Fin Rot Help

[secretswordtail]

Hello everyone yet more fish lovers! I have had a 16gallon set up for about 3 months currently with 5 guppies and 2 swordtails. One of my swordtails devolped fin rot. Have had trouble with keeping nitrates down, so have been doing 10% water change everyday since friday. My results yesterday night were
ammonia 0
nitrite 0.8
nitrate 0
ph 7.5
Have just feed them and had a look at my swordtail with the fin rot. He now has white fungus on it aswell.
Have been using king british fin rot and fungus control since friday ( dosent seem to be working, as he has fungus on him now that he didnt have on friday ), but i didnt take the carbon out of my filter, could this be why it hasnt worked? I have now taken it out, but was wondering i have a juwel like filter fitted into the top of the hood, will taken the carbon out affect the quality of the filter's performance? Why do you need to take the carbon out anyway?

Am going to do a 10% water change later on aswell, have ordered some melafix, should hopefully come soon!

Oh and i wanted to ask, i have had a read thorough the book i have but it dosent say, can a fish die of fin rot? What i am trying to say is, what will happen to my swordtail if the melafix and water changes dont work?

I did try a salt bath for him yesterday, put 1 teaspoon of table salt in a bucket and was planning to leave him in for half an hour or so. Couldnt catch him with the net and didnt want to stress him out casing him around the tank, would you suggest a salt bath? If so, best ways to catch him?

Thank you again

 

[Angry_Platy]

but i didnt take the carbon out of my filter, could this be why it hasnt worked?

This might be why it didn't work. The whole point of carbon is to remove impurities from the water. Since medications aren't meant to be in the tank the carbon will remove them from the water. You mut remove all carbon from the filters when adding any treatments to the water. Personally I don't use carbon in my filters at all.

Am going to do a 10% water change later on aswell, have ordered some melafix, should hopefully come soon!

Keep up the water changes. A clean enironment is essential in treating any fish diseases/conditions.

h and i wanted to ask, i have had a read thorough the book i have but it dosent say, can a fish die of fin rot?

Worst case scenario, if nothing you add to the tank works, the finrot will eventually move onto the actual body of the fish and leave no tail, fins etc. Eventually if it gets bad enough the body tissue will start to disntegrate and yes, the fish might die.

would you suggest a salt bath?

I would actually recommend adding aquarium salt to the tank. Youcannot use regular table salt in the tank as it contains additives which may be harmful to your fish. In a 16 gallon tank I would recommend adding 3 tablespoons of aquarium salt. This should be readily available at your LFS (local fish store). If the finrot looks like it is not improving you could try a salt dip where you use a more concentrated salt solution and put the fish in there for a short period of time. I would only use this as a last resort. I always have good luck with melafix so I am hoping this and the salt will help with your problem.

If so, best ways to catch him?

Thats the agw old question of fish keepers. I find with my swordies that The bigger the net I use the better and be calm about it. Once you start jabbing it about the tank theres no way the fish will go anywhere near that net. I try to get the intended fish on the water surface the come up underneath it, effectively scooping it up. That way the fish doesn't get stressed out too much and neither do the others. If you have been unsuccessfully chasing the fish for some time then stop and come back later. The more stressed out the fish is the worse the finrot will get.

I hope this has helped you a little in getting your fish better. Let us know how he gets on

 

[secretswordtail]

Would the plants, guppies and other swordtail be ok if i was to add salt to the tank?

 

[secretswordtail]

Have someone getting me some melafix later on, should have it by 6.
Is there anything i can do for my poorly swordtail in the mean time? I have put a extra airstone in, i read somewhere to increase the areation

 

[Dubby]

Would the plants, guppies and other swordtail be ok if i was to add salt to the tank?

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Simple answer - Yes

I have replaced the carbon filter in my Juwel tank with filter floss and this has helped improve the water clarity.

 

[AngelMax]

I used King British and it was CRAP!!!!!!!!

I am using eSHa 2000 for Fin rot etc (helps 18 different things) & eSHa Exit for whitespot as they can be used in conjunction with eachother.

 

[Teelie]

Melafix isn't a true medication, more like a herbal remedy that calms the fish (fish tea as I think of it). Good for general health but not effective enough as a true medication. Maracyn is though and it will knock finrot right out. I had two Panda Cories with finrot and the 5 day Maracyn treatment took care of it and the Pandas are already well on the road to recovery. Definitely remove the carbon from the filter as said it removes the medication,