Fin rot

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NinaT

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Hi, new to this forum and new to fish keeping. Can you please tell me if this is fin rot?
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8FF139A7-9D9E-4C89-8E5A-EF76574740D0.jpeg
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

I don't know if it's fin rot or just damage caused by another fish. Salt and water changes should help.

If it gets worse, post more pictures and tell us what else is in the tank?

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WHAT TO DO NOW
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt 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, Bettas & 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, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

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.

When 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.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
 
Many MANY thanks for your detailed reply (and welcome 😊) we’ve done pretty much all of what you’ve suggested anyway but will continue to do so. Fish seem happy enough at the moment but can’t bring levels down. 🫤
 
If you have ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels, do big (75%) water changes each day and reduce feeding.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
 
If you have ammonia, nitrite or nitrate levels, do big (75%) water changes each day and reduce feeding.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
Colin, thank you. We’ve done several water changes and now seem to be at good levels 🥳
 
How does the fish look?
Does it still have the white bit on the tail?
 

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