Injured telescopic eye follow up

Question
Hi Nicole,

Thanks to information I received from you last week, my telescopic goldfish, Chloe, has mended well.  I put her into a "fish hospital", changed a portion of the water each day, added melafix as directed on the bottle and fed her food enriched with vitamins (Unfortunately she had a temporary bout with bloat from the enriched food.  I did order some of the food that you had recommended online, but have not received it yet.)  Her injured eye has entirely deteriorated and all of the tissue has fallen off.  Her other eye seems to have been unharmed or, if it was, only slightly.  She is able to locate food fairly well when she happens upon it on the side of her good eye.  

Follow up question:  When should I think about putting her back into the community tank?  I have 3 other fancy goldfish and 2 standard goldfish - Chloe is the smallest and the most timid.  I maintain a clean tank (good filtration, weekly partial water changes etc) and the food I feed them results in very little waste.  However, without the melafix and with five other fish, the community tank will not be as medicinally clean as her current environment. The community tank is well stocked with live plants of three different varieties for the fish to feed on and, since our contact last week, I am also supplementing with frozen brine shrimp along with vegi jello made from pureed corn, beans and peas.  

Thanks again for your help, which gave a very tragic situation a good outcome!!

TJ

Answer
Hi TJ,

Sounds good! You're doing a fine job.

Fish certainly heal at different times. I personally have not kept goldish, so I am not certain how rapidly they heal. I have male and female bettas and have observed that they regenerate fins at a much faster rate than other fish such as rainbowfish and tetras. I can't say, of course, whether Chloe is completely healed yet, how does she look to you?

If the wound looks closed, i.e. there is scar tissue, then I would put her back in the tank in the company of friends. If you see any harassment or nipping then you would know to separate her, naturally. I doubt they will bother her, but they will probably beat her to the food, so do make sure she gets enough in there. Scars on fish are usually red, then pink, and then eventually (whether months or years later) white, very much like with humans. If you feel confident the wound is closed, then you could feel confident about reintroducing her. However, open wounds (even if they are just a little bit open) should be kept in the cleanest conditions possible. Watch her closely and determine whether more healing needs to take place before there is scarring. I would not return her until the healing process is well on its way, with scarring visible, since the risk of infection isn't worth getting her back in a community setting.

I hope that helps. Good luck with all your fish, the diet sounds yummy...I'm a vegetarian myself!

Take care,
Nicole