Damage To Tail - Advice Please.

[lisa2701]

Have a wee quick question. I am new to tank owning and had bought 5 Endlers which are settled in nicely. I went today and bought another 3 Endlers to bring my numbers up to 8, I was SO pleased when I went to the lfs and they had them. Anyway, i got home, went through the acclimatization process and added them to the tank. Then i've been busy all day, had a friend in and things so i've only just sat down to watch the new comers, and I've noticed one hanging around the top of tank (the others all use all levels of the tank) and when I looked closer the clear section of its tail is completely missing, clearly damaged, I assumed it'd been nipped by the other fish in the tank at the fish store, so I went searching the internet to find out if it'd grow back etc and came across information on fin rot. Now I am worried that i've introduced fin rot into my tank . I see that you can buy treatments for fin rot, and I am wondering if I could use these treatment as a precaution and will they effect my filter bacteria or not?

The Endlers were housed with other fish so I don't know if they've just been nipping the Endlers fins hence the damage or what.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[ZephyrStarPlaties]

If there isn't any fungus or miscoloration on the tail wound, then it will heal up just fine without meds. Be sure to keep the water nice and clean though.

 

[lisa2701]

If there isn't any fungus or miscoloration on the tail wound, then it will heal up just fine without meds. Be sure to keep the water nice and clean though.

Thanks, I will double check the tail and make sure its not got any fungus etc. I am pretty sure it doesn't. I will make sure to keep the water tip top

 

[lisa2701]

So I have double checked this little guy and found that his tail is in worse condition than it was last night. Last night the two orange stripes on his tail were in reasonable condition and it was only the clear section in the middle missing... now look, the top stripe is almost gone and it does appear to have a white fuzz around the edge which it didn't have last night ...

My water parameters are spot on and the water is nice and clear but I'll do daily water changes if I need to get this little guy and all his tank mates through this successfully. I am told Melafix is a good treatment so I will get that tomorrow.

 

[lisa2701]

I have read that aquarium salt can help livebearers with fin rot, I some in the cupboard, should I add this to my tank, at least until I can get to shops to buy medication? Will it really help?

 

[ZephyrStarPlaties]

Aquarium salt will help. Use a teaspoon for every five gallons.

 

[lisa2701]

Thank you for replying, I was really starting to stress over this. The information on the internet is SO contradictory. I will do a water change and add the salt in during the change. Do I just sprinkle the salt into the tank or add it to the fresh water before I add that to the tank? Sorry for all the questions but I'm completely new to fish so wasn't thinking I'd have to deal with such things SO quickly

 

[lisa2701]

I read that you should add the salt gradually to your tank so over the last hour and a half I have added 50% of the recommended dose for my tank size (dissolved it in water before adding it to the tank during a water change). I will do another water change and add the other 50% of the salt tomorrow assuming the fish are all coping with the current levels of salt. Thanks for the advice