Split Tail Fins

[Steph P]

Hi Guys,

I just need a bit of advice really. I have a couple of fish that have split tail fins I have had my tank for about 3 months now and haven’t had a problem but we did get some new fish on Saturday. The water levels are all fine and I have been doing weekly 15% water changes and 25% once a week, the tank has been stable for quite a while now.

We have 6 phantom tetra, 3 platies and 4 guppies, we got 2 phantom tetra and 3 guppies on Saturday. We had to get 2 female tetra because our LFS gave us three mails and one female first time round in error!

One of the new guppies has a split in his beautiful tail and one of the phantom tetra also has a split right in the middle of his tail he however also has a slightly ragid dorsal fin (I think that’s the right terminology ). We have three mails and three females and I think the boys have been sparing and he has come off a bit worse for wear. I was advised that it was ok to have multiple males as long as you have an equal quantity of females but now im a bit worried that’s not the case.

Any advice on the split tails and on the mail to female ratio of the phantom tetra would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Steph

 

[Steph P]

No one got any ideas?

 

[alihar]

Is there any white around rhe edges of the split tails/fins?
Split tails could be from aggression.
Guppies regularly get split tails from showing off to one another.
Usually good water quality and tank maintenance is all that's needed to repair split fins.
If you find any signs of White around the edges then you may need to treat with a fungus/finrot anti bacterial such as esha2000 or myxazin.

As for the male to female ratio on the phantom tetra I wouldn't know for sure as I have never kept them.
I keep emperor tetra and had aggression between the males so I took them back and went for one male to five female and now have no problems at all.
Alison

 

[Steph P]

Hi,

Thanks for the help, there is no white and the guppy tails seems to look better already!

Ill do a bit more research on the tetra and see what I find.

Thanks again

Steph

 

[onidrase]

With black phantom tetras, I've read that you should keep 2 females for every male, not 1. Split fins can also be caused from plastic plants or other sharp aquarium decorations, so don't rule that out.

You can either go buy 3 more females to get a higher female to male ratio, or you can bring one of your males back.

Or keep it as it is, I've never kept black phantoms before, but with any of my tetras and barbs battling with each other, it never really leads to any of them being hurt.