ragged fins on black skirt tetra

[Pam is here]

Is.this fin rot? If yes can I use salt baths on tetra or use maracide? Thanks

 

[Rivercats]

Just doing frequent WC's will help the fins to repair quicker but I don't use salt in my tanks so can't comment. If your tank is planted and/or depending on what species of fish you have will determine if you can use salt and how much you should use, that much I can tell you.

 

[Cynic]

Do you have more than one? Black Skirts are notorious nippers and would be the likely cause rather than fin rot.

 

[vanimal]

Do you have more than one? Black Skirts are notorious nippers and would be the likely cause rather than fin rot.

Yeah my sister has 2 and they nip eachothers fins.

 

[Rivercats]

I love the longfin white skirt tetras and never had nipping problems, even kept them with angels but then again I always kept at least 6. I have noticed over the years that my longfinned ones seemed to be less nippy than regular skirts tho.

 

[Pam is here]

Yes I have 2 of them. The one with half it's fin missing is 2-2 1/2" long and the other one has perfect fins and it's about 1-1 1/2" long. I never see the little one doing anything. I also have silver dollars with messes up top fins also. 1 placo and a clown loach and a snail in that tank. I would be shocked to find out it's the little guy in the tank.

 

[Rivercats]

I wouldn't be surprized if it's the silver dollars. I kept them once, notice once, and had alot of problems with mine being aggressive once they got bigger.

 

[Pam is here]

Mine are very layed back. I have had them for a long time and they have never showed any aggression at all.

 

[Rivercats]

Mine are very layed back. I have had them for a long time and they have never showed any aggression at all.

You know it just goes to show you that all people have different expierences with the same type of fish. Just because it doesn't work for one doesn't mean it won't work for the best. I'm glad you've got nice ones!

 

[Pam is here]

Well I put 2 red eyed tetra with 1 small black skirt tetra, the small black skirt had untouched fins before I put him in after moving the red eye tetra. Within 24 hours the black skirt was all ripped up. So it ended up being the red eye tetra. Nasty little buggers. So I now put them with my rainbow albino shark. Let's hope this works.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

What your experiencing is aggregation due to insecurity. Your schooling fish are feeling exposed. Its in their nature to feel safe in larger groups of their own kind.

 

[Rivercats]

The one thing with fish like red-eyed tetras is they need to be in schools of 6 or more so aggression stays within the school... mostly. The black skirt also needs to be in a school. Proper numbers of these fish will go a long way in keeping aggression down to a minimum.

 

[Pam is here]

Thanks so much for your help. They are in with my albino shark and so far so good.