but he didn't. Still alive and the tail grew back. 
It's been a bit now, so can't recall if I determined the cause, but just made sure to keep to water changes and all went well. Didn't add anything to the water. 
Throughout the process his tail was clear and never showed signs of rot.


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