fin rot curing?

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Read this before posting!!

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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greenspottedlover
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fin rot curing?

Post by greenspottedlover »

Recently I had a couple of female swordtails. The female swordtails got fin rot and died. I tried using a medication and had no luck. What should I have done for future reference.
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JRC3
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Re: fin rot curing?

Post by JRC3 »

Lots and lots of questions to be answered. :P
There are many knowledgeable fish keepers on this forum willing to help and give great advice...The advice is free; What you choose to do with it gives it value.
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Re: fin rot curing?

Post by Pufferpunk »

Yes, fin rot is generally caused by poor water conditions but Melafix should be always on hand, just in case.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: fin rot curing?

Post by RTR »

The best protection against issues such as fin rot is high water quality, as PP said. For fish such as swordtails a good diet and somewhat alkaline/higher KH water will likely help as well.
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greenspottedlover
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Re: fin rot curing?

Post by greenspottedlover »

Pufferpunk wrote:Yes, fin rot is generally caused by poor water conditions but Melafix should be always on hand, just in case.
When I got home I noticed one had it. Then the other female got it. The male never got it neither did my mollies or puffer. I not sure of my water conditions though. I have a ammonia reader in tank. I still need to get a master test kit, though the danger seems past. What test kit is best for a brackish setup?
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Re: fin rot curing?

Post by Pufferpunk »

FW kit is fine. How often & how much water do you change?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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Re: fin rot curing?

Post by greenspottedlover »

I do one at least once a week usually 20/30% and every few weeks 50%.
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