Need help

[190gallons]

Hi. I'm new here but not to the hobby. I have been keeping fish for over 10 years now. I am currently keeping 2 3 gal male betta tanks a 5 gal glow fish tank. A 30 gal community tank and a 75 gal freshwater tank . The issue I'm seeking help with is in my 30gal tank i have a very small bala I just got about a week ago and yesterday I noticed that there is , what I'll refer to as a white film like something on the tail . it's only really on the edge of the tail where the black stripe is. I'm 100%sure it's not ich and I am somewhat sure it's not fin rot however I have never experienced fin rot. The tank is stocked with . 1 killi female , 1 pleco, 1 Cory, a red tail shark, 2 small balas , 3 mollies and 2 penguin tetras . water parameters .... Ammonia 0ppm , nitrite 0ppm , nitrates 20 ppm , 7.6 ph temp is steady 77.6° . I'm using a hob filter and a bubble stone and led lighting on for 10 hrs a day. And before you All get on me about 30gal is to small for the red tail and balas I am well aware they will be moving to the 75g when they get a bit bigger. The red tail is less than 2" and both balas are around 1 1\2" . if I put them in the 75 gal now my silver dollars or my butterfly fish will pick on them . this is the best pic I could get of the tail

 

[PorshaF]

How often and what percentage is your water change in the 30?

 

[Colin_T]

It looks like the tip of the tail was injured and has excess mucous on it. Fish have a thin layer of clear mucous covering their body. It helps them move through water easier and also acts as a first line of defense against disease organisms. If the fish are injured or stressed, they produce more mucous and it can look like a cream or white film over part or all of the body.

You can do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week and that usually helps.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If it looks worse over the next day or two, add some rock salt (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres of water). keep salt in there for 2 weeks and see how the fish goes.

 

[190gallons]

How often and what percentage is your water change in the 30?

20%weekly and vacume the gravel every other water change

 

[190gallons]

It looks like the tip of the tail was injured and has excess mucous on it. Fish have a thin layer of clear mucous covering their body. It helps them move through water easier and also acts as a first line of defense against disease organisms. If the fish are injured or stressed, they produce more mucous and it can look like a cream or white film over part or all of the body.

You can do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week and that usually helps.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If it looks worse over the next day or two, add some rock salt (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres of water). keep salt in there for 2 weeks and see how the fish goes.

Ok . I did water change about 60% 2 days in a row. It don't seem to be getting better or worse. Im just wondering i have 2 balas and the one seems to chase the injured one away alot. Is it possible that one is nipping the others tail? I was always under the impression balas are very peaceful fish as long as they are kept together. But I also know that schooling type fish are best kept in groups of 3 or more. So is it reasonable to assume adding a 3rd bala night curb the aggression of the one doing the chasing

 

[190gallons]

I have an injured fish and have been told to add salt to my tank. My question is will all my fish and plants be able to take this safely. I have 2 balas, red tail shark,1 killi,1 pleco, 1 Cory, 3 mollies,and a pictus cat and lightly planted with some hygrophila and anubias

 

[Colin_T]

What is wrong with the fish?

--------------------
SALT
Using Salt to Treat Fish Health Issues.
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of protozoan infections in freshwater fishes.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres 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.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect 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.

 

[Essjay]

I have merged two threads. Post #6 was originally the start of a new thread but it is really a continuation of posts #1 to #5 in the earlier thread.

Colin - you now have the background to the salt question

 

[Byron]

I agree with @Colin_T but would go a step further now we have a bit more data. Yes, I would say the one Bala is attacking the injured; my first thought on seeing the photo was that something had bitten the upper lobe of the caudal.

Yes, this is a shoaling species with a pronounced social structure within the group, and must be maintained in groups of at least five fish. Fewer will result in aggression to the point of death of subordinate fish, and/or aggression toward other species in the tank.

I should also mention that when a shoaling species has the level of aggressive behaviour or hierarchy that this species has, the entire intended group must be added at the same time. Fish can be quick to exert their dominance, and that has likely occurred here. Which means that if you were to move these two and add another three (or more), it might well not work. Just be prepared. The dominant Bala is now the owner of his tank space.