Possible fin rot?

[jcub264]

I have been experiencing some problems with my fish for awhile now. I started with 6 albino corys and im down to 4 now and will probably loose them too. They seem to bee losing all of the fins as if they were rotting away. I treated my tank with melafix for two weeks and nothing seemed to change. All of my parameters are normal. I have a pH of 8.2 and do weekly water changes and gravel vac. The only tank mates in there are Harlequin rasboras(4) an oto and some apple snails. Maybe its a diet issue? I feed them shrimp pellets, algae wafers and bottom feeder tablets. And i started noticing that my Rasboras are losing a little bit of the tail web. Does anyone know whats going on? Ideas? It would be much appreciated.

 

[jlk]

Hi! What is 'normal' for your parameters? One person's definition varies greatly from another's. What size tank? How long has it been running with fish? When was the last time you added a new fish/was it quarantined? Some more information will help!

 

[molliwopp]

Im going to go out on a limb here and say it's your water, especially as you've treated melafix. How much water are you changing and like jlk said what are normal parameters? If you don't have a water testing kit you really should get one, i would do a 50% water change if you have no way of testing tank water at the moment.

 

[jcub264]

Thanks for the reply's! For me normal param would be 8.2 pH 0 ammo 0 nitrites 15-25 nitrates. Avg temp is 80. It's a 20 gal tank and has been running since the end of May of this year. The last fish i bought was back in September. I'm almost sure they weren't quarantined before i bought them, i simply do not have the room for a quarantine tank (still live with my parents) I do 10% water changes every other week and 30% in between them, and I do a 50% once a month. I do have an API Freshwater Master and a kH and gH as well. When i do my w/c I aerate the water for 24 ours with a pump and then use prime before adding it into my tank. It's just sad after finally cycling the tank to see them go like that. But what I've read its part of the hobby to go through this phase so I'm trying not to let it get to me. For gravel vacs do i dig all the way down or just get halfway? Maybe my problem is there?

 

[molliwopp]

Super high nitrates have be known to erode away fin, especially cories but seeing as you have 10-20ppm It wont or shouldnt be that. im stumped. do you have anything else in the tank that could be nipping them? If your results are what they say theyre i would treat them again, did you take the carbon out of your filter as this can remove medications?

as for gravel vacs, if its sand then taking it off the top is fine but gravel, dirt tents to penetrate deeper.

 

[jcub264]

Not that I can think of. Just the Rasboras but they really leave them alone. I took out the carbon and let it run for about 5 hours. And the symptoms didnt occur until a month or two for some of them so it's hard to say if they came with the disease. I was thinking about adding some non ionized/iodized salt to the tank. Do you think that would help at all?

 

[molliwopp]

no, corydora cannot tolerate salt very well at all, is it effecting their barbels?

If their fins are wasting away, in my mind its 1 of 2 things, Fin rot is my first assumption and the other is high nitrate in which case you need to up your water change routine. i would up the water change routine anyway as fin rot can be prevented (not treated) by clean water

 

[jcub264]

There barbels look okay they seem a little short. I'll probably just up my w/c then. Hopefully they make a turn around.

 

[jlk]

Although there appears to be nothing wrong with your parameters, I would suggest starting by getting on a more regular water change schedule. Changing 10% one week, 30% another, 10% here, 50% there is a bit all over the place. There are numerous things we do not test for in fw tanks and its possible that the swings in levels such as mineral content or dissolved organics are sufficient to cause some stress in your cories and result in health issues. Consider sticking to a more consistent wcs weekly or bi-weekly so the levels swing less drastically overall.

Considering the severity of the fin rot as well as the demise of some fish as the result, I honestly would place more gravity on the situation here before there is further fish loss. I would treat them with kanamycin (also sold as Kanaplex by Seachem) for 7-10 days and reduce the temperature into the low 70's during treatment. A good wc schedule will be necessary as well. They honestly need a good antibiotic at this point to try and arrest the infection. Please ask any questions!

 

[jcub264]

So you're saying be more consistent with the amount of the water I'm changing? It'll be hard to cool it down consistently to the low 70's. I live in the desert with the windows open right now so hopefully it will cool down in the next week or so. I'll definitely try and use the antibiotic you suggested.

Thanks for being so helpful. I asked my lps and he said just flush them because they came from a corporate store. I think he just wants me to go through him only or something.

 

[jlk]

So you're saying be more consistent with the amount of the water I'm changing? It'll be hard to cool it down consistently to the low 70's. I live in the desert with the windows open right now so hopefully it will cool down in the next week or so. I'll definitely try and use the antibiotic you suggested.

Thanks for being so helpful. I asked my lps and he said just flush them because they came from a corporate store. I think he just wants me to go through him only or something.

No problem! That's completely understandable as we only can do so much about the weather where we live. If it does cool off to some degree, run your tank temps a bit lower as this will help slow bacterial growth (fin rot is a bacterial infection).

Nothing wrong with lots of wcs and I am firm believer in them for most situations but, yes, I would try to be a bit more consistent. If your going to change 30% or 50%, change the same amount at every change unless theres a reason to larger changes (such as a toxin spike). As I mentioned, your numbers look fine but perhaps theres something that's not being tested for that's jumping around a lot from all the different wc amounts.

I would not give up on your fish yet! Flushing a fish is an awful (and unethical) thing for any store to even suggest to a customer. Euthanasia is an option to consider in the event they can not recover or are suffering unduly but there are humane methods for doing this.

 

[jcub264]

I just ordered it today and hopefully I can get it before they get worse. My plan will change 30% water every other day until i get the medicine. So should i keep the carbon out the entire time when treating? Or just let it run a couple of hours and then put it back in?

 

[molliwopp]

Keep it out completely until treatment is finished. You can run tanks without carbon what so ever and alot of people, me included only add it after medicating. Also Carbon is only active 1-2months and after that it loses its effectiveness to filter chemicals. How long has it been in the filter?

 

[jcub264]

Okay sounds good! I changed it last weekend. It was in there for a little over a month since the time before that.

 

[jcub264]

Okay i just got it today and did a water change, and will dose my tank after posting this. I read the directions and know the proper amount to add. My last question would be, do i do a water change at anytime during treatment?

 

[jlk]

Did you get Kanaplex or another form of kanamycin? I would do a decent wc prior to redosing and make sure you keep an eye on your parameters. Treat for atleast 7 days then let's reassess everyone's condition.

 

[jcub264]

It was kanaplex. I found a good deal on ebay! I did a 50% w/c before dosing. I put the carbond filters in a bag before the actual dose. So my understanding would be do around 50% w/c before my next dose and repeat each day till day 7 and see if there's an improvement?

@jlk luckily were getting a cold front here so hopefully I can maintain the tank around 70-75 degrees!

 

[jlk]

Yep, keep us posted on how things are going! Hopefully, you are catching in this time to stop the infection before it spreads further. Good luck!

 

[jcub264]

Alrighty sounds good. Thanks for all the help. I will let you know how the lil guys are doing after treatment

 

[jcub264]

So after 7 days of treating my tank I'm not sure if the Kanamycin worked. I looked at the corys and i can't say they've improved. If anything it may have slowed it down. I noticed on one of my Rasboras that their tail had deteriorated since treating the tank. I'm kinda lost here. Should i continue treating the tank? Also i forgot to mention that I have 19dGH and 9dKH as well. We have extremely hard water here.