# Never ending battle with fin and tail rot?



## Lovincichlids (Oct 15, 2008)

Any information about my next step would be highly appreciated...

I have a 75 gallon tank (7 months old - so relatively on the new side) with south american cichlids. The water parameters have been checked over and over again and Nitrite, Nitrate, and Ammonia are all at 0. PH level has remained steady from when they were transferred from their 30 gallon and hasn't flucuated at all. Temp is at a stable 78 degrees.

I slacked on a water change (yell at me later!) and a couple of weeks ago, I lost a cory catfish and all of his fins were gone. I wasn't sure if it was disease or someone was picking on him. A few days later I noticed my convicts fins (who had BEAUTIFUL, long flowing fins) becoming a little ragged, almost as if they were being nipped at (which is not the case). Upon closer inspection, 2 of my other fish had fins that were ragged or splitting. Immediately assuming I had a case of fin and tail rot, I began using Melafix until I could get to the store the next morning.

I then treated the tank with Maracyn and Maracyn 2 (along with Maroxy) and did 25% water changes ever other day, since a majority of my fish seemed to be infected. I treated for 5 days and while the Convicts fins didn't look any better really, they didn't look any worse either. One of the other fish with ragged rear fins and split side fins was looking remarkably better. The fins almost looked brand new again on this guy!

Now that it's been about a week off of the meds and a 40% water change was done on the tank after completion of the meds, the Convicts fins do not look any better (no worse), but the other fish that seemed to recover has split side fins again. Another fish has splits in his rear fin now.

I know fins take a while to grow back and are very delicate, but I'm beginning to wonder if this was never cleared up in the first place now.

My question now is, where do I go from here??? Repeat same meds (prefer not to since it's a lot of meds and was VERY costly for such a large tank and wasn't effective) or do I move on to something else? I was looking into Marcyn Plus or Tetracycline (spelled correctly?) or even Tri Sulfa (which I know is pretty strong, but have never used). I probably should have treated for 7 days instead of 5 and followed my instinct, but I didn't and didn't want to spend another $70 plus dollars either!

Half of the meds on the shelf say they treat fin and tail rot so I'm at a lose now. I used Maracyn and Maracyn 2 to get it from both sides (gram negative and gram positive bacteria) and thought this was a good move.

Anyone have any suggestions? If any meds are needed, please identify which brand (Mardel, API, etc) so I used one that may be more effective over the other.

Thank you much!


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

If you are getting a zero nitrAte reading that could be your problem. Please verify this. What type of tests are you using? Liquid is best and you really have to shake shake and shake the bottle to get accurate readings.


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## Lovincichlids (Oct 15, 2008)

I just retested and it seems to be reading in between 0 and 5.0ppm. Why could this be a problem? I thought Nitrate levels should preferrably be kept below 10ppm.


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## Lovincichlids (Oct 15, 2008)

Think I may have to go through a mini re-cycling of the tank due to the antibiotics? I also changed the sponge media in my filtration since it was rinsed and re-used too many times and had seen its day. Maybe I should have waited to do that...


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## Lovincichlids (Oct 15, 2008)

These were the only pics I could snap... the other fish were uncooperative. ;-)

(sorry they aren't the best at showing what I'm describing, but they just won't sit still ;-)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y8/Lov ... G_1962.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y8/Lov ... G_1979.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y8/Lov ... G_1991.jpg

I showed these to a few members in chat and all of them didn't see anything wrong and most certainly didn't think the fish was ill. What do you guys think?

I did see one of my other fish tonight (the last one I suspected to wreak havoc) snip at the back of another fish (not the convict in the pics). Mmmm... maybe that is how this particular guy ended up with a split in his rear fin?

I'm starting to believe more that it is aggression now, but will keep my eye on the tank and it's parameters. Ph is still the same at 7.6 and not moving (trying to rule out Ph burn as the cause, I suppose).

I have a whole stack more of rock that I bought a couple weeks ago that were soaking and scrubbed, and have been sitting in their pail waiting to be put in my tank, so I'll probably do lots of tank "re-decorating" tomorrow, since it's supposed to snow anyway. Maybe they'll establish new "spots" and I'll calm the aggression down a bit. This has worked in the past with these particular fish, so let's keep our fingers crossed that this helps again.

If anyone has any other suggestions or thoughts, please chime in and help out.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

A nitrate reading of zero is impossible unless it's a brand new tank or a heavily planted tank.

After admittedly neglecting the tank maintenance, I'm also questioning whether it is as low as your last reading, but that would depend on how recently you have done a water change.

What is the full stock list of the tank?

Are these adult fish? Breeding?


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