Will nipped fins grow back?

[StephM33]

So...that's the question. If one fish beats another up...can nipped fins regenerate?

Thanks in advance,

Steph

[hmello@bermexin]

bump
just riding along for the answer to this one.

[cdangel0]

Short answer...yes.

[Sepeku]

Yes, in my experience.

I had a Rainsford goby that was introduced to some 3 stripe damsels and was promptly thrashed.

His fins were terribly torn and chewed up to almost nothing by the time I could seperate them.

These days he's the most visible member of my tank and doesn't have a visible wound to show for his past tussels.

[sb987]

Yes, they grow back. I have two cardinals that unfortunately get chased around by a clown.

[Reeses]

As long as the fish does not contract a bacterial infection they'll grow back fine. You'll find that marine fish are amazingly quick healers.

[Shagsbeard]

Also, the nipping has to stop of course.

[StephM33]

LOL on the last one. Yes, Shagsbeard - we've finally decided we're done with the little bully. He terrorizes almost every fish that goes in the tank, though in most cases it stopped fairly quickly. We did have to tear apart the entire tank to catch him, and I'm now trying to reassemble iit all. At least we can try a new arrangement now...maybe we'll like it even better (trying to look on the bright side!)

Thanks so much for the reassurances on the fins everyone. The lovely fish was already damaged by the fish store employee who took a chunk out of his side while netting him, and that healed nicely in QT, only to get bullied the moment he went into the display.

We did use an anti-bacterial in QT as a preventive measure since the damange cause by the LFS was an actual open wound...a chunk out of his side and that healed really quickly. Any idea if MelaFix would be safe for the display tank? The bottle says that it's an all natural product, and there isn't anything that says not to use it in the display tank.

Opinions?