Fin Rot And Worms I Think :-(

[ccskitten]

Hi everyone

I had an exciting thing happen to me today. I had my first fry. Molly fry yay. I managed to save 4 from the tank when I got home from work. They are floating happily in the breeding trap in my tank.

However everything else is going to pot (

Let's start from the weekend.

I got up sunday morning and one of my red wags had a torn tail and fins and he was resting on the bottom and hiding in the plants a lot. I have witnessed the others bullying him so i made the decision to put him in the breeding trap to recover. He didn't struggle at all and I think he was releaved to have a bit of a rest. Yesterday he seemed a bit perkier and his fins had started to knit together so I released him. I don't think he was too happy about that and kept very close to the trap which I had kept floating in the tank (I wanted the other fish to get used to it being there as I was expecting fry). The others were ignoring him so I thought he would be ok. Anyway, I came home from work today and he was dead . I can only imagine this was due to stress. He had no other markings or signs of abnormality on him.

Now today I've noticed my other red wag flicking. The edges of her fins are also looking a bit white. I think she has fin rot. She looks quite distressed. I also have a high fin platy who has started to look a bit skinny and has a white blob on her bottom. It is not because she is pregnant. She is also trying to rub her bottom on the gravel.

My water stats are

PH - 8 (always has been)
Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20-40

These are typical stats for my tank.

Temp 28-29 degrees (i turned it up to induce labor)

My last water change was on Saturday - 50%

Stocking is in sig.

I have melafix and primafix in my cupboard. Are these safe to use with fry?
Also where can I get some recommended worming medicine from online?
Will the wormer be ok to use with the melafix/primafix and will it harm my fry?

Sorry to be a bit long winded but I thought it was best to get everything I knew down. Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you in advance

Kind regards

Cindy x

 

[LauraFrog]

Not sure about primafix, but melafix is fine to use with fry. Do you have a spare tank that you could move the bristlenoses and tetras to for a few days? Adding some salt to the water will not harm any of the other fish and it would probably be beneficial to run some salt in the water for a few days to help with the finrot. Most finrot is bacterial, and a salt/melafix combo will roll it, but if you have nowhere to move the BNs and tetras, just put in the melafix. Turning the temp back down will also slow its spread. The red wag that died probably had parasites as well, it's common in livebearers and I've been seeing a lot of emergency posts about parasites and the parasitic/bacterial combo lately.

The best worming med for intestinal parasites is praziquantel. You can usualy get it online fairly easily, it's often sold as Aqua-worm. Trichlorfon is no good, it only treats external parasites (flukes). Most other internal worming meds have to be eaten, so prazi is good because you just put it in the water. Be warned, it stinks, it makes the water smell bad. it's worth it though and if the tank is covered you won't notice anything.

 

[ccskitten]

Hi Laurafrog. Thank you for your reply. I don't have another cycled tank. I could set one up with mature media with a bit of ear ache from other half!! I can't find praziquantel or aqua-worm for sale on any British sites. I will start with melafix tonight and turn the temp down.

Does anyone know a website that sells praziquantel it in the UK?

I've come home to another dead fish. It was a tetra that I bought third hand with my last tank. I imagine he was fairly old but now I'm really worried about my other fish. He looked normal and my water stats are all the same as yesterday. I hope they're all ok

Cindy x