Fiin rot help?

[LoachOrgy]

I have a cory who has his entire tail worn off from fin rot. I found him this way one morning out of no where. I didn't see any signs of this on any other fish either.

I dipped the cory in methyl blue dip for 10 seconds two separate times.

I recently treated the tank with some fungus clear. The tank had been treated with melafix prior to finding this cory for a week.

The melafix has not been working and now I can see blood spots in the cory's tail. I have him in a separator tank. I am afraid it may be too far to stop. His entire back tail fin is worn off.

Please help if anyone has any suggestions.

[starsplitter7]

I had a Dragon Goby with horrific Fin rot. I didn't think he could possibly survive. It was hard to catch, because they hide so much. I found him gasping at the top with almost all his fins gone and a bit bloody.

I treated him in a Q-Tank with very clean water, extra aeration and Maracyn I and II (followed the instructions exactly). He responded immediately, all his fins grew back and he recovered fully.

I was astounded. Now I dig out my Gobies on a regular basis and inspect them for healthy fins. Never another problem.

[shari2]

Let us know how it goes, LO.

[loachmom]

Hi LO,

You might want to check into skin flukes also. They can cause fin and tail erosion as well as flashing, greyish film on the skin, gasping, and other symptoms.

Hope all turns out well for you.

[Diana]

I would treat in a quarantine tank.
Antibiotic food may help, Maracyn and Maracyn II, combined are good. Maracyn plus is a slightly different product that is also supposed to work well.

Keep the temperature a little lower than 76*F. Fin rot can be caused by Flavobacteria columnaris and this bacteria is more active at higher temperatures. Pepper Cories can handle water temperature into the low 70s.

Ditto the clean water, too. Lowest possible nitrates.

I have a Pepper Cory that ended up in a sump (I dunno how... the intake has a grid over it) and when I found him his tail fin was almost gone. I put him in a 10 gallon tank that had an ultraviolet sterilizer and fed him antibiotic food and he is fully recovered.

[LoachOrgy]

thanks for your help shari and everyone.

so far the qtank has been treated with maricyn 1 and 2. after finding out the marycin 2 is the gram negative antibiotic the marycyn 2 only is being used.

its been a few days and so far the cory's tail appears to be healing. the blood spots have stopped and it appears there is a white mucous over the areas that were worn away. hes swimming along this morning much more energetic than the last few days. so thats a good sign so far. will keep you posted.

ive also been feeding him some antibiotic food pellets.

[LoachOrgy]

ok so i have placed several new fish in the qt tank.

another cory keeps going to the top of the tank gasping for air.

a cherry barb has fin rot but is very lively after a week of treatment.

a small glolite tetra is gasping for air near the top as well. gills may be a bit reddish.

the rasbora is also having red streaks on the fins and appears to have popeye. hes in the qt tank for two days now.

this has all happened within a week. feeding has been lowered and the tank was thoroughly cleaned with a week ago. also a 50 percent water change was done. all signs seem normal for testing.

marycyn one and two have been used in the qt tank.

any pointers? i was going to keep the treatment up as all these fish seem to be having problems.

[shari2]

is the qtank planted?
plants use up oxygen at night.

try lowering the water level to improve oxygen exchange and see if that helps the fish with surface gasping issues.

did you complete the treatment for the cory before adding the other fish? did you acclimate them slowly to the treated water, or was the treatment gone (ie you did large water changes and used carbon to filter it out?)?

[LoachOrgy]

ok just now another glolite tetra in the big tank is going to the top.

shari, the qtank is just a 10 gallon with nothing but a small filter with bio media and sponge along with a bubble i have with heavy airflow through the entire tank. there is no ornament in the tank. the cory has been treated more than five days. half his tail has grown back so far.

i added a few fish after his treatment to the qtank because it appeared the maracyn treatment was adequate for their symptoms.

i was keeping the tail less cory in the qtank till his tail was grown back. as of now hes still having trouble swimming.

i acclimated all fish slowly and they all seem to be fine. although the one cory and glolite tetra are still gasping for air near the top. should i take the other glolite tetra from the large tank and put him in the qt tank as well?

something seems up, if all these fish are having problems.

[LoachOrgy]

it appears the glolite tetra in the main tank just died he was against the filter and upside down. gasping for air. i put a bubbler in a ziplock bag to separate him temporarily to try and get more air in there.

[LoachOrgy]

the nitrites tested 0

found some info that said it could be nitrite poisoning.

ph 7

no ammonia

the nitrates tested at 40. blood red. any advice. im going to look up what to do now.

ok i read that you can only change 10% of the water. i also found that prime will detoxify nitrates and nitrites. i added a capful to my 55 gallon.

strange thing is, ive been consistently doing about 10% water changes bi weekly with a rena fillstar. i just recently added a few new media to the fillstar. new carbon and nitra zorb. the directioins on the nitrate test say to add nitra zorb to absorb the nitrates. this filter has been in a week long.

the q tank has nitrates lower at 20 but i did a 10% water change and got it to 5.

the cory is struggling for air and going to the top frequently. the first glolite in this tank is surviving but flashing his gills and keeping his mouth open. going near the top a few times an hour.

the glolite tetra that acted up in the big tank just died. nitrates must have done him in. i did a partial 10% water change to the big tank. and cleaned all filter and media. i am hilding off on feeding for one day. all other tests are normal.

tapwater tested at 0 nitrates or nitrites.

big tank 60 nitrates

qtank 20 nitrates

[chefkeith]

I think I see the problem. Is this correct- The nitrates are currently 60 ppm in the main tank and you done a 50% water change last week. Right? If so, the nitrates were about 100 ppm before you cleaned the tank and did the large water change.

2 things went wrong.
1) the water quality was bad
2) A 50% water change when the water quality is bad can cause osmotic shock. Fin rot and gill problems is sometimes a symptom of osmotic shock.

A TDS meter might help you pinpoint why your fish have been having problems these past few years.

[LoachOrgy]

i think the fin rot was present before the water change. i did a 10% water change last night and the big tank is at 40 nitrates.

the qtank is at 10 nitrates this morning. ill do another 10% water change tonight.

the only fish so far being effected are rasboras, cory's and glolite tetras. no loaches so far knock on wood.

thanks ckeith.

this is the only incident in over a year though.

[Diana]

Keep up the water changes.

If the tap water and the tank water have the same GH and KH you can do larger water changes.

Can you please test and post the results for:
Tap water pH right out of the tap
Tap water pH after it has been sitting for 24-48 hours
Tap water GH and KH

Tank: pH, GH, KH.

If these tests show you can do larger water changes, do them.
Until you get the results do a 10% water change every morning and every evening, being sure to vacuum the bottom as much as you can each time. It may take several water changes to get the whole floor of the tank vacuumed, you might do 1/4 or 1/3 of it at a time.

Many diseases and stress to the fish can happen when organic debris is accumulating in the water (including in the substrate and the filter)
The goal with the water changes is to reduce the bacteria, and the organic matter in the tank.

You are getting some inconsistent test results: If your nitrate reading was 20 ppm and you did a 10% water change you removed only 10% of the nitrates, or 2 ppm. The end test result ought to have been 18 ppm. (not distinguishable form 20 ppm)

Do not trust the test results too far, just accept that the nitrogenous waste has been building up and you need to do more frequent or larger water changes to get rid of it. Ultimately the tank and the tap water will be very similar so you can do larger water changes without stressing the fish.

The whole idea of 'Do not do larger than 10% water changes' comes from a time when the interactions between fish and the water chemistry was not well understood, and water chemistry can vary in a tank, over time. When the tank water chemistry did not match the new water then the fish had problems. Doing smaller water changes reduced the net change to the water so the fish had less problems with incoming water that was different from what they were used to. Now we have tests that will tell us what we need to know so we can make the new water a much closer match to what the fish need, and can do much larger water changes safely.

Adding so many fish to the Q-tank may overwhelm the nitrifying bacteria, especially with some medication in there that slows the growth of bacteria. Monitor the ammonia and nitrite very closely and be ready to do water changes as needed.

[LoachOrgy]

i wanted to post results but have been busy.

anyway

the ph in both the tank and after the water has been sitting one day is consistent as it has been the last two years. 7.0-7.2 range consistently.

the nitrate readings were spiking. after about a week i got the large tank down to 20 nitrate reading and the qtank down to 0.


the cory with the worn away fin was doing great. his fin grew back, he was active i put him back in the large tank along with some of the other fish that recovered.

the rasbora and the other cory gasping for air died. along with the glolight tetra.

the cory that was doing fine was swimming around the tank like normal actually mor energetic. one day i woke up and could find him. the previous day everything looked normal. i dug around and found him dead. his fins were totally melted off along with other fins as well. this kind of struck me as a surprise bc he looked fine the day before.

maybe the nitrates did it to him. the cherry barb is the lone survivor. she is fine and her fins grew back. normal as ever.

other than those losses, all other fish are extra happy and are actually more active than usual and the loaches couldn't dance and beg more than ever. this is why its so strange.

regardless, ive done the consistent 10% water changes everyday and maybe only skipped one day since then. all the fish seem fine. but this sand is fine and that maybe the problem. i think some debris is getting trapped under the sand. i clean it regularly but its hard to get it all.

i think the real reason this happened is that i had a pleco that was very small disappear. i combed the entire tank for him but didn't find his body. i had not seen him in a week. poor pleconator. he was my buddy.

so im assuming the death resulted from him dying and causing the tank problems. now everything seems normal. nitrate readings are back to normal and the fish are acting extra happy.

well, ive consistently been doing the water changes. although i had been doing them prior to this incident like normal. thats why it surprised me. so ill keep them up and i still do the filter and tank cleaning every week or so as well..

the fish that were gasping for air when treated in the qtank with maracyn seemed to be gasping for air more when the medication was administered. it seems to have cut more air off to the fish. i placed some really powerful bubblers in with the fish to keep airlfow up.

i had no ammonia or nitrate spikes in the qtank. everything stayed in optimal range with the water changes once i got the nitrates down. all other readings were normal.

thanks for all your help. at least one fish survived. we will miss our other buddies.