Babies Dying - Been Told It's Fin And Tail Rot.

[Charlie06]

Hi all

Over the last couple of weeks we have had babies die. Some days none but most days 1 or 2, mainly the mollies which I believe are more likely to suffer but we have lost about 5 swordys and a couple of guppies. They seem to have no tail left so we have been treating them for a week with some green stuff (can't remember the name but will check later). It seems to perk them up but still getting one or 2 die. What causes this? The guy in the shop says that dirty tanks can cause it but we change the water every week and also clean the gravel about every 2 weeks. A friend of ours who has kept livebearers for many years says it's nothing to do with a dirty tank. So I am confused. Does anyone have any advice? We have 2 tanks for babies, 1 for the very young fry, the other for when they've grown a fair bit then they get transferred to the large aquarium with the adults. We have treated all the tanks. I don't want to lose any more little ones.

Thanks all

Charlie

 

[GuppyDude]

Tail rot is a bacterial infection associated with poor water conitions. Its easily cured in adult fish, but fry are difficult a they dont normally respond well to excessive medication. I would suggest doing x2 25% water changes over a 24 hour period, and depending on the severity of the problem, you might want to pick up some antibacterial medication for the whole tank (this followed by more water changes.) Iv found that melafix works very effectivly for tail rot, but it is quite potent, so you might lose some young fish; definately read the directions first.

Im sorry for your loss, hopefully you'll be able to correct the problem. GL

 

[theotheragentm]

Do partial water changes like crazy too, before you medicate. Medication is something I like to use as a last resort. I find keeping clean, stable water prevents a lot of the illnesses from occurring in fish. Good luck.

 

[Charlie06]

We did do more water changes when we found out what was happening, the medication said to repeat treatment after 7 days if there were still problems. We haven't lost any for 2 days but we had 2 die (1 in each tank) last night. It does seem to be slowing down and maybe it's the fry that were too weak for the medication to work. We have in one tank 3 platy fry and the other tank 5 platy fry, they were born before diagnosis and they are growing very well. I would have thought that very young fry would catch infection more!!

We are totally puzzled though. We do look after the fry, we watch for changes in behaviour, change water regular, make sure everything is clean, no overfeeding, etc etc. How can the water be dirty? The water is very clear, we have used water conditioner, checked the levels of ammonia, pH, etc and everything was perfect. I feel so guilty. I know they are only fry but they are our responsibility. The larger fry we have put in the adult tank (we put them in after we found out about the problem) are doing superb even the mollies. I read somewhere that the mollies are more likely to suffer than others because of their skin pigment.

The fry are due for water change today so we are going to add some medication and hope that we can beat it this time.

Thank you so much for your advice and help.

Charlie

 

[theotheragentm]

Clean, stable water isn't full proof unfortunately, especially when it's only clean by tank standards. Nature always does a better job than we do. I would just rather err on the side of doing more water changes, making sure not to kill off any bacteria for biofiltration.

How large are your tanks and what is in them as far as what type of fish and sizes? What kind of kit are you using to measure ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH? The paper test strips are notoriously inaccurate. I personally like Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Test Kit. Another thought comes to mind. Sometimes people's tap water has nitrates in them, making it worse after each water change.

Good luck and keep us updated.