HELP! Fish lost its fins

[brookemrcornelius]

HELP!!! I saw today when feed my fish that his fins are gone. He is a feather fin squeaker catfish and his giant “feather fin” is missing as well as some of his caudal fin (I couldn’t get a photo of that)
There is also a photo of his face because it seems more white than usual
He’s a nocturnal fish but I did hear him thrashing around last night which maybe is a hint

If I matters I did leave him for a 5 day trip about a week ago but my roommate fed him

Please lmk what to do
THANK YOUUUU

 

[Connershawzz]

HELP!!! I saw today when feed my fish that his fins are gone. He is a feather fin squeaker catfish and his giant “feather fin” is missing as well as some of his caudal fin (I couldn’t get a photo of that)
There is also a photo of his face because it seems more white than usual
He’s a nocturnal fish but I did hear him thrashing around last night which maybe is a hint

If I matters I did leave him for a 5 day trip about a week ago but my roommate fed him

Please lmk what to do
THANK YOUUUU

Maybe try and get us some better pictures? Sounds like fin rot which can be caused quite a few different ways, what are your water parameters ?

 

[Colin_T]

We need better pictures.

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish?
What other fish are in the tank?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

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FIRST AID FOR FISH
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[brookemrcornelius]

Maybe try and get us some better pictures? Sounds like fin rot which can be caused quite a few different ways, what are your water parameters ?

I don’t have the testing stuff with my right now but I just did a water change today and I’m getting it treated tomorrow. Here’s a better photo but he’s really hard to take photos of im sorry.

 

[brookemrcornelius]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?
How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish?
What other fish are in the tank?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)? 20x10x10ish (20 gal)
How long has the tank been set up for? 3 ish years
How long have you had the fish? 4 ish years
What other fish are in the tank?
Only him
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water? I will find out tomorrow
What sort of filter is on the tank? Aqueon bio filter
How often and how do you clean the filter? Monthly (with each water change)

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change? 30% every month
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change? I use a siphon
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium? Water conditioner (stress coat plus)

 

[Colin_T]

There's no point buying medications unless you know what the problem is. Adding things randomly hoping for the best can actually make things worse, especially if it isn't a disease but is related to poor water quality or a dirty tank.

Does the fish have a white dotted line along the body?

Does it have a cloudy eye and creamy coloured patches on its body?
If yes, this is most likely a water quality issue and doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week should make a huge difference. You also want to do water changes more often than once a month. A 50-75% water change every week (or at least every second week) would be much better for the fish. Because it's a small tank, a water change every week would be the preferred option.

You do water changes for a number of reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.
3) to keep the pH, KH and GH stable.
4) to dilute nitric acid produced by fish food and waste breaking down.
5) to dilute stress chemicals (pheromones/ allomones) released by the fish.
6) to dilute un-used plant fertiliser so you don't overdose the fish when you add more.
7) to remove fish waste and other rotting organic matter.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Imagine living in your house with no windows, doors, toilet, bathroom or anything. You eat and poop in the environment and have no clean air. Eventually you end up living in your own filth, which would probably be made worse by you throwing up due to the smell. You would get sick very quickly and probably die unless someone came to clean up regularly and open the place up to let in fresh air.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and harmful micro-organisms, and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

 

[brookemrcornelius]

Thank you so much! I’ve always been scared of changing too much water. I’ll for sure change some more tomorrow morning.

If it were to be a water quality issue, would he heal from this/survive?

 

[Colin_T]

You can change the water regularly and also change large amounts without it affecting the filter bacteria. The beneficial bacteria live on hard surfaces in dark areas (inside the filter). The harmful bacteria, protozoa and fungus live in the water. Big water changes dilute the harmful stuff but do not affect the good bacteria in the filter.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the aquarium.

If it's just a dirty tank and poor water quality (low pH and high nitrate), then doing big daily water changes and cleaning the gunk out of the gravel will make a huge difference. You might still need to add something to reduce the risk of infection but the water changes will help with that too.

Salt can be used to reduce infection but try water changes and gravel cleaning and monitor the damaged fin.
If it goes white and fluffy, that is Saprolegnia fungus and salt can treat it.
If it goes red, that is bacteria and salt can usually treat it if it's a minor infection.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for 1 to 2 weeks. If there's no improvement after 1 week with salt, post more pictures and look into getting a broad spectrum medication that treats bacteria and fungus.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket (2 litres/ half a gallon) of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

You've been given some great advice above, not changing the water for fear of removing the beneficial bacteria is a common misconception. Nice big water changes every week making sure the fresh water is about the same temperature as the water that came out fin rot is almost always caused by poor water quality so fixing that will in turn fix his fins

 

[brookemrcornelius]

You've been given some great advice above, not changing the water for fear of removing the beneficial bacteria is a common misconception. Nice big water changes every week making sure the fresh water is about the same temperature as the water that came out fin rot is almost always caused by poor water quality so fixing that will in turn fix his fins

Thank you so much!!!

You can change the water regularly and also change large amounts without it affecting the filter bacteria. The beneficial bacteria live on hard surfaces in dark areas (inside the filter). The harmful bacteria, protozoa and fungus live in the water. Big water changes dilute the harmful stuff but do not affect the good bacteria in the filter.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the aquarium.

If it's just a dirty tank and poor water quality (low pH and high nitrate), then doing big daily water changes and cleaning the gunk out of the gravel will make a huge difference. You might still need to add something to reduce the risk of infection but the water changes will help with that too.

Salt can be used to reduce infection but try water changes and gravel cleaning and monitor the damaged fin.
If it goes white and fluffy, that is Saprolegnia fungus and salt can treat it.
If it goes red, that is bacteria and salt can usually treat it if it's a minor infection.

--------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for 1 to 2 weeks. If there's no improvement after 1 week with salt, post more pictures and look into getting a broad spectrum medication that treats bacteria and fungus.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket (2 litres/ half a gallon) of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

thank you so much!! Should I treat him for fin rot as well or just water changes? He is a scalesless fish so I am worried about that when treating for fin rot

 

[Colin_T]

Water changes and gravel cleans and if it shows any white fluffy stuff or red around the damaged area, add some salt.

 

[Naughts]

Before you start the big water changes, check that the tank pH is close to that of the tap water. You test tap water pH after letting it stand for 24 hours. If the pH is similar, proceed with the big water changes.
If they are different, report back here as you will need to start with small daily water changes and build up to bigger and bigger changes until you are up to 50-75%. If your monthly 30% water changes were not that regular, maybe you missed some, delayed some, did a bit less sometimes...you could have 'old tank syndrome' where the high nitrates acidify the water and drop the pH. Doing a big water change would then drastically change the pH and shock the fish, maybe fatally.