Hey Everybody

silverfish101

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Hello everybody. I am new to the forum, and relatively new to fishkeeping. I have a 10 gallon tank, not currently in use as I am doing a little remodeling. I also have a 29 gallon tank that I purchased sometime last year. Things have been going smoothly until recently. After my weekly water change (about 15-20%), several of my green fire tetras became infected with what I suspect was fin rot and died withing the next couple of days. Their fins had ragged, white edges to them, and were a little torn-looking. However, the only other fish in the tank that appear to have been seriously affected are two of my rummy nosed tetras and one of my otocinclus. My water parameters have not changed since the tank has been running, a little over a year. No ammonia, pH about 6.0, hardess about 300ppm. There are about 25 small tetras (rummies, neons, green fires), 2 small cories and 1 big one, and 2 big otos and small one. I know this is pretty hard for tetras, but it has been like this for a long time. So, my questions are: Is this fin rot? And if so, how should I go about treating it?

Sorry this was a little wordy. Any advice you have, I would appreciate.
Thanks,
Silverfish101
 
Hi everybody. The last of my green fires died today, so if any of you could help me out here, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
SIlverfish101
 
Fin rot is usually caused by poor water conditions, what are your nitrIte and nitrAte levels? It must have got pretty bad for those tetras to die though, did you not see it before it got so bad?

Do any other fish look as if they may also have fin rot? Likeliness is that if one fish has it due to poor water, others will have it too. It is quite contagious.

As for treatment, I would start by testing your nitrItes and nitrAtes. If they are poor, you probably have the cause for your issue. You should start by setting these right by large water changes. If the tank is cycled, you shouldn't have any NitrItes, though. If nitrAtes are very high, you may want to do several almost full water changes to get it as close to 0 as possible. Note, it will be very difficult to get it below your tap water reading if you use tapwater for your water changes.

You'll want to add some antibiotic medication for the fin rot if it is indeed that.

If you aren't 100% sure whether or not it's fin rot, pics may help if you have any.
Read up on the web about different fish diseases and see if any others seem to fit.
 
Pablothebetta:
Thank you for responding. My nitirite levels are 0, and my nitrate is between 0 and 20 ppm. I did not see any symtoms until the first fish died, which surprised me. One day, everything looked fine, the next they had what appeared to be fin rot. I only have three fish that appear to have what the green fires had. Two of my rummy nosed tetras have similar symptoms, but not nearly to the extent that the green fires had. Also, one of my three otocinclus has a tiny amount of fin rot(?) on its dorsal fin. Also, I forgot to mention that the green fires were swimming very weekly and feebly. Not one of my other fish is swimming any differently or showing any odd behavior. I do use tap water, but I condition it with Stress Coat water conditioner. I have two medications standing by, Pimafix and Melafix, made by API. Would either of these be something I should use?

Thanks,
Silverfish101
 

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