Goldfish with fin rot???

Question

I have had my goldfish Jose for about two months now. He has someting on his tail which I am concerned may be fin rot. It is faintly white, but not very much so. It is also slightly frayed, but again, not very much so. I am worried that he may have fin rot, and that he may pass it on to his tank buddies Paco and Maria. Does this sound like fin rot? I have done research on the disease but am still not sure whether he has it because the white and the fraying are very slight and very hard to see. I would treat the water with a fin rot medication just as a precaution, but I heard that it messes up the biological filter and gets rid of the good bacteria. If this is fin rot, what should I do?!?

Answer 1

That sounds like the classic signs of the beginnings of fin rot, good eye! Personally, I would treat the tank with a good antibiotic such as Maracyn or Maracyn TC. Either one does a good job of clearing up fin rot.

You are correct, it will kill the beneficial bacteria in the tank, but there is no way around this and no way to prevent it. Just watch the ammonia levels closely and change water as needed to prevent dangerous levels until the tank cycles again. If you happen to have more than one tank, you can always reseed the bacteria into the treated tank once the treatment is completed by rinsing and squeezing the filter pad from the other tank into this one. To be safe I wouldn't use that same pad back on the untreated tank though.

MM

Answer 2

I highly recommend having at least a filter. An air pump is optional. You can separate it or treat it in the main tank. It depends on if you want the other fish to be exposed to the medication or not. If you don't have a spare tank and a spare filter, then you should treat in the main tank. Fin rot is caused by bad water quality, so make sure you are doing partial water changes and that you have a good enough filter in your tank. Since it is caused by poor water quality, it would be a bad idea to put your goldfish in an unfiltered tank, where the water quality would be really bad. Getting rid of the cause and having good water quality is the first step in treating fin rot. If the water quality remains bad, then even if you medicate the fish won't get better.

Answer 3

first of all, fin rot usually leaves a black outline on the fin its attacking. If it is fin rot do not hesitate to isolate Jose. Just in case you may want to purchase so stress coat for the fish just in case. Leave him in there for at least 4 days and see if the fins get any worse then treat him. Sometimes in a tank the gravel can be carrying something so they say to put in some accessories they'll keep the fish off the gravel.but that makes me think why put gravel in there in the first place? But just to make sure give the gravel a good soak and that could do the trick.

Good Luck

Answer 4

Test your water for nitrite and nitrate. In a two month old tank there should not be any ammonia, so I would not worry about testing for that. If either are high, you need to do a large water change with a siphon, and do it more often. Poor water will often cause finnage to look bad, among other things. Test your water first. If it is fine, then you can medicate. Do not medicate a dirty tank.

Answer 5

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