Fin rot again!

[Bbush]

I keep having issues with fin rot in my main tank. What should I do?

 

[Ozy]

Are all your fish in the main tank getting finrot or just a few? Most probably dirty water is stressing your fish out. Ive also noticed fish that are bullied will get this disease hence the question above. The best remedy is a water change and a gravel vac. Keep the water changes up - im talking daily or every second day until you see a noticible difference in your fish. If the water is super clean, and you keep it that way. Their fins will repair themselves quicker than you think. You may also medicate etc - i find nothing beats a few good water changes.

 

[Bbush]

My Bolivian ram has it really bad, and my hatchets have split fins which is how his started. My pentameters were fine except nitrates were high. I will try a few more water changes. How do I know when to medicate?

 

[Ozy]

I may be wrong about medications; I only use them when in absolute trouble. As in the fish are becoming very lethargic. You mentioned nitrates are high. This could be a major reason why the fish are sick. If your nitrates are consistently high over a long period of time, this would mean your tank and or filter is dirty. Your plants if any will lower nitrates, however if your nitrates build up quicker than the plants can eat them then there will be a problem. The build-up of nitrates is due to a build-up of fish waste and uneaten foods. There are bacteria that will eat nitrates though they don’t thrive in oxygen rich environments like most tanks. I would clean out my filter, clean areas of the tank I don’t usually get around to. Most importantly I find out why the tank was dirty and review my feeding/cleaning methods etc. If you find the problem – fix it, top it up with a few water changes you’ll be cracking a beer in no time.

 

[Bbush]

Thanks. I did a large water change and am now treating with triple sulfa.

 

[Bbush]

Lost my last (6) Cory.

 

[dragonfisher33]

how often do you do a water change and what is your tank stocking? fin rot is usually caused by stress+bad water quality. if you can keep the aggression in your tank under control and a routine water change, the fin rot issue wouldn't have risen in the first place. also good to know and keep track of your water parameters while you're at it. when you medicate the tank, make sure you take out the carbon filter in the fish tank otherwise your just throwing your medication away

 

[Bbush]

I have a 56 gallon column tank. One syno cat. 1 Plecostamus. 9 rummy nose. 1 ram. And 3 hatchets. My water is always the same. I think I'm dealing with columnaris / ick.

 

[Bbush]

Try to change about 25% weekly. Although last year not nearly that often. More recently.

 

[Ozy]

Do filter clean as well if you havnt already. I had a bad case long ago with fin rot and probably alot of other diseases. I kept cleaning the tank to no avail. I think at the time i had left my filter untouched for about 8months. So i used some tank water to clean out all the media. It solved my problem within a week.

 

[Bbush]

I have two filters, and I have cleaned them both. I am doing a 25% pwc tomorrow then a 2nd round of meds. I did neglect my tank for a bit last year and also added some new fish recently with no quarantine. Lesson learned... Again.

 

[Ozy]

I have two filters, and I have cleaned them both. I am doing a 25% pwc tomorrow then a 2nd round of meds. I did neglect my tank for a bit last year and also added some new fish recently with no quarantine. Lesson learned... Again.

Dont worry, hopefully everything will be ok soon.

 

[Bbush]

Seems to be better. Or at least not any worse. I am adding a bio wheel and power head to the mix. Plus larger - more frequent water changes. Discus soon as problem solved!

 

[Bbush]

Update: ram seems better. Plecostamus as well. Been doing about 18 gallon pwc daily. Fins not really any worse. Also adding stress zyme.

 

[Ozy]

That sounds fantastic, keep me updated!. I aquired 3 discus about 6 months ago - never had them b4. they really are a beautiful and challenging. Theres some great stuff on the net on how to keep them its a must read!

 

[Bbush]

Where did u get yours? And what must I read? Everything?

 

[Matt68005]

antibiotics to use

It seems you would rather not go the antibiotic route and that is fine. But the best medicine for columnists would be kancomycin sulfate (labelled kanaplex ) maracyn two is good also for softer water. The kanamycin is is for hard/brackish or salt water. An old but good one also is called oxytracycline hydrochloride and is usually cheap and mixed in feed. Get them @ Kensfish.com

 

[Bbush]

Water changes seemed to have stemmed the tide. Last daily change and will test water tomorrow. Also added a bio wheel and putting in a power head today!

 

[Ozy]

Water changes seemed to have stemmed the tide. Last daily change and will test water tomorrow. Also added a bio wheel and putting in a power head today!

I’ve never been able to get antibiotics for fish in Australia. As for discus, basically any professional article you can find. There are plenty of threads on this forum. There are different ways to look after them – and you will need to go the direction that best suits you. I went down the path of a planted discus tank. I used a mixture of natural soil, sphagnum moss, and laterite for the substrate. Plenty of driftwood and some rocks. In the filter I only use biological filtration. The water I use is normal tap water with a ph of 7. However I age the water with indian almond leaves for about 48hrs which brings its pH value to 6 the same as my tank. The rocks and a little crushed coral stabilises my gh and kh at 4 – this helps keep my tanks ph from dropping below 6. I do water changes every 2-3 days. The water changes are small about 20%. The temp of the tank is about 29degrees Celsius. Keep in my juvenile discus excrete a chemical that stops each other from growing. This is a mechanism used in the wild where in the dry seasons they are stuck in small streams and puddles that don’t contain enough food. So if you buy juveniles more frequent and larger water changes are needed for them grow. As I said they are challenging but very rewarding. There are other ways too simply research as much as you can.

 

[Bbush]

Wow! Interesting. Not sure I got all that, but I am still learning. So I'm guessing part of aging the water involves heating it?