Could it be something other than fin rot?

[pwrflpills]

I just got home from work and noticed that one of my Panda cories has completely lost his tail fin and has what looks like a "shark bite" out of his dorsal fin. The tail fin looks like it was sheared off with a razor. Otherwise, he looks fine!

So, I haven't thoroughly inspected their physical condition in quite a few days and I haven't had a fish with fin rot in ages. I also haven't added any new fish. Now, I 'll answer the questions from the sticky.

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
-Panda Cory, approx 1 year old, is completely missing his dorsal like someone cut it off and has a crescent shape area missing from dorsal fin.

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
-ammonia 0ppm, nitrites 0ppm, nitrates 10ppm, temp 80F, pH 7-7.2,

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
-20 gallons, about one year

4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
-generic Top Fin filter that came with 20gal starter kit, no idea gph

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
-4 panda cories (2 1yr, 2 8mths), 3 female black mollies full size, 4 white cloud minnows full size, 1 oto full size, 1 ghost shrimp

6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
-3 weeks ago did complete substrate change to eco-complete. That is last water change and I realize I need to do one tonight. I usually do every 4 weeks at about 40%.

7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
-had fish for about 2 months

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
-new eco-complete substrate and 2 anubias barteri about 3 weeks ago

9A~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
-no changes. variety flake for mollies and white clouds. cories, shrip and oto get what falls to bottom plus shrimp pellets and Hikari sinking wafers.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Likely bacterial fin rot. Cories and most other bottom feeding fish are susceptible to it because they spend their time on the substrate, which holds alot of waste. I would try and QT the fish if possible, in a spare 5 gallon tank, and treat there.

Add in a bit of Melafix to the water, per directions on the bottle, and do more frequent water changes. Once a month is a bit long, especially if you overfeed at all, and is likely why the fin rot occured/is occuring.

 

[pwrflpills]

Would a 5 gal bucket do the trick? It's new and clean. I just hate to buy a tank set up for one sick fish. Also, I have absolutely no room for it, so it's out of the question.

I feed a small amount of flakes to my mollies and white clouds twice a day. Do you think this is overfeeding? My nitrates are at 10 ppm, so I believed to not be too much. In fact, I think I need to add fish to keep the nitraes up for my plants (before plants my nitrates hovered around 40+ ppm)

I'll try to cut back on the feeding though. Good point about them being on the bottom with the waste, etc. And the eco-complete seems more like sand then gravel, so I doubt much is able to seep down into it.

 

[Kilgore]

Did you mention having a shrimp? I know many freshwater crayfish will happily try to eat their tankmates if they come within swiping distance. If that is the case, either remove the "shrimp"or remove the cories... they are not compatible. Since the crayfish will also go after other fish, I suggest that it should be removed to another tank.

The good news is that a clean cut like that should be reparable - just treat the tank with Melafix to ward off a bacterial infection (just like you would treat a human cut).

Good luck!

 

[pwrflpills]

I know many freshwater crayfish will happily try to eat their tankmates if they come within swiping distance.

No no no, it's a 1" (on a good day) ghost shrimp. He's no fish killer. The cory is about 5 times his size.

 

[pwrflpills]

UPDATE: I'm on day 6 of the Melafix treatment in the 5 gal bucket and the Cory is still alive.

New situation: The fin rot on the Cory was fairly extensive. His tail fin was basically gone when I started treatment. (It looked like it had been cut clean off.) At what point do I reintroduce him to the community tank after treatment?

I ask b/c I imagine it will take quite a while for the fin to re-grow. But I assume that after the full 7 day treatment, as the bottle recommends, that the infection is killed and he's ok and should be with his friends for a positive psychological boost.

So for now I plan on putting him back in my 20 gal by the end of the week. Please anyone tell me if I am making a mistake. This is the first real QT I've ever done.