Hi! I've currently got a sick fantail which I'm concerned about and I'm not sure how to exactly diagnose its condition.
Fish is about 2 years old, never had any health problems before. Tank is 50% cycled regularly and was done just before the initial onset of sickness. Tank also contains another fantail and 2 black moors, none of which seem ill. Never had water quality issues before - have used same setup and fish for a couple of years now.
Anyway, what happened is we came home from work one day and one of the fantails was acting very sluggish, lying in plants at the surface and gasping. Her previously very long and frilly tail was reduced to a bundle of long strands hanging behind her with all tissue between missing. It was such a fast and dramatic transformation we initially thought she must have been caught in the filter or something as it seemed it had to be physical injury, but we later discounted that. She also had some red spotting along the spine and some red veins showing in her tail.
I did some web research and spoke to guy at LFS and concluded Tail rot which had progressed to septecimia. Moved the ill fish to a quarantine tank with a salt content of about .75g/l and dosed with antibacterial and antifungal (Melafix and Pimafix). The rot seemed to halt, though she did lose the long strands a day later and now just has a stumpy little tail. Her vigor also returned and she swims freely.
Now my issue - a couple of days later and the edge of her truncated tail had developed a black crust looking edge. Looks for all the world like a scab on a wound so maybe its just part of the healing process but I'm really concerned about losing the fish and am wondering if the black crust is a bad sign.
Can someone please advise if this is a normal part of healing or a cause for concern? Also any advice on how I might improve caring for them would be greatfully accepted
Fish is about 2 years old, never had any health problems before. Tank is 50% cycled regularly and was done just before the initial onset of sickness. Tank also contains another fantail and 2 black moors, none of which seem ill. Never had water quality issues before - have used same setup and fish for a couple of years now.
Anyway, what happened is we came home from work one day and one of the fantails was acting very sluggish, lying in plants at the surface and gasping. Her previously very long and frilly tail was reduced to a bundle of long strands hanging behind her with all tissue between missing. It was such a fast and dramatic transformation we initially thought she must have been caught in the filter or something as it seemed it had to be physical injury, but we later discounted that. She also had some red spotting along the spine and some red veins showing in her tail.
I did some web research and spoke to guy at LFS and concluded Tail rot which had progressed to septecimia. Moved the ill fish to a quarantine tank with a salt content of about .75g/l and dosed with antibacterial and antifungal (Melafix and Pimafix). The rot seemed to halt, though she did lose the long strands a day later and now just has a stumpy little tail. Her vigor also returned and she swims freely.
Now my issue - a couple of days later and the edge of her truncated tail had developed a black crust looking edge. Looks for all the world like a scab on a wound so maybe its just part of the healing process but I'm really concerned about losing the fish and am wondering if the black crust is a bad sign.
Can someone please advise if this is a normal part of healing or a cause for concern? Also any advice on how I might improve caring for them would be greatfully accepted
