My 1 inch black skirt tetra appears to have fin rot. His anal and dorsal fins have tears in them, and his caudal fin, which is normally crystal clear, is now more of a foggy clear. He is a little over 2 years old. I have a few questions.
First, what product is best to treat this? I am currently in the (6-day) process of using "imagitarium bacterial infection remedy" because that is the only product my pet store had with "fin rot" on the label and I wanted to treat this ASAP, but would buy a different product online to use after this treatment is done (and a 25% water change).
Second, I am not sure if I should quarantine him. He is a VERY fast swimmer, and when we moved houses about 18 months ago, he was the most difficult to transport. I am concerned that my attempt to scoop him will be too stressful. I have read online that fin rot is "highly contagious" but this source did not appear to be reliable. I am unsure if it was caused by nipping. If it is contagious, is it always contagious?
Third, I am curious if this could be caused by the food we are giving them. We always fed them this one particular flake food (forget the name but it had a blue cap if that helps), but recently changed to Omega One brand. I do not want to blame the food, but this is the only new thing our tank has encountered in the past 2 months. We will sometimes feed them blood worms or algae pellets.
For your information, we have a 36 gallon tank that has been set up for about one year. We normally do a 10% water change + vacuum gravel once a week, but did a 20% water change after noticing the illness and prior to adding the above product. The newest fish was added over 2 months ago and is a small pleco, under 2 inches, not sure of the exact species. The other fish include one small angelfish, 3 glass catfish, and who I think is the nipping perpetrator: an African leaf fish (yes I am sure it is an African Leaf fish and NOT a leopard bush fish). I used several sources to ensure these fish were compatible and received an overwhelming yes... at the time. We have not added any new decor in quite some time. For now we are keeping the tank light off.
I know tetras are $4 but this was my first fish and I am willing to spend a reasonable amount to get him better and to prevent his tankmates from becoming ill.
First, what product is best to treat this? I am currently in the (6-day) process of using "imagitarium bacterial infection remedy" because that is the only product my pet store had with "fin rot" on the label and I wanted to treat this ASAP, but would buy a different product online to use after this treatment is done (and a 25% water change).
Second, I am not sure if I should quarantine him. He is a VERY fast swimmer, and when we moved houses about 18 months ago, he was the most difficult to transport. I am concerned that my attempt to scoop him will be too stressful. I have read online that fin rot is "highly contagious" but this source did not appear to be reliable. I am unsure if it was caused by nipping. If it is contagious, is it always contagious?
Third, I am curious if this could be caused by the food we are giving them. We always fed them this one particular flake food (forget the name but it had a blue cap if that helps), but recently changed to Omega One brand. I do not want to blame the food, but this is the only new thing our tank has encountered in the past 2 months. We will sometimes feed them blood worms or algae pellets.
For your information, we have a 36 gallon tank that has been set up for about one year. We normally do a 10% water change + vacuum gravel once a week, but did a 20% water change after noticing the illness and prior to adding the above product. The newest fish was added over 2 months ago and is a small pleco, under 2 inches, not sure of the exact species. The other fish include one small angelfish, 3 glass catfish, and who I think is the nipping perpetrator: an African leaf fish (yes I am sure it is an African Leaf fish and NOT a leopard bush fish). I used several sources to ensure these fish were compatible and received an overwhelming yes... at the time. We have not added any new decor in quite some time. For now we are keeping the tank light off.
I know tetras are $4 but this was my first fish and I am willing to spend a reasonable amount to get him better and to prevent his tankmates from becoming ill.
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