[hachi]

I came home from work today and found the smallest of my corys stuck in a piece of cholla wood I have in my tank for my shrimp. I specifically put the smallest pieces in there, thinking the corys would be too big to get inside. I managed to cut the wood and get him free, but either I hurt him breaking him out or he hurt himself thrashing around in there. Half his tail is gone, as are the short belly fins. Looks like he might have lost his barbels on one side, too. He also has a reddish scratch on top of his head.
After I busted him free he sat on the sand and breathed really hard for about half an hour, but seems fine now. He's swimming with the others, ate with them tonight. Is there anything I can do to help him heal? Will his fins and whiskers grow back? I'm worried about the little scratch getting infected. I did a 50% water change tonight to keep the water extra clean for him. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[nikelodeon79]

The best thing you can do is keep the water pristine. Daily water changes would be best. Cories are super sensitive to meds so I would not treat with anything.

The barbels may or may not grow back. As long as they do not get infected he should be OK.

Good luck.

 

[touch of sky]

The fins will grow back as long as they aren't totally gone down to the flesh of the body. As the previous poster said, keep the water very clean. I hope he heals well.

 

[hachi]

The best thing you can do is keep the water pristine. Daily water changes would be best. Cories are super sensitive to meds so I would not treat with anything.

The barbels may or may not grow back. As long as they do not get infected he should be OK.

Good luck.

Thank you. I'll keep on top of the water changes.

The fins will grow back as long as they aren't totally gone down to the flesh of the body. As the previous poster said, keep the water very clean. I hope he heals well.

The fins aren't totally gone, just a little tattered. One side of his mouth is definally missing the barbels. Will those grow back? Can he live without them? I feel super bad. Thanks for the help.

 

[nikelodeon79]

I've had some grow back the barbels, others have not. They seemed fine either way. If the barbels get infected, that's when things get difficult.

 

[Nordic]

Agreed, I have one healing from a bleeding whisker at the moment, luckily it never got infected and he seems to get better every day.
I was amazed to see how much they need the whiskers to stay upright.

 

[jr125]

This may or may not be relevant to the Cory discussion but I had an Angel get wedged in a hole in a large resin decoration. There was really no way to cut it out so I crossed my fingers and just pushed it back out. It lost one of it's ventral fins completely and was pretty scarred up for a while. The fin did regrow and the fish made a total recovery.

 

[touch of sky]

As long as the nub of the fin is left it will regrow, but, for example, if a tail rots off right down to the flesh of the body, and there is no fin tissue left, then it will not regrow. Also, the regrowth may not be the same as the original growth, depending on the damage.

I once had a veil tail goldfish get stuck behind an ornament, and lost a good part of its tail, and it did regrow, too.

I hope your little cory does well, and heals quickly!

 

[hachi]

This may or may not be relevant to the Cory discussion but I had an Angel get wedged in a hole in a large resin decoration. There was really no way to cut it out so I crossed my fingers and just pushed it back out. It lost one of it's ventral fins completely and was pretty scarred up for a while. The fin did regrow and the fish made a total recovery.

As long as the nub of the fin is left it will regrow, but, for example, if a tail rots off right down to the flesh of the body, and there is no fin tissue left, then it will not regrow. Also, the regrowth may not be the same as the original growth, depending on the damage.

I once had a veil tail goldfish get stuck behind an ornament, and lost a good part of its tail, and it did regrow, too.

I hope your little cory does well, and heals quickly!

Thank you guys! I appreciate the stories and well wishes. I'll make sure the water stays extra clean for him. Thanks again!

 

[WaterLife]

As the others mentioned, keeping the water pristine is the biggest help.

But you can also use Melafix as it helps fish heal wounds and keeps wounds from getting infected. It's safe for plants, inverts and fish. Very gentle at that.

The fins will heal easily. The barbels (whiskers) can take a pretty long time to regrow, but he will be fine as long as it doesn't get infected and heals over (they can live just fine with no barbels even). The cut on the head depends how deep the cut is in regards to how fast it will heal. If it's just a minor surface scratch then it will heal quickly. I would recommend dosing Melafix as it will help the fish recover from the trauma quicker and ease your mind about him getting infected.

Don't worry about it, I am sure he will recover just fine

 

[hachi]

As the others mentioned, keeping the water pristine is the biggest help.

But you can also use Melafix as it helps fish heal wounds and keeps wounds from getting infected. It's safe for plants, inverts and fish. Very gentle at that.

The fins will heal easily. The barbels (whiskers) can take a pretty long time to regrow, but he will be fine as long as it doesn't get infected and heals over (they can live just fine with no barbels even). The cut on the head depends how deep the cut is in regards to how fast it will heal. If it's just a minor surface scratch then it will heal quickly. I would recommend dosing Melafix as it will help the fish recover from the trauma quicker and ease your mind about him getting infected.

Don't worry about it, I am sure he will recover just fine

Thank you, I really appreciate the reassurances. When I checked on him this morning he seemed totally fine. The scratch was hardly viable, not even really red any more. I'll do another water change in a couple of days and keep an eye on him. Thanks again for the help.

 

[PlantedRich]

I might throw in some questions. Is it certain that he did injure himself or are there other fish who may have taken advantage of the opportunity to shred the fins? Stuck fish are not common for me and fish stuck to the point of injury seems pretty far out of my experience. When I find fish stuck in a corner, etc. and damaged, it is often the other fish who are guilty. Fish stuck in the corners of poorly done bags is the most common for me.
If there are other fish, I might guess it more likely that he had no real good place to avoid them but wedged in as far as possible. Did he have other places to hide where he could get fully away from others?
Cories are pretty timid and they can become targets real easy.

 

[hachi]

The only other tank mates are some snails, shrimp, and chili rasbora. Even the smallest cory is five or six times the size of the rasbora. He was ultra stuck in there.

 

[Nordic]

Mine gets between the Hagen CO2 ladder and the glass, its a shallow tank so the ladder goes almost to the bottom.
Also they are still small, maybe an inch in length now.