Fin rot and why??

[mkm1174]

Not sure if this is fin rot… someone in another post mentioned it may look like something took a bite out of it? How can I fix or help this?

One other fish has a similar looking fin. There is some chasing which I thought was courting mostly… but the guy in the picture does the majority of chasing besides the other 2 male black phantoms.

What could the cause be? Is this overstocked and causing stress? Water levels are mainly good, I have been dealing with nitrite levels and doing 30% water changes every 1/2 days while using prime and stability.

20g tank
4 red phantom tetras
2 yellow phantom tetras
8 black phantom tetras
4 Otto’s

Thanks for any advice or tips!

 

[Andy Sager]

The answer will lie in the ratio of males to females. If you have 3 male Black phantoms and only have 5 females Black Phantoms, the males are fighting each other over the females. You really should have a ratio of 4 or 5 females to 1 male to help keep the peace. Unfortunately, to have 3 males, you would need 12-15 females and your tank isn't large enough for that many fish. I would suggest removing 2 of the males and letting the one male be with the females you have.
The big concern is you having nitrites. That means your tank isn't cycled or if it was, the bacteria bed has been compromised and it needs to cycle again. With that being the case, you may need to do larger volume water changes to keep the nitrites as low as possible ( under .5 ppm ) or else it will damage the fish internally if left too long. Keep in mind that PRIME has a rather limited lifespan in the tank of 24-48 hours so while it's good for doing things like adding for water changes, it's not the best method to control water parameters. Daily water changes may be necessary based on test results. Unfortunately, Stability has a poor track record to my understanding and you are better off getting some used filter material from an established tank rather than using the product. That will have the 2 different microbes necessary to cycle the tank. If you are having issues keeping the nitrites down to under .5 ppm over 24 hours, you need to change water to dilute it and not using chemicals to convert it. Your fish load is a bit high so it will take some time for the bacteria bed to grow large enough to handle the load if you have to do daily water changes. You will need to have patience during this period.
Hope this helps.

 

[mkm1174]

Thank you for your reply!!
I know for sure I have 2 male black phantoms but I’m not sure for the others.. it’s harder to tell on the red phantoms. Any tips?
The nitrites have been going down and are now below .5 but still doing water changes, I will do start doing bigger ones until it’s at 0. My other tank is perfect levels, what exactly is filter media and what parts of my cycled tank would I transfer over?

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank you for your reply!!
I know for sure I have 2 male black phantoms but I’m not sure for the others.. it’s harder to tell on the red phantoms. Any tips?
The nitrites have been going down and are now below .5 but still doing water changes, I will do start doing bigger ones until it’s at 0. My other tank is perfect levels, what exactly is filter media and what parts of my cycled tank would I transfer over?

If you are using a HOB filter ( hang on back), the media that you have in the filter ( i.e. floss, cartridge, pads) is what you can transfer. If it's floss or pads, you can take a small section of it ( maybe 20%-25%) and transfer that into this filter. If it's a cartridge, I'd just rinse the cartridge off in the 20 to let anything on the outside establish itself in the 20. If you are using a sponge type filter, take the sponge and squeeze it out a few times in the 20. This method is called " seeding" a tank and the cycling process will go faster because the microbes you want will be in these things. Once they are there, they reproduce rather quickly as long as there is food ( ammonia, nitrite) for them to consume. Be aware however that their numbers rise and fall all based on the amount of food that is available for them. So for right now, you have 18 fish in the tank. If you removed 8 of the fish, the microbe level ( a.k.a. The biological filter bed) will shrink as the food supply diminishes. That means that if you add back those 8 fish in a couple of months, your bed will need to grow again which means there may be a spike in the ammonia. Depending on how long it takes the bed to grow, that ammonia spike may damage the new fish as well as the old fish. So these are things you need to keep in mind.
Lastly, if you are removing some media from the established tank, you do not want to add any fish or overfeed for at least the first week while the microbes reproduce to make up for the ones you transferred.

As for sexing the fish, Male Phantoms will usually have a larger dorsal fin ( the one on top ) and be a brighter color. They are also usually larger than the females and thinner than the females when the females are mature enough to be carrying eggs. It's easier to tell on the Black Phantoms because the males get really black but with the reds, it's sometimes easier to tell by looking down on the fish from above. The roundness of the females becomes much more obvious from that view.

 

[mkm1174]

Great, I used my sponge from the established 10g filter and squeezed that in my 20, after a big water change See how that does!

I do think I should maybe take a male or 2 out, keep the peace more… I will keep an eye on them but if I decide to remove them, do pet stores usually take them back or will I have to begin another tank? my husband will kill me lol

 

[Andy Sager]

Great, I used my sponge from the established 10g filter and squeezed that in my 20, after a big water change See how that does!

I do think I should maybe take a male or 2 out, keep the peace more… I will keep an eye on them but if I decide to remove them, do pet stores usually take them back or will I have to begin another tank? my husband will kill me lol

Depends on your stores. In the States here, most don't but some Mom & Pop shops do.