I don't know what's happening!

[Lady Hobbs]

I also missed the salt. Not needed. People used salt in their tanks 30 years ago but not much anymore.

Salt is very effective for wounds, cuts, etc, however.

[KevinVA]

Just an FYI - she mentioned Black Phantom Tetras - not Black Skirts. There's a difference. Black Phantoms actually do ok in pairs or shoals and are not very aggressive at all. Everyone is correct in the diagnosis, though.

To reiterate what's been said:
1. Salt as a daily preventative = not needed - in fact, it can create a situation where you're nulling the effects of a salt treatment for some parasites, like ich.
2. Schooling fish need to be in bigger schools. You have 3 schooling fish that are being kept in inadequate numbers, thus will eventually cause stress and make way for disease outbreaks
3. Nitrate of 40 is relatively high. I've only read in one place that 40 was "fine," and that was an article about Saltwater fish keeping. Freshwater fish should be kept in water w/ Nitrates 20 and below. The lower the better. The only benefit of keeping Nitrates in a tank is the added bonus of free nutrients for live plants.

[fishmommie]

Just an FYI - she mentioned Black Phantom Tetras - not Black Skirts. There's a difference. Black Phantoms actually do ok in pairs or shoals and are not very aggressive at all. Everyone is correct in the diagnosis, though.

To reiterate what's been said:
1. Salt as a daily preventative = not needed - in fact, it can create a situation where you're nulling the effects of a salt treatment for some parasites, like ich.
2. Schooling fish need to be in bigger schools. You have 3 schooling fish that are being kept in inadequate numbers, thus will eventually cause stress and make way for disease outbreaks
3. Nitrate of 40 is relatively high. I've only read in one place that 40 was "fine," and that was an article about Saltwater fish keeping. Freshwater fish should be kept in water w/ Nitrates 20 and below. The lower the better. The only benefit of keeping Nitrates in a tank is the added bonus of free nutrients for live plants.

Good post Kevin
I would only add to the summation:
4) increase your W/C to at least 50% for weekly maintenance but while you're dealing with the fin rot, increase to at least 2 w/c per week of 50%. More if you can do it to get those fins healed up. a product like melafix or pimafix might also aid in healing.

[Asult316]

Well my shrimp just died........idk anymore in the last month I've lost 2 dwarf powder blue gouramies, 1 cherry barb and now my shrimp. I've got 2 barbs, 2 black phantom tetras and a bushy nose pleaco showing signs of fin rot. My 2 diamond tetras are fine. This seriously sucks!

[KevinVA]

The shrimp probably died due to nitrate poisoning. They're usually more susceptible to water quality issues. That should be your canary. Do a large water change to get your nitrates down to an acceptable level. At this point, I'd say aim for 0-5. It may take more than one water change and it also might take cleaning your filter.

[Asult316]

Thanks for your help everyone. I wanted to redo my tank so with everything thats been happening it was perfect excuse. I decided to put new substrate, decor, wiped clean my filters, heaters and everything and essentially started fresh. Added a few gouramies and see hopefully things will work out better. Last water readings last night: ammonia: 0, nitrite: 0, nitrate: 10, pH: 6.0