Fin rot help! Platy & Betta

[Kelly Preussner]

Here is the situation, I believe my teenage platy has fin rot as well as my daughters betta. I have a 36 gal tank & my daughter has a separate 5 gal betta tank. Her betta used to share his tank with another betta (with a divider) & came down with fin rot. We removed the other betta & got him his own tank. We treated the sick betta with salt I believe & it got better. Now the betta is starting to have a frayed tail so I think it’s back. As for my platy, about a week ago his tail looked weird & had a large white section. I was away for the weekend & when I came back there is a piece of his tail missing! That is when I realized he probably had fin rot & I didn’t notice.
Here is tank info:
Ph: 8.2 (common for my tank)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0
Last water change was Thursday.
Betta tank:
Ph: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0
Last water change was 2-3 weeks ago.
We have hard water where I live.
Betta is only fish in the tank
In my 36 gal I have:
2 swords
3 platy
2 black molly
1 dwarf gourami
3 tetra
1 baby sword

my tank is currently at 86°because I saw 1 white spot on my swords tail which disappeared after 2 days of the hotter water. It has now been 2 weeks & I am decreasing the temp back to 79°

I am thinking the hot water may have caused the fin rot?? Maybe not. No other fish is showing any symptoms of fin rot.
I was thinking of putting the divider back in the beta tank in treating both fish at the same time. I just don’t remember how I treated the fish. I know I used salt water.
Please help Colin_T

thanks!!

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

Here is the situation, I believe my teenage platy has fin rot as well as my daughters betta. I have a 36 gal tank & my daughter has a separate 5 gal betta tank. Her betta used to share his tank with another betta (with a divider) & came down with fin rot. We removed the other betta & got him his own tank. We treated the sick betta with salt I believe & it got better. Now the betta is starting to have a frayed tail so I think it’s back. As for my platy, about a week ago his tail looked weird & had a large white section. I was away for the weekend & when I came back there is a piece of his tail missing! That is when I realized he probably had fin rot & I didn’t notice.
Here is tank info:
Ph: 8.2 (common for my tank)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0
Last water change was Thursday.
Betta tank:
Ph: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0
Last water change was 2-3 weeks ago.
We have hard water where I live.
Betta is only fish in the tank
In my 36 gal I have:
2 swords
3 platy
2 black molly
1 dwarf gourami
3 tetra
1 baby sword

my tank is currently at 86°because I saw 1 white spot on my swords tail which disappeared after 2 days of the hotter water. It has now been 2 weeks & I am decreasing the temp back to 79°

I am thinking the hot water may have caused the fin rot?? Maybe not. No other fish is showing any symptoms of fin rot.
I was thinking of putting the divider back in the beta tank in treating both fish at the same time. I just don’t remember how I treated the fish. I know I used salt water.
Please help Colin_T

thanks!!

I don’t know about the platy but you can buy betta medicine at the fish store which might help.

 

[Kelly Preussner]

@Colin_T you have said in the past to do 75% water change daily with 1-2 T salt per 5 gallons for a betta. Would this work for a platy as well? Also, after the 2 weeks how do I transition back to no salt?
My water conditions are pretty consistent at 8.0-8.2 PH, 0 ammonia & nitrites and 3-5.0 nitrates with hard water. What would cause fin rot in only 1 fish with these water conditions? I usually do a 50% water change every 7-10 days. Thanks!

 

[s0mthinG]

Ive had good experience with EM Erythromycin for bacterial infections that might work well for the betta. I actually just treated my 10 gal which had some mouth rot on my Ruby Tetras. One thing to be cautious about is that the Erythromiacin can and probably will kill off some of the beneficial bacteria so you'll need to keep an eye on parameters and maybe dose a bacteria starter after treatment.

The Molly though looks like its a fungal and I don't have any advice besides look up antifungal meds? As an answer to your question about what would cause it in just one fish. Fungal spores are EVERYWHERE no matter what, the only time they tend to infect fish is when they are stressed out and have a weakened immune system. This can lead to only one or a few fish getting a fungal infection but not the whole tank. I've read that a salt dip can help with external fungal infections. I've never dosed a whole tank with salt as my plants would hate it but I did dip a Neo shrimp that was acting sluggish and had some white fuzzy growth on his tail and he's doing well now. I did 1tsp of Kosher salt to 8-16 oz of tank water for 45 sec - 1 min. People often say that fish can be left longer (up to 5 mins). Definitely do your research.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish is covered in excess mucous, which is normally caused by something in the water (chemicals, poor water quality or external protozoans) irritating the fish.

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You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 2 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water.

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 4 heaped tablespoons 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, 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 will not affect 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.