Fin Rot

[Bex]

Went to an LFS the other day and saw some great looking platys - real nice colour, deep orange/red with thick black line across bellies.

My hubby was looking at them and said to me "Do you think they could get a couple of the ones which haven't got funny tails?"

On closer inspection these fish had fin rot. Some of the poor little guys had hardly any tail! I immediately went and got one of the staff and pointed it out and to be fair, he immediately said "Oh dear, got a problem here" and quarantined them. He also thanked me for pointing it out. They were new in and luckily none had been sold to unsuspecting customers!

I was just wondering if there was any hope for these guys? Will their tails grow back if treated or are they permanently scarred? Do tails etc re-grow like lizards? What about if they've just been nipped by other fish and not diseased? Do they grow back then?

Poor little guys!

 

[millym]

generally if the finrot has not progressed right down to the base of the tail they usually recover very well with an appropriate medication. ive had a couple of cases of mild finrot ( just a bit of the tail looking a bit ragged ) that have been cured with extra little water changes & melafix. i think once it reaches the beginning of the tail ( as in the bit nearest the body) its usually too much infection to be treated especially here in the uk where we have little or no access to antibiotics over the counter to treat it. i did have a tiger barb who lost the whole top half of her tail & she recovered really well with interpets fungus & finrot. ( but beware of this stuff as tbs sem to be rather sensitive to it - it used to be used as a fish anaesthetic & it knocked out or tbs for 4 days - long & traumatic 'tail' but they all recovered & the finrot was cured)