Fin rot in guppies- treatments

Hi everyone

Had a rocky start to fish keeping. Lost 4 guppies in fairly quick succession and have 2 left. (Previous post)
Of the 2 left (scissors and Michael Jackson- kids named them not me) scissors chases MJ a lot to the point where he is quite distressed I think, stays hiding behind a bushy plant close to the surface. His tail is tattered I think from being nipped. However scissors tail is hanging in pieces with a black edge which is definitely getting worse and I’m fairly sure is fin rot since he is the doninant
I’ve started a treatment of Melafix (which I’ve since learned may not do a whole lot) but giving it a go.
Can anyone offer another suggestion of treatment please? I’m going round in circles on the net with gram negative and positive bacteria, antibiotics resistance, bacterial and fungal.

I’ve also upgraded to a bigger tank which is currently empty but don’t want to seed it with sponges from the current tank incase I introduce some nasties into it.

Any replies gratefully received.

 

Do you have other "nasties" in the smaller tank, or are you just worried about introducing fin rot to the new tank? It's my understanding that fin rot is an opportunistic infection. The bacteria or fungus are always present, but we don't see infection until the fish is stressed and weekend in some way.

I don't know what is in Melafix, but the one time I had a fin rot issue (fish delivery got lost in mail and fish arrived in rough shape) I was losing 1-2 fish per day. I used erythromycin and was lucky that it was a bacterial infection and not fungal. The fish improved within hours and I didn't lose any more.

Fin rot is fairly common, so hopefully others will chime in advice.

 

Thanks for your reply. My 4 other fish died and I’m still not 100% what is was that killed them, but the 2 left have lived for 6 weeks since the last one passed. I guess it’s the fin rot I’m concerned about contaminating the new tank with, since if it was anything else the 2 left would have succumbed to it.
But if what you say is true about the bacteria being there just dormant, it shouldn’t be an issue. I was hoping to use some filter material and gradually stock the new tank rather than adding a heap all at once.

Melafix is cajola oil… not not antibiotic treatment which I thought would have been the case if it’s supposed to treat a bacterial infection.

 

I think if you catch an infection early enough, those herbal treatments may help, but if your loosing fish daily, as I was, it's time for the antibiotic and or anti fungal treatments IMO.

Sorry for your rough start to fish keeping. For peace of mind, you could start fresh with your new tank and it cycle it from scratch. Use nothing from the orriginal tank. Do your best for your remaining 2 fish until the new tank is ready.

 

Hi everyone
Currently have a small 30l aquarium which I have 2 guppies left in. Think the others died of worms/ bad fin rot but not 100% sure.
These guys are ok apart from fin rot. I’ve been doing 50-80% water changes weekly, tank was fishlessly cycled and parameters have been good since.
Have tried melafix, no change. I wouldn’t say the fin rot is progressing but it’s very obvious- black edges and tattered. It’s stayed the same for a few weeks now. Fish are eating, swimming normally otherwise. Have ordered some kanaplex online to try.
Any other suggestions?

I’d like to use this tank as a quarantine tank as I have a 170l aquarium currently cycling, would that be ok? I was wary with the other fish deaths but that was afew months ago and apart from fin rot, the current fish seem ok. I don’t think fin rot is contagious??

I’ll ask about preventative meds in another thread.

 

Stop dosing meds. Fin rot is relativity simple to fix and kanaplex is more of an anti-bacterial or anti fungal medication, unless you have reason to think theres a bacterial infection .

Start with daily water changing. 30-50% a day, this usually clears up the fin rot in at most 2 weeks in my experience.

 

Thanks for your reply. I have read heaps of posts on here and have seen some advocates for water changes only, and others recommending gram negative antibiotics if it’s suspected to be bacterial. In truth I don’t know what it is, but I figured my water changes were good from the word go and it still happened so maybe it was bacterial. I’ll try what you suggest and keep my fingers crossed it helps. I’ll keep the kanaplex in my arsenal for if I ever need it down the line.
Cheers