Pinhole and deteriorating tail fins

[Koikid88]

In an established 20g long, there's 3 little guys I took over care from my nieces tank.
2 Sunset guppies
1 Calico Platy Variatus I believe

They've been in there for about 4-5 months now, no problems, always healthy.

Around last month, I noticed a tiny pin hole dot in the platys tail fin. I watched it very close over the next 2 weeks, kind of looked like it happened from a flaring rip, because of where it was. It stayed exactly the same, so I said whatever, i'll just keep the water clean, as usual.

Now the past week, the 2 guppies, especially the 1, both have ragged looking fins. The bad 1 has lost it's spade shape, just looked torn all over, slightly white edging. Classic signs of fin rot, no?

So I'm at the end of an antibacterial treatment (Melafix), dosed 3/4 strength, and the fin decay has been slowly worsening. Pinhole unaffected (I read the only way to fix these is to slit the fin, and let it heal). The one with the worse fin is also pretty white in the mornings, and takes longer to 'wake up'.
I just successfully finished treatment for fin rot in another tank, that's currently fish-in cycling, so the ammonia and stress levels were elevated for that fish.

This tank has been steady at
Ph 7.8
Amm 0 (Never been above 0.05)
Nitrites 0
Nitrates <10

What should I look in to? Like I said, I took over caring for them, so not all too attached to them. Just an animal person like helping out when I can

 

[Koikid88]

You can kind of see if the pics, lame photo skills. Dirty glass from recent pwc too lol

 

[jlk]

It def sounds like fin rot. I would suggest a course of antibiotics but i am not sure of what you have access to in Toronto.

 

[Koikid88]

The melafix was a tea tree extract, recommended for fin & tail rot, cloudy eye, pop eye, body slime, mouth fungus, red sores, and body wounds. Which obviously wasn't doing any good:S.

Try something specifically designed for tail rot?

 

[jlk]

I am familiar with melafix but i am not a fan of it. Most of the ailments you listed require true medications in order to treat correctly (ie pop eye, fungus, red sores). Healthy water goes a long way in treating most minor problems. If the fin rot is deteriorating, a course of kanamycin (kanaplex) or minocycline (maracyn 2) both of which are gram-negative antibiotics along with a theraputic dose of aq salt (1tablespn per 10gal) should help to arrest the infection & allow their fins to heal. Hope this helps!

 

[Koikid88]

Awesome. I'll keep that in mind, and also look up the canadian equivalent is they aren't sold here. Heading to lfs tomorrow for a few things. Thanks

 

[Koikid88]

Heading to lfs today to look for that stuff. Was just wondering,
should I transfer the platy and guppies to QT for treatment?
Seeing as they are in with kuhli loaches and glass catfish, both of whom are sensitive to meds and salt.
Or do you think a lighter dosage would be sufficient?

 

[jlk]

If you have a qt, this would be alot easier than dosing your entire tank! Fin rot isnt contagious, so treating the whole tank really isnt necessary. Just make sure you keep the water in the qt as healthy as possible. Meds are pointless if the water quality is poor. Good luck & keep us posted!