Help with tail diagnosis?

[kuklachica]

Pez, my beautiful HM guy, seems to be biting his tail. He was fine until he spotted another guy next to his tank and that flipped him out apparently. There was also a silk plant that had sharp plastic parts on it that I had to remove from his tank, thinking that might be it since he liked to hide behind it. He also use to let himself be sucked up to the filter (before I put nylon over it) and just hang out there. So I put the nylon on it thinking THAT might be the problem with his tail.

Can you guys look at these pictures and tell me what you think it could be - biting or ripping? If it is biting due to the other fish, I don't have the room to put him in his own tank. I will have to see if someone can adopt him :-/ (or return him to the store?). I'd hate to have to do that :(

Sorry about the weird colors - i tried with the flash on and off.

his tail has always been ruffly and lacy, but not ripped and chunks missing like it is now.

[1fish2fish]

It definitely could be tail biting.. HMs are prone to it I've heard. Try putting aquarium salt in the tank and warming up the tank to like 82-86*F for 10 days and see if he starts to heal.. if he gets healed up after 2weeks or at least shows definite progress then it was probably just ripping and/or stress biting. If he doesn't heal and seems to be getting more and more rageddy he's probably biting it and you'll have to find the source of the biting.

Its a long process but first you need to rule out that its not ripping/tearing then move on from there.

[kuklachica]

is there an adjustable heater for less than 10 gal tanks? i have one in there but it's not adjustable

[dramaqueen]

I have a Marineland stealth visitherm in one of my 2.5 gallons. It's adjustable and it's 25 watts.

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

It looks like you've got a sneaky little tail bitter! It's so frustrating. I agree with what 1fish2fish said. Aquarium salt should heal it up and I would keep the lights off longer so he can calm down if it is stress biting.

[kuklachica]

I noticed last night that he also has holes in his tail... would that be from biting as well or possibly from the plant?

should I put him in his own tank to see if he gets better? I am going to buy an adjustable heater for him (Grrr) and see if that helps. He has been in salted water since I got him (1/2 tbsp per gallon).

[lafaye247]

My crowntail was biting his tail recently because he was fighting his reflection. I went out and bought some big silk plants that hide the area where he was seeing his reflection. This has seemed to work well!! I also bought him another cave type decoration that he can hide in. He loves his new plants and second cave and he doesn't seem to be biting his tail anymore. It's actually growing back!

Is the other fish in the tank with him or in the tank beside him? I was confused by what I read. If he's in another tank beside him, maybe you could buy some decorations (silk plants) and mask the view. just a thought

[kuklachica]

hes in the same tank with a divider between them :-/

[lafaye247]

Maybe you could put silk plants or some other decorations along the divider?? That might mask the other fish.

[1fish2fish]

What's your divider made out of? If its clear you want to go get some dark plastic mesh (like black or green) or two sheets of the white off set to completely obscure the view.. put that in your divider and it will make it harder for your boy to see his neighbor.

Are you sure you meant 1/2 TBsp per gallon? If so that is WAY too much.. it should be 1/2 TSP per gallon.. I would do a big water change to get all that salt out.

How long have you had him? I don't like to keep salt in the tanks longer than 10 days.. if you constantly use it eventually the bacteria you are trying to fight will become immune to it and you'll have to use more.. potentially harming your fish.