fin rot and fungus

[kristybe]

I have a 20 gal tank with 4 platy's, 2 mollies and 2 otocynclis. My Lyretail mollie broke out in a fungus yesterday. (He was new to the tank 1 week ago). He has white, thick, cotton all over his tail and eating away at it. I have treated the tank with aquarium salt.

Condidtions: Very good: ph6.8, no ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. Temp 80 degrees.

Today he is missing 90% of his tail fin, swimming poorly and has red streaks on the very edge of what is left of his tail fin. Breathing normally, and still eating, but on occasion goes to the bottom of the tank and lays down on his side>>>>uh oh!!

I treated with Maroxy. (Fungal med, which said it will not affect biological filter.....i hope they are right)

Anything else I should do? Should I just get him out of the tank and get him out of his misery before he infects the rest of the fish, or may it still be possible to save him???? :(

[rollie]

i would of use pimafix but what you using should help. he may be to far gone to save, that hard for me to say. it alreadly in your tank, now. salt will help. but treat your tank and then do the water change. his tail can grow back, if it was stopped in time. if he not showing signs of getting better in a day or 2 you might want to put him down. he may of had that when you got him.

[kristybe]

Thanks,
He is actually looking much better. He lost 80% of his tail fin, so he is swimming funny. He is eating and swimming leasurely in the tank. Breathing has slowed to a normal rate. No more lying on his side gasping at the bottom of the tank. He looks like all the other fish, just missing most of his tail fin. The thick white fungus is almost all gone, and he hasn't lost any more fin since this morning. (Considering this all started yesterday afternoon...he lost 80% of his fin in less than 24 hours....closer to 18 hours). I am actually feeling somewhat hopefull, but still cautious.

I did treat the entire tank. Do you think I should use Pimafix also??

[rollie]

pimafix might not goes good with what you are using, so no . he might come around then. here to hoping!

[kimmers318]

If you are familiar with stresscoat I would try that also. It is sold as a water conditioner but also claims to promote tissue regeneration. I have used it with success on the fish my dwarfpuffer chomped up before realizing they do not make good community fish.

[kristybe]

I have some stress coat. I will try that today.

He seems the same as yesterday. Hardly any tail fin, but acting fine. White fungus is gone, and no other fish have any symptoms.

I agree...here's to hoping. Does anyone know how long it takes to regenerate fins???

[Full3R]

depends my oscar had a slit right down the center of his tail and it took about to weeks before there was noticible difference but i started feeding him a bit more and his tail went back to normal in a week

[kristybe]

Today he looks even better. He did start with red streaks yesterday, so I treated with Maracyn two. The info I could find on it says it has been tested and will not affect the biological cycle. I'm hoping they are right.

Today...red streaks are only about 10% of what they were yesterday. Water conditions are still perfect. He is swimming and eating normally. Just missing most of his tail fin. I think I may have cured him.....cautiously optomistic.

I did treat with Stress coat.

I did a water change today and then treated with dose 2 of Maracyn after the water change. I also treated with MarOxy daily for the past three days. The MarOxy says to treat daily for UP TO 5 days. The Maracyn 2 says to treat for 5 days even if the symptoms resolve.

My question is....if the symptoms of the fungus are gone should I continue to treat with MarOxy (antifungal)? or just continue with only the Maracyn 2 for the full 5 days? (and pray my biological filter isn't a goner)

[rollie]

do what it say to do on the bottle. even if it gone.