fin rot after ich

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franlovera

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 12, 2009
162
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Argentina
Hi.

I'm new to this hobby. I set up my 16 gallon tank first and after about 5 days of having the water, I introduced the first fishes (2 angelfish and 4 mollyies) A week later I added 5 zebra fish and a week after that I added 5 neons and a pleco. The night I added the pleco I woke up with it dead. Then one by one the neons started dieing. Then I noticed ich on the zebrafish. I treated the tank with a product available in Argentina to treat ich. It states that in 2 days it cures ich. However I read that this would be impossilbe because of the life cycle of ich. Since i thought it was a bit wierd I repeated the treatment again after the 2 days. So in total the treatment lasted 6 days at a temperature of 81 degrees.

After ich was cured only 2 male mollyies and one male angelfish survived. The 2 mollyies are fighting and I think this and all the dieing has stressed the angelfish as he is staying at the bottom of the tank and his fins are rotting (i think)

How can I proceed to cure the anglefish? Also, is it possible for the treatment to successfully cure ich in 2 days?


Thanks
 
:welcome: to MFK!

I am sorry you are having trouble with your fish however I'll address your issues one by one. This may be overwhelming so please bear with me!

The first thing I noticed is you did not post your water parameters. Water parameters comprise the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. All four are basic variables that should be tested regularly from the beginning when you set up your tank. Failing to test them, it will be very difficult for us to determine the exact causes of your fish's deaths although if I am not mistaken, water parameters do have a lot to do with your current issues.

If you are not familiar with the nitrogen cycle, I suggest having a read on this one.
Freshwater cycling

Secondly, you are adding too many fish at once. To be able to know why, you need to read the above link I pasted. Once you do, we can start off on this one. The ammonia produced by the urea and poop of the fish tend to be dangerously toxic as it elevates especially if your pH is on the alkaline side (more than 7) and temperature also slightly warmer. To be able to address your ammonia issues, adding plenty of plants to help absorb the ammonia and doing plenty of water changes will put ammonia under control. Ammonia can intoxicate your fish damaging their gills and skin. The gills should be deep red to indicate that the fish is healthy otherwise pale pink gills indicate ammonia intoxication especially "shedding" slime coat due to ammonia burn.

Thirdly, before you add more fish in your tank which already has the first few ones, quarantining your new fish is necessary. Even healthy fish carry diseases that cannot be detected and may be fatal to your current stocks. I suggest you invest in another tank, preferably a 10g to quarantine every new fish you get. If tank is not an option, you can always go with tubs or buckets. All it needs is sponge filter/HOB (hang-on-back) filter and heater. Do not overstock the tank. If you wish to buy more fish, I'd suggest not to let impatience override your temptation to get more. Remember patience makes everything worth your time as overcrowding can only stress your fish and make them much more vulnerable to health issues.

As for treating ich, is it possible the medicine you got is called Quick Cure? That is the same instructions they have. Quick Cure contains malachite green and formalin, both active ingredients which are considered carcinogenic. Both can degrade in water very fast and must be redosed in 24 hours. Treatment for ich does not take 2 full days. It must be done in 10 days minimum to ensure ich is completely eradicated. The temperature can be elevated at 84 degrees Fahrenheit. The warmer the temperature, the faster the treatment process as the treatment destroys the free swimming protozoans. Malachite green is dangerous when overdosed and can destroy your beneficial bacteria responsible for keeping your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate stable. The formalin can deplete oxygen so you need to maximize the oxygen level when you use anything containing formalin in it.

In my case, I prefer to use table salt as a means of eradicating ich. A dosage of three teaspoons per gallon which is 0.3% solution works exceptionally well against ich. If you have bottom dwelling fish, always dissolve the salt thoroughly to avoid skin burns caused by the salt grains. Add the salt slowly in three intervals every few hours to avoid osmotic shock on your fish.

For finrot issues, water quality is the top cause of such issue. Doing plenty of water changes to improve water quality will rectify this issue. Of course, if your tapwater contains chlorine and chloramine, you need to remove both toxic substances by administering dechlorinator designed to bind both substances.

For now, avoid adding more fish. Until the issues have been fully resolved, please refrain from getting more fish as it is practically a waste of time and money if they are cross-contaminated with the current health issues especially if they came from another source.

On the last note, if you have carbon in your filter, please remove it if you wish to continue using the chemicals to treat for ich as carbon can easily absorb the meds rendering them very ineffective. If you opt to use salt, you need not remove the carbon as salt can be removed only by water changes.

Hope this helps. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask away!

Lupes
 
So the solution would be to test the water, and see how the enviorment is handling the fishes? My goal for the pH should be how much? And I need to achieve 0 ammonia and 0 NO2, right?
Also I have plenty of live plants that would consume the NO3, so how much water should I change, and after how much time?
And finally, if I do not add females, how can I help prevent the mollyies from fighting?
 
franlovera;3527395; said:
So the solution would be to test the water, and see how the enviorment is handling the fishes? My goal for the pH should be how much? And I need to achieve 0 ammonia and 0 NO2, right?
Also I have plenty of live plants that would consume the NO3, so how much water should I change, and after how much time?
And finally, if I do not add females, how can I help prevent the mollyies from fighting?
Click to expand...
Yes, you have to test for the water parameters. Your tank right now is in the beginning stages of nitrogen cycle so naturally, your ammonia and nitrite would be dangerously high which is why we need to perform water changes periodically to keep both substances at a minimum as much as possible thus preventing your fish from being intoxicated by them. The amount of water you need to change, depends on your water parameters. Do as many as you can if your ammonia and nitrite are stubborn to remain dangerously high.

If you want to finish this process as quickly as possible, borrow/ask your friend or petstore's established filter media. The established filter medias should remain wet on your way home and place them immediately in your own filter. Be sure the source is free from pathogens. The tank where you get your media from should not have fish showing ill symptoms already.

If you have spare tubs, I'd keep the male mollies separated there and let the angelfish deal on his own so he can live comfortably while under treatment and recuperating from stress and other health issues. These fish (mollies) are very tolerant of salt so adding a 0.3% solution of salt in their own containers to destroy ich and other pathogens that may infest them will be your advantage.
 
The established filter media should be placed in your filter immediately.
 
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