Fin rot!?

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AJRenee

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Hello! I must go in the morning to get treatment for my aquarium, I’m pretty sure all of my fish have fin rot! I was away on vacation and came back and noticed white lines on their fins and now they are ripping off a little, 8 fish in a 15 gallon, just did partial water change as well. What is the best and quickest treatment for my fishies!? Thanks in advance!
 
Clean water is the best method. Here is @Colin_T ‘s advice:

“Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 1-2 weeks.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

----------

Add some salt.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea 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 will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

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.”
 
Clean water is the best method. Here is @Colin_T ‘s advice:

“Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 1-2 weeks.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

----------

Add some salt.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea 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 will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.

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.”
Thank you so much! Will the salt be okay with my Cory catfish. I have not been using salt at all :)
 
post some pictures of the fish

yes, corydoras are fine with the lower dose (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) of salt
 
post some pictures of the fish

yes, corydoras are fine with the lower dose (2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) of salt
 

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Looks like nipping from other fish. Keep up the daily water changes and salt for a couple of weeks. Feed them well and see how they go.

Put a picture on the back of the tank and add some floating plants.

If you only have a few of each tetra, get some more. You want at least 10 of each species.
 
Thank you! And will do :)
You're going to need a bigger tank I'm afraid. Black widow and Serpae tetra are relatively big tetra, and famously nippy if not kept in big enough schools. You're not going to have room for a large enough school of each in a 15 gallon. I don't know what minimum size tank you'll need for a school of each, @essjay or @Ch4rlie might know, I just know a 15 gallon isn't going to be nearly big enough, I'm sorry.

ETA: And you have cories too? Which species of cory? They're also a schooling fish that need a group size of six or more, and most species will also need a larger tank than a 15 gallon.

Seems like you might have been given some poor advice by a fish store perhaps? If you can't get a larger tank, then you really need to consider returning the current stock and looking for smaller species that can work in your size tank and with your water. We can give you stocking advice if you're open to that, but there will always be problems with fish like serpae kept in the wrong school number in too small a tank. They're likely to terrorise the cories.
 
Serpae tetra are just about the nippiest tetras in the hobby. It is recommended to keep them in a large group so they keep the nipping between themselves. A group of at least 10 is recommended in a tank with a footprint of at least 80 x 30 cm (30 x 12 inches)

Black widows are much more peaceful but still have a reputation for fin nipping; they need a group of at least 8 and a tank at least 60 cm/24 inches long; more if there are also other fish in the tank.
 
Both thes chosen species of fish are unfortunately get too big for your tank size, these both nequire a minimum tank length of 2.5 feet, preferably at least 20 US gals, 75 litres.

As beautiful as Serpae Tetras are, they ARE nippy wee fish are essjay mentioned already.

"H. eques is notorious as an aggressive community inhabitant with a reputation for nipping the fins of tankmates although this behaviour tends to be most pronounced when insufficient numbers are purchased or space is limited."

"That said it is relatively boisterous and doesn’t make an ideal companion for very shy, slow-moving, or long-finned fishes such as many livebearers, cichlids, and anabantoids."


Quotes from -


And for Black Widow Tetra, not as colourful as the Sepae obviously but a better choice for community tanks tbh, but only in a suitable sized group and tank as they do require lots of swimming space..

 
You're going to need a bigger tank I'm afraid. Black widow and Serpae tetra are relatively big tetra, and famously nippy if not kept in big enough schools. You're not going to have room for a large enough school of each in a 15 gallon. I don't know what minimum size tank you'll need for a school of each, @essjay or @Ch4rlie might know, I just know a 15 gallon isn't going to be nearly big enough, I'm sorry.

ETA: And you have cories too? Which species of cory? They're also a schooling fish that need a group size of six or more, and most species will also need a larger tank than a 15 gallon.

Seems like you might have been given some poor advice by a fish store perhaps? If you can't get a larger tank, then you really need to consider returning the current stock and looking for smaller species that can work in your size tank and with your water. We can give you stocking advice if you're open to that, but there will always be problems with fish like serpae kept in the wrong school number in too small a tank. They're likely to terrorise the cories.
Yeah, we are planning on getting a bigger tank soon, we just moved so I am waiting til everything is settled. Right now we have 4 of each and that’s it, bc I didn’t want to overcrowd the tank! I have had them since May and they have been happy and not nippy, this is sudden, but I was also on vacation for a week and had someone come
Once a day to feed them, they probably ate less and became that way? Not really
Sure, but I was going to keep them in smaller schools until I got a bigger tank, but I think I’m lucky that the ones I have seem to coexist well :)
I am good with the water changes etc but I do want
 

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