# Jack Dempsey got beat up. Advice???



## The Dirt Farmer (Dec 30, 2016)

Hi!
I am a new user to this site, and I need some help. 
I have a tank filled with mainly African Cichlids, but I've had a Jack Dempsey longer than all of them. Probably for 5-6 years. Just about 2 weeks ago, the cichlids started to beat up on him. They stopped after a day or so, but one morning I woke up and he had almost no fins. I pulled him out of the main tank and put him in a hospital tank, where he's been for probably 8-9 days. 
The ends of whats left of his fins healed, but they aren't growing back all the way. (Mostly his dorsal and tail, his pecs and pelvic fins are ok) 
To add to it all, he also got tapeworm, which I have just about healed up.
But what I'm concerned about is fact that he won't swim upright. He lays on his side, and moves around quite a bit and eats a decent amount of pellets daily. 
I do give him Melafix every day, do regular water changes, and I used API General cure to fix his tapeworm.

Will his fins grow back all the way?
Is there anything more I can do?

Thanks


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## SherLar (Feb 9, 2016)

I certainly can't claim expert status, but have about 30 years in the hobby. In my experience, your jack's fins should grow back completely with time. 
As for his tank mates, fish from different continents, even from different regions, have very different "body language." They just don't understand each other. IMO, move your jack to a different tank. I doubt he'll ever do well in an African community. Also IMO, I think his behavior (laying on his side, etc) may be for several reasons: difficulty swimming with mangled fins, and he may also be "pouting." My oscar and jack do this often when things aren't going their way.


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## The Dirt Farmer (Dec 30, 2016)

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately he died a couple days ago. 
His eyes got really cloudy, and the water got really cloudy pretty much overnight. His breathing was labored and eventually stopped.
I was thinking some sort of bacteria. I'm not sure what happened. 
As for his tank mates, I will only be keeping africans from this point on. 
Thanks again.


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## Gr4yson (Jan 5, 2017)

Man I'm really sorry about your jack I have a jack to (it's sorta my 6year old brothers) we got him about 3day ago
Sorry for your loss


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