# Fin Rot on my 17 year old Red Devil



## cats98 (Jun 8, 2005)

Hi

I have a 17+ year old Red Devil who appears to have fin rot. About 2 years ago he came down with Popeye and at that time it looked grim and I did not think he would survive and everyone told me he most likely wouldn't either. But I did not give up and after treating his tank with Maracyn two, and adding salt, and doing water changes every other day for about three months, he all of a sudden one day just started to get better. At the time I discovered the nitrates were too high a failure in on of the undergravel filter pumps. Since then have religiously done a 25 gallon water change every 6 days, and having the new water I put in sit for an hour with amquel, this seemed to have solved the problem. I have been out of town and had family take care of the tank while I was away and am pretty sure they did it correct, but when I got back one of the underground pumps was not working for how long maybe 3 to 4 days? I read that fin rot can come from tuberculosis which the popeye comes from. He is in a 55 gallon tank, no other fish in the tank, the nitrate's are too high so i am going to assume this all happened because of the pump malfunction. I treated his tank with the maracyn two tonight is there anything else I should do I did a water change 3 days ago when I got back, and tonight noticed his fins looked sort of shredded and missing parts. I know he has lived a long time but I believe there must be some reason he has maybe he is a demifish god I don't know but he has been with me so many years. I am no fish expert and never changed his tank setup because it seemed to work for him and I am sure there are better ways in the last 15 years but I just never wanted to upset or stress him with a big change as 9 years ago when we moved a great distance we almost lost him then. and with his age I wouldn't expect he could handle much of a change. any thoughts or suggestions I anything else I should be doing for him? Dozer is one amazingly cool Red Devil male that has entertained me and family and friends for so many years....


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Well first of all I am impressed to hear about your Red Devil and how you've taken care of him. 17 years! That's incredible. You may not be a "fish expert" but you obviously have excellant instincts and insight into what this fish needs.

Being older Dozer is probably more sensitive to poor water conditions so I agree with you that the recent problem with the pump and water quality has brought on the fin rot.

The Maracyn is a good choise.

When nitrates get up higher than 40ppm they tend to get 'stuck' at the higher level and the only way to get them down is to increase the frequency of partial water changes for a few weeks. As long as you're using a good qualtiy declorinator you can do as many water changes as you have time for. Daily, every other day. The extra water changes will also help to cure the fin rot.

If you don't notice improvement on the Maracyn then you might switch to Maracyn-two.

Adding salt, (sodium chloride, regular table salt without additives) at the rate of 1 tablespoon per five gallons may help to prevent the spread of the fin rot, which is a bacterial infection. Dissolve the salt first and add it gradually over several hours time. Increasing water movement may also help to prevent the spread. You can increase water movement by adding a jet or an other filter.

Please keep us updated on Dozer. And if you can, post a pic. I'd love to see the old guy. 

Robin


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