fin and tail rot?

Question

Ok, I can not seem to get my little goldfish's tail to heal I have used Maracyn 2 for the 5 day treatment that is recommended along with 7 days of Melafix. I do 25% water changes every 2 days I use salt and stress coat and all my levels are perfect I even vacuum my gravel with my water changes every 2 days. Why does my 1 gold fish have tail rot (that has now turned into tail AND fin rot) while my 2 other fish are fine? And why won't her tail and her fin heal? not only is it not looking better.....I think it is looking worse...getting shorter. Yet she seems ok, meaning, eatting and actting normal. I have had such a hard time with this little fish that I feel soooo bad for her. I am at the point that I almost wish she would die....that would be so much easier then to watch her lose this battle slowly.

Answer 1

I would put her in a seperate tank and treat her seperatly from the other fish. You might even want to consider changing medicines since some diseases becomes immune to it after continued use.

Its going to take more than 5 days for her tail to grow back.

Another point to consider is that unless you have poop or uneaten food sitting on the gravel, you do not need to clean it every few days. There are good bacteria that live in the gravel that help support the fish. Depending on the size of the tank, clean 1/2 the gravel once per month and if you have to you can lightly remove any waste from the surface!

Answer 2

No don't worry so much. Fin rot is due to stress. Find the cause and the fish will grow her fins back. If your water is ok like you say try going to www.goldfishconnection.com and get Medi-Gold. I promise it will help her. DO NOT PUT THOSE MEDS IN YOUR TANK!!! Melafix doesn't work period and I am sick to death of these petstores selling it. It is possible that the meds are causing the problem, Maracyn 2 is pretty toxic crap and is totally unnessasary. Salt treatment and raising the temp to 82 degrees is safer and far more effective, but if the petstore told you that they would be out of business. So here's what I would do.
1. Change 50% of the water and put in fresh activated carbon to remove all that crap you put in there.
2. Order the Medi-Gold right now and ask Rick Hess to send it quickly your fish are in trouble. Start feeding them this immediately. Even the ok fish can eat it.
3. After you change the water, remove any zeolite if you are using it. (not compatable with salt- too long to go into just trust me on this one)
4. Get a heater and/or set the thermastat to 82 (not higher than 83) and add an additional airstone or two if you can (helps with lower oxygen levels due to high temps)
5. 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon in the morning, then repeat in the evening. Then repeat the next day morning and evening. (use aquarium salt or deionized ice cream salt). 4 teaspoons per gallon when you finish.
6. In a couple of days you should see improvement. Keep them in this salt treatment for 2 weeks, then start changing out the water until salt levels are undetectable. (taste the water on your finger and if it tastes saltly keep changing water daily until gone) about 25% daily or every other day.
Do this I promise it will work. How do you think people have kept fish before there was a Petsmart?

Answer 3

I just looked up Maracyn and Maracyn2 and it looks like they're both intended for use with bacterial infections. If her fins are continuing to deteriorate, it's possible her finrot is fungal. But I agree you should remove her to a separate tank from the others while you continue to treat her because those medications are very hard on fish. There's no reason to stress the others.

As a sidenote, even though it sounds as though you're doing a lot of work to keep your tank clean and to cure your fish, I have to ask: what size tank do you have these 3 goldfish in? The minimum sized tank you should put that many goldfish in is 30-40 gallons. Goldfish grow very large very quickly and if they don't have the room to do that, they release stress and growth hormones which are harmful to their health and longevity. Your diligence and care might save her this time, but unless she has an appropriate tank, there's a good chance you'll deal with illnesses again.

Good luck! I hope you don't lose her.

P.S. If you choose to euthanize, pleasepleaseplease don't flush. Not only is it cruel, but you're introducing whatever disease is killing her into your local water supply, which could be dangerous to your local wildlife. Freezing is a commonly accepting way to do it kindly. If your fish isn't very big, I euthanized a betta recently by moving her very quickly from the tank to a counter and crushing her with one quick blow of a heavy kitchen implement. That's instantaneous.

Answer 4

It took me about 10 weeks of very dedicated care to get my goldfish healed to a point I felt comfortable with. I mean, imagine, what if your skin had rotted off? It would take months for you to be fully healed. Right? Just remember, the tail has been damaged, and while some of it will grow back, it will never look perfect again, but that's okay! She is eating and acting normally, so she is doing juuuuusssst fine! I don't think she's suffering as much as you think she is. You're doing all the right things. It just takes a lot of time and patience. Oh, and Ceci is right. If your tank isn't the right size, it could be the cause of the disease. Rule of thumb: 10 gallons of water per fish up to 3 inches, 15 gallons of water per fish up to 4 inches, 20 gallons of water for fish over 5 inches and about 40 gallons of water per fish over 10 inches, etc.

Answer 5

Fish are surrounded by a thick coat of bacterial slime which acts as a semi-permeable membrane which does a job similar to, but not identical to, our own skin.

When holes in this coating appear (whether bitten, scraped, peeled off, or even weakened through stress), infection sets in-- like an open sore in our skin.

Since the other fish have intact coatings, they may not contract rot, although the odds largely suggest they will contract it if steps aren't taken (medication, water changes, etc...). Fish are remarkable healers, so my advise would be to wait it out, and not fret if your fish's fins shorten, or are even lost, they will return!

....I doubt that your fish is in any considerable suffering, as they are not set up to "feel" pain in the way that you or I do. They understand that they are in discomfort, but do not feel the discomfort. I would imagine you are in more pain watching it than your fish.

Anyhow, stick with it, and make sure you maintain your CYCLE bacterial levels (this is an all-in-one water conditioner/stress coat/bacterial coat if you don't know, available at every pet store in the world).

BE KIND TO YOUR FISH!!! If you do end up choosing to let your fishy go, take a sharp knife or pair of scissors and make a small knick through the backbone behind the head. This will kill it faster than any other method, and avoid having it die slowly of shock in the cold dark water of the sewer.

Best of Luck, Get Well Soon!

Answer 6

You are doing every thing you can,keep up the water changes, but maybe cut down to 15%. If you have a filter running make sure that there is no charcoal in it when you medicate,it will take the medicine out of the system too quickly for it to do any good. There are more drastic treatments but they would require some expert help. (Salt baths or prescription med dips) if you can find a vet that is free with advice or a goldfish specific web site there may be some help there.Good luck.-----PeeTee

Answer 7

Id move the fish into another place if u can. It may be that the others are nipping his tail as he would be a bit weak. You can normally get fish to get over fin rot unless its too far gone

Answer 8

i am currently doing a betta with maracyn and maracyn2 consecutively. it works fine for me with bettas. i don't do any water changes while i am treating. maybe if you change your water (its easier with a betta in a bowl) and start again with maracyn and maracyn2 together it will help. it is probably helping some anyway. fin rot can take a bettas fins off in 5 days without treatment. the one i am treating now lost about 1/2 in 2 days. the first day i thought he just damaged them.

Answer 9

I believe each little thing Carson reported. purchase a try equipment, whether that's in basic terms the strip ones, nevertheless the drops are extra advantageous. Get one which will a minimum of try ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. you ought to have 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, and 40 or much less ppm nitrates(20 is extra advantageous nevertheless). or you will possibly be able to desire to take a water pattern to your puppy save, maximum will try it for you, yet you ought to have some at abode to do your own exams. comparable component as already pronounced, do weekly water differences, a minimum of 20%. i might do them two times a week (have a feeling your water high quality is undesirable because of the ailments) until eventually the stages check out general. additionally, you probably did get rid of any carbon out of your clear out until eventually now including the meds? Carbon will get rid of the meds, making the therapy ineffective. And, in case you have taken care of the tank with antibiotics, it in all danger killed off your helpful micro organism contained in the tank, inflicting it to do yet another cycle, which might convey approximately added undesirable water circumstances. Do the water replace. Get some tetracycline and %. up some MelaFix besides. The MelaFix is a organic therapy, yet in all danger expenses extra then the tetracycline. good to have handy nevertheless. one extra suggestion, i'm guessing you're utilising a clear out that got here as a combination with the tank? they are ok, extra advantageous than no longer something, yet no longer that large. improve it to a extra advantageous one. a 10 gallon you desire a clear out that places out a minimum of a hundred gph, get one which places out a minimum of 200 gph or extra.

Answer 10

Let's get the obvious out of the way first.

1) Did you remove any carbon/charcoal (I'm assuming that you use a filter) before medicating?

2) Are you sure of the diagnosis? Check this link:

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm

3) Is there any harassment from the other fish?

Hope this helps.