Does my fish have finrot?

[vampregrl]

My fish have been dying one by one lately. The first one died with no symptoms at all.. the next one seemed to be fine, but he was having a hard time swimming, i thought it was because of his large tail.. but then eventually he just couldn't swim anymore and his tail seemed to clamp up, but it didn't look as if it were being eaten.

The last one that died had the end of his tail eatten, there were no holes or anything.. so i figured the other fish were attacking him. I put him in a seperate tank but he finally died, again, his tail clamped up.

I have a fish right now who doesn't seem to be interested in swimming and again her tail seems to be all straggly, but it doesn't appear as if the other fish are bothering her and I just noticed that one of the side fins on another fish is deformed and I also noticed that a scale or something is falling off another fish.

Does it sound like there is finrot going on in my tank or am I just being paranoid and looking for anything and everything? I think at some things i'm just looking to much such as the scale falling off, i'm sure fish shed just like we do.

Is finrot contageous? How do I know that's what it is and not other fish eating the tail? and if it is finrot how do i fix it?

 

[dixaisy930]

Well, sounds like something real serious is going on in your tank. Scales shouldn't be coming off.

What size is the tank, and what kind of fish (and how many) did you and do you have in there? What are your water perimeters?

Most fin rot (but not all) usually has a little white stuff on the edge of the tail where it looks like it's been eaten.

 

[vampregrl]

Her tail isn't white.. but it is grey, but then again, her whole tail has always been black and grey with a yellow V in the center.

It's a 10 gallon tank and I have 2 males and 4 females plus i have 6 babies in a breeding cage which are about a month old.

My tank is about a month old now, so it could be because of the changes it has gone through. I just don't want to medicate if I don't have too, and I definitely don't want to medicate with the wrong medicine.

I just wish I had someone here who knows a lot about fish to take a peek.

I could just be paranoid, this tends to happen with me.. I look to deep into little things.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Knowing what sort of fish they are would help. For some reason I'm assuming guppies
It doesn't sound like finrot. As dix said,it would have white edging with red if it were. Your tank is a month old, so I'm assuming it is still cycling. Do you have a test kit? If not,take a water sample to your lfs and have them test your ammonia and nitrates. For now, change the water and add a bit of salt.

 

[vampregrl]

Yes, you're right, they are guppies.

The last time I checked the water which was two weeks ago the ammonia was perfect, the pH level for the fish were perfect but the nitrite was still a little high. Which is to be expected with a new tank.

I'll be testing my water again this weekend.

It's just bothering me that my fish are dying and I don't know why and I don't know how to make it better.

What else would be making their tail all ragged like that?

Is finrot contageous?

 

[Coral platy]

sounds like you have clamped fin.
this is triggered by:

1)water quality (do a 40% water change)
2)bullying
3)other things that may stress the fish.

To me it sounds like no2 bullying.


Coral

 

[wuvmybetta]

sounds like you have clamped fin.
this is triggered by:

1)water quality (do a 40% water change)
2)bullying
3)other things that may stress the fish.

To me it sounds like no2 bullying.


Coral

Could very well be.

I don't keep livebearers but I do know you should have several females to each male. When I read your post I noticed you said "he" died and now you have an ill female. The males could be taking out the other males and also pestering the females to death. Can you get rid of one male? Will the lfs take it off your hands?