Finrot in Gourami

[fishmonger]

I believe I have finrot on my dawrf gourami. About 45% of his tail is gone. He lives in a 10 gal with 2 giant danios( juvenile) , 1 tiger barb, and 1 oto. No one else has it. How can I treat this? If I use medication, should I remove the carbon? What other forms of treatment do you suggest? Ammonia is at 0. My ph is 8.4. I did a 25% water change today.

 

[Meredith]

I would take him out if you can and put him in a sperate qt to medicate. I just bought some Maracyn-two for my betta. Normally I would use Melafix, but I guess its not good for their labyrinth organs. How bad is the fin rot? What does it look like? If its not too bad, daily water changes will help a lot.

 

[fishmonger]

Well, his tail looks like it's getting eaten away. He eats fine. Doesn't seem sluggish. It really happened fast within a day or 2. Good to know not to use Melafix on him. Would a little salt help? Would salt hurt my other fish such as my oto?

 

[fishmonger]

I think I just found the cause of his finrot. I just saw the tiger barb attacking his tail. Is it possible he already had finrot and the barb is attacking him because he sees weakness? I was watching the tank all day yesterday and didn't see him attack him. I don't have another tank to seprerate them. It's real odd because they have been together for over 4 months without this type of fighting.

 

[Meredith]

Hmm, well they definitely need to be separated if another fish is attacking him. His poor little tail wont get the chance to heal if it keeps getting chewed off. If I remember correctly, corys don't do well with salt. If you could even pick up a little five gallon tank with a little heater and filter, I think it would do you a world of good.

 

[fishmonger]

Well I checked again and I believe it IS finrot. His top fin seems to be getting a little white as well. What can I do for finrot in a gourami?

 

[An t-iasg]

Like Meredith says, don't use Melafix, and if you can get a 5 gallon tank to isolate him, that would be best. At the very least, you could get a 2.5 gallon Minibow for a qt tank.You'll need a 25 watt heater, because temperature fluctuations will stress him, and you don't have to worry about any media in the filter -- you just need the filter for water movement, and you should be doing daily water changes in a qt tank anyway. A cheap sponge filter or Whisper internal filter would work. I run my Whisper internal filter empty of media in my qt tank.

Some meds I have had success with for finrot are Maracyn 2, Jungle Fungus Eliminator, Triple Sulfa, and Kanaplex/Kanamycin. Follow the directions for the length of treatment, and if necessary, you can give a second round of treatment.

 

[fishmonger]

Can I just use one of the medications mentioned in my 10 gal? Would it hurt the other fish?

 

[fishmonger]

Well, I put the dwarf gourami in a small 1 gal container to treat him since he started getting picked on by the barb. I treated it with applus anti-fungus. Is this okay? Please help. I don't have a filter for it. Temperature in my house stays about 75 since I live in FL.

 

[RoK]

Tiger barbs are known for being very nippy. If possible, you really should give it away, it would be much happier in a bigger tank and a group of at least 5 tiger barbs. It could be just the barb that caused this to the gourami's tail.

 

[fishmonger]

No I don't think so, because the dwarf gourami would always chase the tiger barb. The tiger barb wouldn't touch him. I saw some white on the tail and the top fin before it started disentegrating, but I guess the tiger barb does sense weakness. I did have 3 of them on there, but I learned my lesson that you need at least 5. He killed the other 2. I don't know of anyone who take him.

 

[ace1uno_00]

MelaFix Works really good on fin rot.

 

[Guest]

Tiger barbs nip fins