How Many Fins?

[Bblou]

right.. now I am sure they werent there before, but I might be wrong...

some of my tetras main top fin (dorsal?? ) have orange tips. is this normal?
And right down by their tail is almost what looks like another mini fin.. on some this is orange and others sorta creamy white or more like their body colour.

and on others, there is nothing there.

I did a google image search on emperor tetra and some of those have this mysterious fin but I couldnt see any with orange on...

is this some kind of illness? or normal?

I am a worry wart.


they eat, they swim a lot, they even play a weird game with my filter lol

my last tank level test (fish in cycle due to bad knowledge prior to getting fish)

pH 7.8
Am 0 - .25
Nrite .75
Nrate 40

Also, my tap levels are higher than the levels in my tank presently so a water change to lower levels wont help.

I dechlorianted all water before it went in the tank and the only other thing thats gone in the water is a plant food which is apparently fish safe? maybe its not? But the lfs and bottle say its ok. its called nutrafin plant gro.

They dont look or act ill.

my betta who was in that tank longest doesnt seem very happy at the moment, with the help of the betta page I am trying to tell if hes ill or sulking.

help please!

 

[WILDER]

Your water stats are terrible.
How long has the tank been set up?
How many gallons is the tank.
How many fish and which type.
The orange tips don't sound like a desease.
Finrot caused by bad water quality.
White edging to fins or red edging to fins, red streaks in fins, translucent fins look cloudy, raggy fins.

 

[Bblou]

in that tank its 20g
10 emperor tetra, 5 fancy guppies and 2 dwarf gourami.

last nights test was pH 7.8, am 0, nitrite .50 and nitrate 40.

my tap stats are pH 8, am .25, nitrite 1 and nitrate 20.

The tank has been up under two weeks, i knew nothing about cycling or anything before I set it up.

if it was fin rot, wouldnt they all have it? from all being in the same conditions?

is the advice from the lfs wrong then? it isnt anything to do with male/female and being older?

the orange is on around 4 of the tetra and they are bigger than all the others.

EDIT

if it is fin rot, what do I do?

 

[WILDER]

Whats your location.
So you have ammonia and nitrite reading in your tap water.
All you can is water changes till your tank cycles.
Finrot won't heal to well in bad water quality.
I would ask in tropical discussion about your tap water to see what products they can suggest using.

 

[Bblou]

I am in barry, south wales.

I was advised not to do frequent water changes, just weekly ones, unless my levels rise over what my tap levels are, simply because my tank levels are lower than the tap at present.

Also it was suggested not to use products in my water as they arent very good. my tank is nearly cycled now I think. levels are getting lower and more stable now.vmaybe i am wrong though.

so fin rot just heals itself?

 

[Spishkey]

can i just quickly add i have a few emperor tetras and have recentl found out (i didnt notice at first) that three of mine have orange/yellow edging on their fins and the other one does not.
the three with the 'colours' on their fins are male, the other is female. is it possible it is just a feature on them that you may have missed at first?

if you also look at their tails, you should see a black stripe in them in the middle. in the males this extends longer than the 'clear' bit of the tail, in females it stays as long as the clear bit. have a look!

 

[Bblou]

I think thats what it is spish... but I hope I am right... dont want them to have fin rot!!