Help! Fin Rot And Costia!

[Cramer719]

Please help me. I have been fighting off Costia in my tank for about 3 days now. It seemed to be clearing up ok until now they have a very aggressive fin rot. I have no idea what to do at this point. I was told you shouldn't combine medications. Please help me. Also I am new to the forum so hello.

 

[WILDER]

How bad is the finrot as sometimes parasite medications help?
 
Did the finrot happen with the Costia as external parasites can also cause finrot.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

 Hope this helps:

 Costia
   Symptoms: Milky cloudiness on skin.
 
   This is a rare protozoan disease that causes a cloudiness of the skin. The best treatment is with copper at 0.2 mg per liter (0.2 ppm) to be repeated once in a few days if necessary. Acriflavine (trypaflavine) may be used instead at 0.2% solution (1 ml per liter). As acriflavine can possibly sterilize fish and copper can lead to poisoning, the water should be gradually changed after a cure has been effected.
     Raising the water temperature to 80° - 83° F for a few days has also been effective.

from http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Costia
 

Tail Rot & Fin Rot
    Symptoms: Disintegrating fins that may be reduced to stumps, exposed fin rays, blood on edges of fins, reddened areas at base of fins, skin ulcers with gray or red margins, cloudy eyes.
 
     Tail and fin rot appears to be a bacterial infection of the tail and/or fins and may be caused by generally poor conditions, bully, or fin nipping tankmates. If aquarium conditions are not good an infection can be caused from a simple injury to the fins/tail. Tuberculosis can lead to tail and fin rot. Basically, the tail and/or fins become frayed or lose color. Over time the affected area slowly breaks down.
     First, attempt to ascertain the cause. Then treat accordingly. Also, treat the water or fish with antibiotics. If added to the water, use 20 - 30 mg per liter. If the fish is to be treated add an antibiotic to the food. With flake food, use about 1% of antibiotic and carefully mix it in. If you keep the fish hungry they should eagerly eat the mixture before the antibiotic dissipates. Antibiotics usually come in 250 mg capsules. If added to 25 grams of flake food, one capsule should be enough to treat dozens of fish. A good antibiotic is chloromycetin (chloramphenicol) or tetracycline. If you feed your fish frozen foods or chopped foods, try to use the same ratio with mixing. As a last resort add at most 10 mg per liter of water. Also, if unkempt conditions are the suspected cause, correct it.

from http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#TailRotFinRot
 

Common Name: Bacterial Fin Rot
Pathogen/Cause: Various organisms (nonspecific)
Physical Signs: Shredded-looking and tattered fins decreasing in length, sometimes infected down to the pedicle.
Behavioral Signs: Increasing difficulty swimming, behavioral signs depend on whether other secondary infections present.
Potential Treatment: Broad spectrum antibiotics.
Other Notes: Frequent water changes a must to improve quality. Test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates.

from http/badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.html#Finrot

 

[Cramer719]

Well 2 have died now. I can't seem to stop the fin rot. A third one has almost no tail left. I also have the last 2 just hanging around at the top of the tank. Breathing hard. No fin rot, no Costia symptoms other than hard breathing.

I have checked my water every day. I have treated with API's ick medication. And now treating with malafix. I have no idea what else to do.

 

[Cramer719]

The fin rot happened after Costia. So now that's all I'm fighting, I think. The two that have nice full fins are still struggling to breath at the top so I don't know what's going on

 

[WILDER]

Poor things. R.I.P.
What are your water stats please in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph?
 
Once finrot take hold and they lose quite a bit of there tail they usually don't make it.
The heavy breathing a worry. Has the parasites completely  gone. Unless they  parasite damaged the gills.
Do the gills look inflamed?
or have any slime on them?
Or look swollen?
 
Melafix is useless is only antiseptic medication.
Also not all fish tolerate it to well. If you have sensitive fish you should only half dose.

 

[Cramer719]

Ok so after some reading, I think this stuff might actually be velvet. It would also explain why they have a dusty appearance. And the troubles breathing. I have 2 healthy looking Rams that are acting really sluggish and having trouble breathing. You can only notice the dusty look on the blue ram but I can assume the gold one has it too. How do I treat for velvet if this is the case?

Ammonia: .25 as of right now
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: ~ 10
pH: 7.6
Temp: 78

 

[Cramer719]

No slime but they look Dusty. And the stripes are fading. They are struggling to breath at the top of the tank. Some of my barbs are getting a dusty or dirty look to them as well. So I should probably act fast. Any help would be great.

 

[WILDER]

Velvet is harder to get rid of than Whitespot. Also it can take longer.
You treat it the same as Whitespot, or Ich.
 
Has the ammonia risen because of using medications and caused an ammonia spike?
 
This is a very good link to Velvet.
http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/oodinium

 

[Cramer719]

Went to the fish store and had them check water and look at pictures of the fish. They said they believe it's velvet but my water is ok. I have taken the plants out of my tank and put them in a bucket. I have my snails in it too. I'm going to be using rid ick plus to get rid of the nasty. So I guess we will see how it works. Ammonia has not spiked.

 

[WILDER]

Fingers crossed.
Good Luck.