Fin Rot

[Richard James Patrick]

I've got a hansome male guppy who's started to show signs of fin rot. The edge of his tail began to go opaque and raggy. I dosed the whole tank (180ltr) with Interpets anti fungus and fin rot about 6 days ago but the tail is still showing the opaque bits. It's not getting any worse but it's not going away either. Is this normal will the opaque white bits remain or should I redose or try a different remedy??? Also is fint rot contagious???

 

[scooterchick]

I've got a hansome male guppy who's started to show signs of fin rot. The edge of his tail began to go opaque and raggy. I dosed the whole tank (180ltr) with Interpets anti fungus and fin rot about 6 days ago but the tail is still showing the opaque bits. It's not getting any worse but it's not going away either. Is this normal will the opaque white bits remain or should I redose or try a different remedy??? Also is fint rot contagious???

Hi,

In my experience fin rot is very difficult to treat, it's much eawsier to eliminate the cause, which is normally poor water quality. How big is your tank, how many fish? How often do you do water changes?

As for your guppy, is there any chance you could move him to a hospital tank? A small 5 gallon would suffice, would save you money in the long run as you'd be saving on meds. Whatever you do, yes, you will have to redose. Do a water change first, then hit it again. Fin rot CAN be contagious but not necessarily, however it's more likely to spread if you don't fix the cause.

You can also add some melafix, it's like a herbal rememdy that will help repair his damaged tail, although as I've said it won't cure the cause.

HTH and good luck!

 

[Richard James Patrick]

It's a 180ltr tank with about 40 fish in it, a mixture of Guppies, Platys and Mollies and their offspring. I change 25% of the water every week and do regular tests for ammonia etc. which have always tested negative. Do you think I'm overstocked?

I've been thinking about getting a small hospital tank alright, I had a 30ltr Biorb but donated it to some friends for their goldfish when I got my large tank. You'd obviously need to keep this tank cyled though, can that be done by adding flakes or similar to feed the bacteria?

I'll do the water change and redose with the Anti Fungus/Finrot. Can you use the Mellafix at the same time?

 

[scooterchick]

It's a 180ltr tank with about 40 fish in it, a mixture of Guppies, Platys and Mollies and their offspring. I change 25% of the water every week and do regular tests for ammonia etc. which have always tested negative. Do you think I'm overstocked?

I've been thinking about getting a small hospital tank alright, I had a 30ltr Biorb but donated it to some friends for their goldfish when I got my large tank. You'd obviously need to keep this tank cyled though, can that be done by adding flakes or similar to feed the bacteria?

I'll do the water change and redose with the Anti Fungus/Finrot. Can you use the Mellafix at the same time?

Yes, it sounds like you're very overstocked. How many of each fish do you have? Plus if they're breeding, aye carumba!

Think about rehoming some of them and in the meantime, yes the melafix can be used with the med.

For a hospital tank I keep some mature filter sponge in my running tanks that allows you to use the hospital tank straight away.

Are you tetsing for nitrates? What are your readings for that?

 

[Richard James Patrick]

I've got 12 Adult Platys, 11 Adult Guppies, 4 Adult Mollies, 5 Zebra Danios. Then I've got fry of various ages and species about a dozen or so at the mo. I haven't tested for Nitrates fior a while, I've quite a few plants in the tank so I was hoping that would take care of any excess nitrate but I'll check in case it's high.

I was planning on giving some of the fry to a friend though, she's waiting for her 120ltr to cycle.

So do you think that's a lot of fish for a 180ltr.???

 

[scooterchick]

I've got 12 Adult Platys, 11 Adult Guppies, 4 Adult Mollies, 5 Zebra Danios. Then I've got fry of various ages and species about a dozen or so at the mo. I haven't tested for Nitrates fior a while, I've quite a few plants in the tank so I was hoping that would take care of any excess nitrate but I'll check in case it's high.

I was planning on giving some of the fry to a friend though, she's waiting for her 120ltr to cycle.

So do you think that's a lot of fish for a 180ltr.???

The rough guide is 1 inch of fish per gallon. You have a 40 gal tank with, by my rouhg calculations, being generous, at least 40 inches of fish, not inc fry. What do you think? You know your fish better, how large are they? My mollies are about 2 incehs, and my guppies about an inch.

 

[Richard James Patrick]

The rough guide is 1 inch of fish per gallon. You have a 40 gal tank with, by my rouhg calculations, being generous, at least 40 inches of fish, not inc fry. What do you think? You know your fish better, how large are they? My mollies are about 2 incehs, and my guppies about an inch.
[/quote]

Yeah that's about right for the size of my mollies and guppies, my Platys are about an inch and a half too so that puts me right on the max line. My friends tank should be ready in a week or so. She's doing a fishless cylcle and is the difficult 3rd week stage, she's desperate to get going so she'll be only too hapy to take some of my fry.
Anyway thanks for the advice, I'll keep an eye on things.