Fin/Tail Rot?

[Tempestuousfury]

A few of my fish have succumbed to something resembling fin and tail rot. These fish have parts of their fins and tails "chewed off" and the edges are white and ragged. The affected fish are all goldfish (I just noticed that ). The black moor lost considerable parts of the dorsal and pectoral fins, and the tail. Another goldfish (comet) lost parts of the tail and dorsal fin (the dorsal fin grew back) and another comet lost a lot of its tail.

I tried Melafix and tablets to treat bacteria, but these things made little headway. It's been over a month now, and the fix aren't getting better (though, thankfully, they aren't getting worse).

Can you help me out?

 

[Sea_Monster87]

8) The same thing happened to my swordtails, melafix doesn't work all that well for fin rot. But on the bright side, it does lower nitrates . I'd try maracyn or maradell for fin rot.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I went to an lfs, and they helped me far more than petsmart could. It turns out that my carbon was messing it up, and that neither I nor the petsmart people thought about this. I'm trying maracyn-2 now and it should be done in three days.

I also tried salt baths for the goldfish in non-iodized salt.

My black moor has a whit patch on his bottom lip, but it doesn't look like cotton mouth. It may have been there b/f, but I'm not sure. Can you guys help me out?
--Why is the black moor turning gold? Is it b/c of temperature changes, disease, both, neither?

 

[mtdewlover]

I have the same problem but with cichlids. They have white scales in which some are falling off. They look "dry". Also their fins look a little rigid and one fish has a hole in one of her fins. Does this sound like fin rot? Or could it be something else? I'm awfully worried about my fishies.

 

[AquaNut]

Hi tempestuousfury

I know I already lay all this on you in the Characins and Cyprinids forum, but due to the grossly overstocked nature of your tanks, there's little hope that the fish can be healthy. You would need to be doing water changes twice a day to maintain a healthy water quality, and still none of the fish would have sufficient space. I personally prefer good old tetracycline as an antibiotic, but by all means, continue on with what you're doing. I urge you, however, to find new and more suitable homes for the fish in the 10 gallon tank.

mtdewlover - I highly recommend that you either start your own thread in this forum or in one of the cichlid forums so that your post does not get overlooked here. It sounds like you may be dealing with something other than fin rot, although it's difficult to know from an online description at times.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You are right about it being very crowded. I should have posted this earlier, but once (I'm not willing to say if) the fish get better, I'm going to have a 50 gallon tank waiting for the other fish in that tank and I'll only have the goldfish in there. I'll probably give one of the comets away anyways. (When he gets better, mind you... )

 

[AquaNut]

Oh! Tempestuous fury, that's fantastic news!!! I'm sooo happy for you and for your silver dollars and plec, who are going to be thrilled in the 50 gallon tank. If the tropicals aren't showing any signs of illness, you'd be well advised to move them to their new tank asap. It greatly increases the chances of recovery for the goldies.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I would, but my dad can't get it for me until next week.
I kept badgering him about it last night, but he's got to work.
My stepmom would probably take me, but it won't fit in our car. (My dad drives a limo, so there's ample space in there).
You are right, though. And thanks for your help.

 

[fishgeek]

i know this is a little late though lowerng the temp will help with bactrial probs as they will multiply faster at higher temps
not sure whether you have a trpical tank or cold water tank though you shouldn't mix because of differing susceptibilty's of fish and temperature dependance

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Yeah. You're right. It's tropical and is actually in lower 80's. I'll move the tank to a colder spot once my 50 is set up and I have moved the tropical fish.