Cichlid injury help

We got up this morning to find one of our large cichlids had gotten himself stuck between a rock and the aquarium wall. A quick move of the rock freed him but he must have been strugling all night as his scales were damaged in about a 2" section. Should I do anything for him to prevent any problems arising from this injury? Would adding salt to the tank help protect the injury?

Dennis

Stress coat will help. It helps replace the slime coat over their scales and will help reduce his stress level as well and make him more comfortable. Hopefully he pulls through well and others like DMD would probably have good advice.

Clean water, a little salt and watch for infection. Also when they are in a weakened state they sometimes will get bullied by other fish so watch out for that too.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. He's doing well and swimming normally when we left this morning. The tank water is very clean. Have a Marineland C-360 and an Emporer 400 running on the tank as well as just did a 25% WC a couple nights ago. I'll add salt when I get home this afternoon just to be on the safe side. I'll shoot for 1T per 5G's, does that sound good?

Dennis

The 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons is the standard. With parasite control it is a bit stronger at 1 teaspoon per gallon.

Just a status update. Changed 10% water, added salt, and that seems to be doing the trick. He's making great progress on healing. Was getting picked on by a few of the others, but that has dropped off as of this morning.

D.

Good to hear.

Its funny that with some of the more aggressive cichlids they seem to have a sense when another fish is weak and go after it to get themselves higher up in the pecking order.

Update on the injury. It appears he has made a full recovery, there is a little "discoloration" where the injury was but it appears to be fading with each day. He has regained full use of his fins and looks to be in great health. I believe keeping the water spotless and the added salt really did the trick. Thanks to everyone that offered advice.

Heather & Dennis

 woo-hoo!!!

Congrats, glad to hear!