Fin rot

[Tempestuousfury]

I have a 10 gallon tank that's at 80 degrees with three goldfish and two silver dollars. All of the fish have succumbed (to varying degrees) to fin and tail rot. They seem to be getting better, but despite weeking and sometimes semi-weekly water changes and medicines, they aren't getting better. My black moor has lost a large part of his fins and the comets have lost and grown back most of theirs. The comets lost quite a few scales for unknown reasons and one of the silver dollars has a large chunk of his dorsal fin missing.

I can't spend any more money on meds, so should I do daily 25-50% water changes in hopes of making the fish better or should I resort to euthanasia?

Once I remove the fish, after either killing and/or giving them away once they're better, how do I disinfect the tank for other fish (guppies)?

Also: My male betta in his dual betta hex has small white patches on his lower fins. I rubbed most of it off with a soft towel, but it didn't totally go away and I didn't see the fungus (I believe it's fungus) come off. How do I make him better (especially without meds)?

Thanks

 

[smb]

Well, not to try and preach but that is an awful lot of fish for a 10g. I would most definately do 10% daily water changes on it. The SD's must be very stressed as they like lots of room to swim.

What all meds have you used so far and what meds do you have left?

I can't spend any more money on meds, so should I do daily 25-50% water changes in hopes of making the fish better or should I resort to euthanasia?

Seeing as you can't spend more money on meds, I would see if you can take the SD's back. They will soon be too large for that tank if they aren't now so unless you can get a bigger tank for them, it will be fighting a losing battle. Same with the betta. If meds are out of the question, I would do daily wc's and hope for the best but I don't think the fungus will go away on it's own. It's usually a secondary infection and if possible, try getting some meds but I know you said you can't so clean water via daily wc's is all I can offer. Hopefully someone else can help out.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I'll try buying Melafix. :sigh: It'll come in handy later.

My dad bought the silver dollars without asking me, otherwise I wouldn't have added them (especially since the goldfish produce so much waste).

At one point in time I had 17 fish in a five gallon with casualties galore... I've learned from that horrible, horrible mistake, and have removed a bunch of fish from the tank in hopes of making it better.

I'm not sure if any stores will take the sd's because they look somewhat sick. I was hoping to ask around to see if an lfs around here was treating their tanks so i could give them my fish so they could cure them and keep them. Unfortunately, even if I somehow manage to cure the fish, I doubt that anybody will take the comets....

How much water should I replace each day, and how would these changes coincide with medicating the tank?

 

[Cian McLiam]

If you are short on cash you could try getting your hands on the active ingredient in Melafix, plain old tea tree oil (Melaleuca tea tree extract is what you are looking for) I have never tried it myself, but Im sure there are people here who can give you some guidelines on how to dose. It is much cheaper than Melafix and should do the same job.
It has to be said though that frequent water changes are necessary no matter what med you use, and they often cure the fin rot without any meds at all.
Lots of good clean water works miracles in any tank so its worth a try.

Ken

 

[Sinuhe]

I'm not an expert, but if you have tried various antibiotics without any luck, I wouldn't put too much hope into Melafix, since it's not as powerful as antibiotics to begin with. I think Melafix is usually recommended for slight cases before resorting to antibiotics. But I guess it won't hurt to try. Fin rot is usually a bacterial disease, so antibiotics should work on it the best.

 

[Inchworm]

...I can't spend any more money on meds, so should I do daily 25-50% water changes in hopes of making the fish better or should I resort to euthanasia?

Once I remove the fish, after either killing and/or giving them away once they're better, how do I disinfect the tank for other fish (guppies)?

Ohhhhhh temp!

I know you don't want to read what I'm going to say here, but I'm going to say it anyway.

If your fish are sick, you have a moral responsibility to make every effort to get them well again. Have you ever been sick? If so, how would you have felt if your parents said "It's too bad, we can't afford any medicine for the kid so we'll just have to kill him?'

If you take on the responsibility of owning fish, the obligation to care for them properly goes with it.

So, bite the bullet, borrow the money and do the right thing!

 

[Sinuhe]

I do love animals, but I wouldn't compare killing a pet to killing a human child. If I had a cat that got cancer that was hard to treat and causing him pain, I'd rather euthanize him than trying to keep him alive no matter what. But I wouldn't euthanize a human child who has cancer.

 

[Inchworm]

... But I wouldn't euthanize a human child who has cancer.

Hi Sinuhe

I would hope not!! But then, I don't suppose you'd cut your cat's head off either. I do believe that when you speak of euthanizing a cat you mean you would take it to the vet who would gently "put it to sleep." Well, that costs money.

The point I was trying to make is that if you can afford to buy a live pet, you must be prepared to take appropriate care of it no matter what your circumstances. If you have to go into debt to meet that duty, so be it. IMHO it is just wrong to buy fish, cram them into tank that's way to small, raise the temperature to an inappropriate degree (80 degrees for goldfish?) and then complain they are costing too much money so I may as well kill them and get some more.

Now, since tempestuousfury's father contributed to the problem, I think he should share the cost of the solution. On the other hand, if all remedies have been tried with no success, then it's time to kill them.

Matters of life and death are never easy. I trust that in the end temp will do whatever is best for his fish.

 

[Lateral Line]

Goldfish are coldwater fish. They are not happy in tropical tanks, the dissolved O2 is too low. As you note, they produce way to much waste for a filter in such a small tank - bacterial heaven. 80F is also high for a trop tank in this state, and again is helping the bacteria - drop it slowly to 73-75. Stop feeding for a few days, then only feed sparingly.

You need to decide if this is a tropical tank or a cold water tank, and find someone to take the inappropriate fish.

 

[Sinuhe]

Oh, I do agree that you must be prepared to take responsibility of your pets, but I just didn't like the idea of comparing pet fish to human children.

I did notice the tank seemed quite crowded, but I didn't realise it was too warm since I'm still not used to thinking of temperatures in Fahrenheit.

 

[Sye]

One of the cheapist and most effective options would be a small amount of salt....always works for me!

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I've tried salt baths, and they seemed to be working...

I'm aware of the fact that it's way overcrowded. I got the fish when I was a beginner (I'm surprised they lived so long). I know the temperature is too high and that this reduces the amount of O2 and increases metabolism and waste excretion. I'm going to give the fish away once they're treated.

I meant to ask if euthanasia was preferable if the case was really bad (like haveing their entire pec fins eaten off). I didn't mean that I'd kill them if they were only a little sick...

Anyways, I got the melafix. This time I'll try it without carbon. (Need a smilie that sticks its tongue out and bonks itself on its head with its fist ). No worries, euthanasia isn't even a feasible option.

I also got bettafix, and though the betta's caudal fin is pretty bad, i hope it helps...

Thanks for your advice, and sorry for making you mad (I hate that I can't write p*ssing, my other thread got renamed b/c of it and "I'm so mad" didn't convey my anger very well )

Thanks, again.