hootie3

Hello all...great site ..maybe you can help..My parameters are all stable and where they should be. My problem is my fish are losing their fins and have been for the last 6 months..they are still alive and doing good...but the fins on my angel are completely gone,, he looks like a silver dollar. I also have a Tiger barb that has all his fins. 2 gourami's that have been starting to lose their back fins. It's an 85 gal FW/plants. I used to have salt water but went back to fresh. The substrate is white silica sand ( I thought it was the root of my problem but I was told it probably was'nt .) I like the way the sand looks and I have used it in the past without any problems. I have 2 filters ... magnum 360 and the new model magnum c360 .. both canisters. I probaly dont change the medium in the filters enough ...about every 6 weeks. I have been getting a bright green algae on the sand only and normal algae growth on the rocks and glass . I wish now that I would have gone with the standard gravel and if you advise me to do so I probably will tear down and start over. oh well that's my problem and any advice will be helpful...so thank you in advance and I am glad I found this site.

joy1125

hmmm, your tiger barb has all his fins, yet the others are losing theirs.
I think that's your probnlem, or contributing to it. Tiger barbs are notorious fin nippers !

edited to ask> Do you only have the one tiger barb? If so, that is also the problem. He needs to be in a group.

jdhef

Welcome to FishLore!

Tiger Barbs are well known for being fin nippers, so it wouldn't surprize me if that's what happened to your Angelfish and Gourami's fins. especially since your Tiger Barb has all of his fins. Generally keeping Tiger Barbs in schools of at least 5 is supposed to help cut down on their fin nipping.

Good Luck

AlyeskaGirl

Sounds like a case of fin rot. Probly from fin-nipping. It can be difficult to get rid of, IMO. It's a common thing for Anglefish because of their long fins. They say keeping them in an established tank with good routine maint. helps but I don't think so. I have good water parameters too....0, 0, and 5-10, and yet I can't get rid of it. yes, I am having the same problem. I even turned the temp up to 80-82. Thinking the water wasn't warm enough for them because I read that keeping them at 80-82 is good for their immune system, which they grow faster, have a shorter lifespan, cooler temp lowers the immune system (not good) but they grow slower thus giving them a longer life. Interesting, huh?

The best thing to do is daily water changes with Stress Coat. Or treat tank with Melafix.

Below is a link on fin rot.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/finrot.htm

CHoffman

Hi and welcome to Fishlore.
I'm going to put my money on the tiger barb. Tiger barbs are FIN NIPPERS and bad. Angle fish are just to tempting for them. They really don't mix and since he's the only one in the tank with no fin damage you can pretty much guarantee he's the criminal. The best thing to do know is to start doing daily Water changes and keeping the water super clean. I wouldn't add any chemicals at this point. Especially melafix since you have gourmai's in there. Melafix had been known to be harmful to labyrinth fish...
Discussion about MelaFix and bettas
I would rehome the tiger barb since he's the one causing the trouble and keep the water clean and see if it improves.

hootie3

Oh !! I forgot to mention one VERY important thing and I apoligize to all.... My angel started to lose his fins before I got the barb...and I also had 2 sailfin mollies that were not losing fins after I put the barb in there. the mollies died shortly after a water change...but everyone else survived. Once again sorry for leaving that out.

Master Snake

Barbin

joy1125

it's still a good idea to either get more barbs (it'll alleviate the aggression of the one barb) or return/rehome the one barb. I'd do the latter, since tiger barbs aren't good with angels (their fins are just too tempting).

how's your water readings? How often do you vac and change water?

I noticed you say you change the media in the filters every 6 weeks. That's a no-no, because a lot of the beneficial bacteria live in there. All you need to do is rinse and gently squeeze out the filter media in used tank water. You don't need to put a new one in until the old one is literally falling apart.

jdhef

Adding a little vita-chem and Garlic Gaurd may help the fins heal. It can be purchased thru DrsFoster&Smith.com if you can't find it locally.

peacemaker92

WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

Sorry to hear about your fish losing their fins. I'd go with the others, get more Tiger Barbs.

jwokmuba2

i agree, ive heard of some keepers using the same filter media for 6-7 years or longer.

hootie3

Thanx for the tips..... I will just rinse the charcoal bags I have in the filters.... Great help... thanx again

aquarist48

Hello Hootie . Sorry to hear you've had fish loss and problems. As far as your activated carbon is concerned, replace it every 3 weeks. By doing so it will prevent leaking all the unwanted cooties back into the tank that it has collected.

As for you other filter media, use it until it's falling apart and only rinse it in siphoned tank water. This will help prevent losing all of the good bacteria. I have sponges and bio balls that have been in my filter for 10 years.

If you want to change out your substrate, you may want to consider doing it a little at a time. A lot of your good bacteria is in the substrate. Wait for some more replies on this part though. I've never had to deal with sand and what all it involves. If you do remove it be prepared for a mini cycle just in case.

Best of luck,
Ken

kelacon

hey, do you know that the tiger barb is a notorious fin nipper? Read it's data on the fishlore site.