Finrot??

[Jaded_Pulse]

Hi all. Had a lot of probs with my tank lately - lost 5 fish in 5 wks. it had been set up for nearly 2 months before anyone started dying. I now suspect a bacterial infection brought in by my snail even though he seems fine, that was the only thing different.

I have left:
1 colombian tetra
1 black skirt tetra
1 male guppy
1 small apple snail

Because the 5 basically all died of different symptoms, I am not positive what happened, but was advised to add aquarium salt - a little less than the 1tsp/gal thing coz of my snail, so I did 11 or 12 tsps (it's a 15 gal). Snail appears fine, & fish seem happy & healthy, eating like pigs, swimming around, etc.

EXCEPT............my colombian does pick on the other 2 a bit, and (assumably) because of this, my guppy's tail is rather raggy, but there's no red or white on it that i can see, though white would probably be hard to spot coz he's bright yellow. My main concern though, is my colombian, who has developed a black edging on his fins & tail, & has a small split in his tail. No great missing chunks or anything, just black edges that look a little raggy if u look really close. He doesn't seem particularly affected by it but I am worried that this is the start of finrot Does anyone think this is likely or what else could it be?

Thanx, sorry if this doesn't quite make sense, I'm running on 2hrs of sleep lol Anyways, thanx.

 

[tstenback]

Most tetras including the columbian are schooling fish and when in schools are very peaceful. However, if alone most larger tetras will chase other fish and nip fins. So i would try to get him some mates to school with.

As for the fin rot i am not convinced that it is fin rot and is perhaps as you say just the fish nipping at one another. If it is nipping fish then have a good watch of the fish to see who the real culprit is. Often it is the biggest fish in the tank that does NOT have battered fins. If it is fin rot then quick treatment is a must.

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Thanx tstenback. I know who the nipper is - my big colombian tetra (well big compared to his 2 tankmates). He especially picks on the black skirt tetra, but also the guppy. I can't see any abnormal red or white (or even black) on anyone except my colombian, but he rarely gets nipped at, except sometimes by my black skirt tetra when he gets sick of being chased lol.

As for the shoals, yep I've found that out since I got them. I accidently went to a dodgy lfs, and being the naive newbie i was, didn't do much research, trusting that the fish shop would know its stuff. LOL. So anyways, I ended up with a slightly overstocked tank, with 1 each of:

albino kribensis
scissortail rasbora
marble angelfish
neon tetra
black skirt tetra
colombian tetra
+ 2 guppies

The first 4 on that list & 1 guppy have since...passed on leaving me with these 3.

Well I manically researched fish AFTER my bro bought me these (xmas present), & found out (among other things) that my tetras need shoals, but because I was already overstocked, I couldn't get any then. Now with there having been so many deaths not so long ago, I am reluctant to add any newbies until I'm sure there is no more illness in the tank. Hence why I'm desperately hoping this isn't finrot!! But I know he rarely gets nipped, so I don't know what else it could be......

Thanx again.

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Hi,

The black edging hasn't cleared up, am really starting to worry about finrot because the edges of his fins/tail seem to be a little ragged if i look closely, but it isn't progressing quickly - could it still be finrot, does anyone know?? Nobody is picking on him, water stats r fine.

Thanx a million,
Michelle.

 

[Dragonslair]

I suggest you try a dose of melafix. This should prevent further deterioration of your fish.

 

[tstenback]

I agree with Dragonslair. It is better to be safe than sorry at this point. If it is finrot i think it would have progressed fairly quickly but it could be something else and a dose of melafix could take care of it and wont cause any problems in the tank.