I Have Fin Rot In My Tank!

I have recently bought a new angel for my 65 gallon, but it started to develop some fin rot and body rot lately and it wasn't there when I bought him and it wasn't there when I quarantined him either. But now in my show tank he has gotten white on the body and fin rot on his whole body too. My show tank has many hard to get fish and some are getting sick with fin rot, too. Please help if you might be able to help keep my fish from dying.

I have started by taking out my carbon and other anti-med filtration and replaced it all with some extra filter media and I dosed paragaurd to my tank. I have quarantined my angel for half a week and I couldn't extend the quarantine because my QT was getting new fish that was going to kill my angel. My gulper cat shipment arrived earlier than I thought it would and I needed to quaratine it right away. My angel was not eating in the new tank but I knew it was normal, but then three days later, my angel got a little heavy breathing. so, I did a water change and he seemed fine after I did the 30% water change. the following day (today) he had fin and body rot, this after non my other fish got it too.

 

Can we see pictures? What are your params?

 

Water parameters?

 

my tank light is off and my ammonia is 2ppm, nitrites are 1ppm, and my nitrates are 3ppm, but now that I just did a water change it is: ammonia is 1ppm nitrite is oppm and my nitrates are 0ppm.

 

Well geez, that's your problem. No medication will fix the fin rot if your water is like that.

 

Can I see what it looks like? Parameters? Fin rot is most commonly treated with very clean water conditions. Seachem stressguard can help too. What I want to see is the white on the body, perhaps it is excessive slimecoat? Or fungus?

Yikes just got the post on params

You need to do another water change and keep that ammonia at 0. This tank doesn't sound cycled. Like AquaticJ said nothing is gonna fix this unless the water quality is straightened out

 

I want to most importantly know how to treat it not by what it was caused. I have 7 corydoras, 4 port acaras, 7 cherry barbs, 6 mixed angels, 10-13 keyholes, 5 flag dwarf acaras, 3 bristle nose plecos, and two bumble bee heros.

it is an established and cycled tank, and I have had it for about 2/3 of a year now. I am doing a 20% water change and it says: ammonia nitrites and nitrates are all at 0ppm.

 

Also, the tank seems quite overstocked. To treat any aquatic disease, water quality must be fixed first. Especially with fin rot, which is usually just treated with clean water. I would do a water change everyday, and if there is no improvement, that's when we can start thinking about meds

 

I have no photos because it is already dark out and in the tanks too.

 

That's alright if you can't take a picture now, but if you could when you can that'd be great

 

it is actually not over stocked because I have a fluval Fx5 and two aquaclears in the tank.

also it is around 8:30 here so I am going to have to wait til' dawn for picture taking.

my tank is a heavily planted tank too. so I won't be able to net any fish out, and I have my 7" gulper cat in my QT right now.

 

If you had 2 ppm ammonia and 1 ppm of nitrites before the water change, it’s not cycled.

 

not much u can do unless you have another bucket or anything to hold the fish in and medicate it with good clean water

 

I have an old water test kit I will test it again, but I must go to the pet store first. 30-40 minutes later and I shall be back on with some new parameters. My LFS is decently close, not. It is about 20 miles away and thrity minutes without much traffic. Off to my not-so-local-local-fish-store...

ok so I have now gooten a new API test kit and it says: ammonia is 0ppm, nitrites is )ppm and nitrates are 1ppm and I am going to do a water chang eto fix that 1ppm nitrates to 0ppm nitrates.

almost all of my tank has the rot of some small amount and it is still spreding!

 

NitrAtes don’t have be 0, just ammonia and nitrItes. When you’re doing the nitrate test are you vigorously shaking nitrate bottle 2 for 30 seconds and then shaking the vial for 1 min, and finally waiting 5 minutes for color to form?

 

yes I am doing as the instructions state to do, and yes I have a sore, aching arm now, and I have a new test kit to use now so it is accurate compared to my older test kit.

still I need to know how to stop my fin rot issue not talk all about water parameters. I want to be able to wake up tomorrow and see what I need to get after work from my LFS to start treating my tank after I get home from work and that I have what I need to stop the fin rot.

 

You cannot cure fin rot with parameters like that. As I said, fin rot is literally treated with water changes and good water conditions. Your fish are not in good water conditions. We are discussing this because it is your first step in treating your fish. No amount of medication can help if the water is in bad shape. As I have said, once you get the water straightened out and there is no improvement, then we can discuss meds. You can use something like methelyne blue (meth blue must be used out of the main tank). Finrot rarely needs meds, just water that is pristine.

 

Fin rot is caused by a very common bacteria that is present in most tanks, it’s only able to effect fish with weakened immune systems. The number one cause of weak immune systems in fish is water quality. The problem people run into is they rush to put erythromycin or something of the sort into the tank, but still have water issues, and the fish has such a depressed immune system that it doesn’t survive the antibiotics.

Test the water tomorrow, if the ammonia or nitrites have risen to even .25, you need to address that first. A tank running as long as yours should always be showing zero. I’m also extremely skeptical that you would only have 1ppm of nitrates with your stock. If the ammonia and nitrites are truly both zero, which is likely just temporary because of the water change, then you can try something like API Erythromycin or API fin and body cure. I truly can’t stress this enough, if your parameters are still not good tomorrow, don’t medicate.

 

well I know that fin rot is caused by the water quality. I don't care about that, because it was my newly bought angelfish that had the fin rot in the first place. only when I added him to the tank and he got stressed did he start showing symptoms. All that I want is the cure for the fin rot not why it was caused, I already know the cause. it was just present in the fish store tank but not to the naked eye. I need to know how to stop the fin rot and I know how it happened to be there in the first place!

the angelfish had the poor water quality in the fish store, but it was not visible. at my house in quarantine he was happy, but it was still there with out visibility. When I added him to my tank he was chased around and he got stressed. this is how it got into my tank in the first place. and now it is still stressing my angelfish because he has fin rot and is being chased every where. My other fish are too getting diagnosed with the fin and body rot slowly but surely.

 

The main treatment for fin rot is pristine water. So that's what you should address in the first place, as you have been repeatedly told

 

I know but my tank is clean and the pet store water is not clean. it is the pet store water that has the problem with not being clean, I just happened to get a host of the fin rot in to my tank unknowingly and the stressed fish was enough for the fin rot to start to show and spread in my tank. I have my tank clean and clear from debris ( except driftwood).

I just need to get it to stop. I have the fin rot under control but it is barely weakening, and it is still getting worse on a few fish but not really spreading through my tank anymore.

 

I just need to get it to stop. I have the fin rot under control but it is barely weakening, and it is still getting worse on a few fish but not really spreading through my tank anymore.

Water changes water changes water changes..

 

my angelfish that had the fin rot is dead because he never ate anything and I have to get him out of the tank.