Fin rot

[Nidge]

I just noticed that some of my fish have fin rot, does anyone know a home remedy
as i wont get to my LFS until tuesday, will aquarium salt work? if so how much?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Nidge

Fin rot is caused by bacteria that are present in everyone's tanks, and at some point your fish were stressed enough to lower their resistance to it.

The first thing to do is to make sure your tank is fresh and clean. Do a good water change and gravel cleaning. Take out 50% of the water and replace it with water at the same temperature.

Also make sure that you have enough oxygen in the water by adding an airstone if possible. Feed your fish lightly so that no excess food collects at the bottom.

If the temperature is high, reduce it slowly to 75 degrees.

These steps will inhibit the growth of the bacteria and will help slow down the finrot.
It's not impossible that by doing this you could cure the fish, but depending on the situation, you should probably plan to treat it with medication as well.

Salt is not a remedy for this problem and if you have any catfish or loaches it will do more harm than good. Please don't use it.

Please tell me what kind of fish are involved, what the temperature of the water is and the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings before and after the water change, if possible.

 

[Nidge]

Thanks for the reply inchworm, the fish are, a pleco, clown loaches, giant danios, a red tail black shark (this is the fish i noticed it on), neons,bala sharks, and some puffers. iv just done a water change, the ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, temp is 79, ph 7.0 i ran out of nitrate test. ps i done the water change before i read this, but i done test last week and they were the same as today. Will they be ok until tuesday?

 

[Nidge]

forgot to metion that i added 4 puffers last week, is it possible they stressed the others?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Nidge

It's hard to answer your question because some cases get bad quickly and others move slowly. Sometimes you can even clear it up by water changes alone.

I would do 20% (or more) water changes daily and slowly reduce the temperature, to see if it will help.

You do not say how large your tank is so I cannot tell if it's overcrowded. If it is, you might want to think about making changes in that situation since that could have been a cause of the problem.

Good luck and let me know how things work out.

 

[Nidge]

Sorry i should have said, its 300 litre, i dont think its over crowded, thanks for your help inchworm