Best antibiotics for fin rot?

[alli789]

My plakat betta has some new-ish ragged edges to his tail fin and a hole in the middle of his fin, so I'm suspecting fin rot. I've been through severe and stubborn fin rot before with my past betta, so I've gone through the motions. Ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates between 5-10ppm after 9 days with no water change. Live plants, 10 gallon tank, weekly 30% water changes with gravel vacuum. Trust me, I've checked everything. I'm currently trying a low dose of aquarium salt (1 Tb per 3 gallons) but it's been two weeks and there's been no change; the hole might have gotten a little bit bigger this week. So I'm thinking it's time to treat with an antibiotic. I used Maracyn 2 in the past but it seems impossible to find now, so I need to try something new.
What broad spectrum or gram-negative treating antibiotics have you had luck with for treating fin rot? I'm currently looking at Kanaplex, API Fin and Body Cure, or Polyguard. I'm considering Polyguard because it says it covers nearly all bases and I don't know for sure what the cause is. There's no discoloration or anything, just the ragged edges and hole. The fish is also still super active, hungry, and acting totally normal.
Recommendations appreciated!

 

[Fishfunn]

My plakat betta has some new-ish ragged edges to his tail fin and a hole in the middle of his fin, so I'm suspecting fin rot. I've been through severe and stubborn fin rot before with my past betta, so I've gone through the motions. Ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates between 5-10ppm after 9 days with no water change. Live plants, 10 gallon tank, weekly 30% water changes with gravel vacuum. Trust me, I've checked everything. I'm currently trying a low dose of aquarium salt (1 Tb per 3 gallons) but it's been two weeks and there's been no change; the hole might have gotten a little bit bigger this week. So I'm thinking it's time to treat with an antibiotic. I used Maracyn 2 in the past but it seems impossible to find now, so I need to try something new.
What broad spectrum or gram-negative treating antibiotics have you had luck with for treating fin rot? I'm currently looking at Kanaplex, API Fin and Body Cure, or Polyguard. I'm considering Polyguard because it says it covers nearly all bases and I don't know for sure what the cause is. There's no discoloration or anything, just the ragged edges and hole. The fish is also still super active, hungry, and acting totally normal.
Recommendations appreciated!

Maracyn 2 and Kanaplex both are gram-negative bacteria antibiotics.

Use Seachem Kanaplex. Treat its tank and mix some into its food.

Info: Seachem KanaPlex™ Dosing Instructions

Dosing in Water Remove all invertebrates - these are extremely sensitive to medication. Turn off UV filters, ozone filters, and remove chemical filtration like MatrixCarbon™ and Purigen™. Use 1 mea...

seachem.zendesk.com

 

[Colin_T]

What broad spectrum or gram-negative treating antibiotics have you had luck with for treating fin rot? I'm currently looking at Kanaplex, API Fin and Body Cure, or Polyguard. I'm considering Polyguard because it says it covers nearly all bases and I don't know for sure what the cause is. There's no discoloration or anything, just the ragged edges and hole. The fish is also still super active, hungry, and acting totally normal.
Recommendations appreciated!

This is a bacterial infection that pops up every now and then and seems to affect male guppies and Betta splendens. It's identified by the hole in the fin, which starts out tiny and over a few weeks it slowly gets bigger. The fins tend to become frayed and it looks like fin rot but doesn't respond to salt or water changes.

Most people end up trying antibiotics but the fish still die. If you do find something that works, please post the information here so others can use it to save their fish.

---------------------

When using antibiotics, try to use them in a bare tank so the medication can work on the fish and not on bacteria in the tank. It's also a good idea to wipe the inside of the glass down and change all the water before re-treating the fish so the container it's in is spotless.

If you are using antibiotics in a display tank, wipe the inside of the glass down, do a 75-90% water change, gravel clean the substrate, and clean the filter before treating and re-treating the tank, and again after you have finished treatment. This makes the aquarium as clean as possible and you should have better success with the medication.

It's also a good idea to increase aeration when using any type of medication so you maximise the oxygen level in the water and to circulate the medication through the water.

Most antibiotics will wipe out the filter bacteria too so monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels during and for a month after treatment.

---------------------

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the right side of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Calculator

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working. You do not need to remove the carbon if you use salt.

 

[Fishfunn]

My plakat betta has some new-ish ragged edges to his tail fin and a hole in the middle of his fin, so I'm suspecting fin rot. I've been through severe and stubborn fin rot before with my past betta, so I've gone through the motions. Ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates between 5-10ppm after 9 days with no water change. Live plants, 10 gallon tank, weekly 30% water changes with gravel vacuum. Trust me, I've checked everything. I'm currently trying a low dose of aquarium salt (1 Tb per 3 gallons) but it's been two weeks and there's been no change; the hole might have gotten a little bit bigger this week. So I'm thinking it's time to treat with an antibiotic. I used Maracyn 2 in the past but it seems impossible to find now, so I need to try something new.
What broad spectrum or gram-negative treating antibiotics have you had luck with for treating fin rot? I'm currently looking at Kanaplex, API Fin and Body Cure, or Polyguard. I'm considering Polyguard because it says it covers nearly all bases and I don't know for sure what the cause is. There's no discoloration or anything, just the ragged edges and hole. The fish is also still super active, hungry, and acting totally normal.
Recommendations appreciated!

I have never used Seachem Polyguard but it looks like a jack of all trades medication.

From what you wrote, I would definitely try the antibiotic.

Most people fail when using an antibiotic because the root cause of the disease of the tail rot is a weakened immune system from some other disease or parasite. In these instances, the bacterial infection of tail rot is a secondary infection. So the exclusive use of an antibiotic cannot address the root cause of the fish's disease or cure the fish in those cases.

Also, moving a fish into a QT that does not have an established bio-filter is a risk since gram-negative antibiotics will attack the gram-negative nitrification bacteria needed to establish a bio-filter. So you will have to monitor your ammonia levels if you use a new QT and filter.

I had good luck with using antibiotics with an established biofilter.

It looks like in your case you have eliminated any poor water quality issues, parasites, fungal, or viruses that could weaken the immune system, so the root cause of your fish's condition looks to be bacterial.

Again, I would treat the tank and feed internally too. Please let us know your progress.

 

[alli789]

This is a bacterial infection that pops up every now and then and seems to affect male guppies and Betta splendens. It's identified by the hole in the fin, which starts out tiny and over a few weeks it slowly gets bigger. The fins tend to become frayed and it looks like fin rot but doesn't respond to salt or water changes.

Most people end up trying antibiotics but the fish still die. If you do find something that works, please post the information here so others can use it to save their fish.

---------------------

When using antibiotics, try to use them in a bare tank so the medication can work on the fish and not on bacteria in the tank. It's also a good idea to wipe the inside of the glass down and change all the water before re-treating the fish so the container it's in is spotless.

If you are using antibiotics in a display tank, wipe the inside of the glass down, do a 75-90% water change, gravel clean the substrate, and clean the filter before treating and re-treating the tank, and again after you have finished treatment. This makes the aquarium as clean as possible and you should have better success with the medication.

It's also a good idea to increase aeration when using any type of medication so you maximise the oxygen level in the water and to circulate the medication through the water.

Most antibiotics will wipe out the filter bacteria too so monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels during and for a month after treatment.

---------------------

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the right side of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Calculator

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working. You do not need to remove the carbon if you use salt.

Wow, thanks Colin, I didn't know that kind of infection existed. I tried to research the hole but all I found was tears and things like that. I'm attaching a photo that shows the hole.
This baffled me because I do everything I can to prevent this kind of thing so it's good to know about this. I had no clue where the infection would've come from.
Thank you fishfunn as well! I'm going to pick up Kanaplex and Focus today and start him on those. I'll definitely let you know how it goes.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish with this infection have been showing up occasionally for about 5 years now (I have seen it about 5 or 6 times during this period) and it just seems to appear in some fish. I have seen it on fish that have just come in from Asia, but also on fish that had been in home aquariums for over a year. It seems to be caused by a slow growing bacteria that can become active at any time. It might be caused by Mycobacteria (these cause TB in fish, birds, reptiles, animals and people), which would explain its slow growth and ability to just appear whenever. However, it's unusual for Mycobacteria to get into a tail or fin and it doesn't produce a granuloma in the tail like it does in other parts of the body. So I'm not sure if it is Mycobacteria or just another drug resistant bacteria that pops up occasionally. It appears so infrequently it's hard to get much information on it.