Goldfish with finrot?

Question

My goldfish had a bad case of finrot that very quickly made its way to the base of the fish's fin. However, I put melafix in the water and treated with Maracin-TC. This was about 11 days ago, and the fish is still alive. However, it sits at the top a lot, as though that's its main source of air. (No, it isn't dead. :-P) (Also, I'm sure the tank is getting enough oxygen.) So, a few questions:

1) The fin hasn't repaired itself yet, but I hear it is common for them to remain split if the infection reaches the base. Is this okay and, if not, what should I do?

2) Is my fish still sick/moribund? Is there anything I can do to help it?

3) How should I go about reintroducing it to the tank?

Any help is very much appreciated! Thank you all for reading. :-)

Answer 1

Hi Marie,

The reason your fish is at the top of the water is because the antibiotic you're using to treat the fin rot doesn't distinguish between the "bad" bacteria (what caused his problem) and the good bacteria that are responsible for cycling the tank. Without these bacteria, the ammonia and nitrite will build up, and having a lot of this in the water (ammonia and nitrite poisoning) mimics the symptions of too little oxygen. The nitrite particularly binds to the sites where oxygen is tanken up in the bloodstream, so your fish really ISN'T getting enough oxygen, even though it's in a well aerated tank. Some other symptoms are a loss of appetite, gasping or rapid gill movement, inactivity, red streaks through the body and fins, and discoloration of the gills. At the very least, it sounds like a partial water change will help him quite a lot. Adding salt to the water (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water) will ease the nitrite poisoning, but won't affect the ammonia, so if you can test your water (or have your pet store do this for you) you can determine if this will help in your case.)

Beyond that, have the fins/body areas stopped showing new damage? If so, I'd do a 25-50% water change, and keep him in the quarantine for a while longer to make sure the healing is complete. If not, add more treatment to make up for the amount lost during the water change (1/4 or 1/2 dose). Fin rot can take a few weeks to clear completely. If you stop treatment too early and the infection isn't completely gone, you're only risking reinfection, and this time it will be harder to eliminate, since the bacteria left will only be the ones that have shown resistance to the current treatment.

When you do reintroduce him, do a good water change/gravel vacuuming in both tanks a day or so before, so the water quality in both are good (this also contributes to fish getting fin rot), and the amount of medication is reduced. Move the fish in a plastic bag, and float him for about 15 minutes, then do some partial water changes in his bag (dump removed water rather than introducing it to the tank. After 3-4 additions of tank water, net the fish and release it back into the tank (should be the same process as when you introduce a new fish from the store - you want to equalize the temperature and adjust for differences in water chemistry - in this case the medication). Keep the water quality up (25% water changes every week minimum) so you don't have this problem in the future!

Hope your fish gets through this okay!

Answer 2

That's a broad spectrum antibiotic, so as long as you used it for at least 7 days it should be effective on the infection causing the finrot. With a rot that bad I'd presume bacterial. Does it appear that the fins are no longer deterioriating? If so I'd say it's fine to return to the tank now. The best way? Acclimate like you would any new fish to the tank, float it and slowly add the tank water to its recepticle so it can adjust gradually without shock. (Why would you want to stress the fish by just dumping it in the tank, when it is still weak and susceptible immediately following a disease?)

Adding some salt to the water would help to keep the fish at ease and heal up, too.

With Finrot, you must also look at why the fish contracted the problem in the first place. More here on that -
http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/finrot.php

Answer 3

If your fish is large enough to handle, catch the fish, and dab malachite green directly on the fungus with a Q-tip. This is extremely effective. Repeat treatments works very fast.

Otherwise the best thing is antibiotic treatment in a quarantine tank. This is stressful for the fish, and doesn't always work, so be sure of what you are doing before you attempt it. If the fish is still eating, the best bet is an antibiotic food. Tetra makes one that works well -- just buy the one for bacterial diseases and follow the directions on the can.

Fin Rot Prevention: With very few exceptions, virtually all cases are precipitated by stress, fear or poor environmental conditions, including dirty water. Changing 20-25% water regularly in your goldfish tank will help the fish heal faster.

:-)

Answer 4

Ammonia is of extra value than pH. you want to have 0 ppm ammonia reading. Fin rot is maximum many times brought about by utilising extra waste, which ends up in extra ammonia, interior the tank. make optimistic his tank is the right length. the 1st goldfish could have 20 gallons and upload yet another 10 in line with fish after that. If he grow to be bullied and injured, those open injuries have been an threat for fin rot to contaminate him.

Answer 5

1&2) Try aquarium salt (sold at most pet stores).
3) If it's quarantined, wait until the fin is fully treated. Then, just dump him in the main tank (Goldfish are very hardy and will not die from a minor temp swing).