Fin & Tail Rot HELP disabled child heal fish

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craftmage

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 13, 2008
34
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Pennsylvania
My niece brought me a platy she rescued today.

Let me say this Platy belongs to a 5 year old girl who is paralyzed from the waist down and who thinks the sun rises and sets with this fish. She calls me 4 times a day for updates. Her normal tank is a 5 gallon with all the trimmings and gets water changes weekly and water tests daily.

This platy's tail (fan part) is completely gone. She is otherwise looking healthy, and pregnant. I immediately set her up in a 1.5 gallon isolation tank equipped with filter (not running due to meds), air stone and heater. Her temp is set at 78, and I can't up the temp at all as it is the only heater I have, and it doesn't have a control valve. She is dosed with salt, 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons, but think I will increase it to 2.

I have started treatment with Kenaplex. As it is a small tank, I had to give a good guess on the amount, but I think I got it pretty well. LFS owner told me to add a small amount of mela/pimafix to the tank as well as the Kenaplex.

Will this fish recover? What else can I do to help this little lady along? I hate to lose this fish, as it is going to be very, very hard to find another that looks just like her, and her owner will be heartbroken.

She is eating like a little piggy. I have given her an antibacterial food which she picks at. That is all I will feed her, unless someone has a beter idea. She is very friendly right now and constantly tries for my attention. Her owner is always sitting with her, so I let her sit next to me on the computer table so she doesn't get depressed. Don't know if that will happen, but don't want to take chances.

Please, Please. . Any advice will be greatly welcome. I have never dealt with this disease before.
 
if you have added salt and kenaplex to the system, I would not dose anything else. More than one medication at once can have more of a detrimental effect on the fish's system than the disease itself may have.

that being said, after a few water changes (which should be done more than normally whilst medicating), PIMAfix is an amazing antifungal product that I have used on spiny eels and south american cichlids, as well as defeating free-growing fungus in the system. A test kit for ammonia would also be invaluable in combatting fungal infections.
 
I will perform a 1/2 water change now and continue her on a Pimafix program. Should I add Melafix as well? I have often been told that you should dose with both to avoid a 2nd disease.
 
they are both safe and natural products derived from tropical tree barks. When dosing both at once, I would half-strength it just in case there are any unknown contraindications. water changes and making absolutely sure the cycle is complete are the most important things right now.

my advice is not absolute, but I pray that your niece's charge makes it through. the little one sounds important.
 
She is important. Ever since Darlena got her, she hasn't given any trouble about her physical therapy and treatment plans. She believes the fish is encouraging her, and she IS making progress. I hate to see her lose this fish because of her dad's mistake. He got her a guppy to be a friend for Platy and it appears she was sick. So, we need to keep Platy going ;)
 
I have been searching every store within 60 miles of me, and haven't found one yet, but I am going to keep looking. my one lfs is ordering 2 dozen of them to see if we can find a match for this one. her dad is going downstate tomorrow and is going to look in some of the stores there to see if he can find one.
If we do, we will still have to wait to give it to her because she will know it didn't grow back it's tail overnight lol.
So far, platy is doing good with eating and is active. <<keeping fingers crossed>>
 
So far so good. She has survived the past several days. I do daily 25% water changes and have been dosing with Melafix. She is still swimming and appears to be eating. Salt has been added, of course.
Any idea if she will ever recover her tail? At what point can I figure she is over the rot?
 
She is still doing good, and there appears to be some activity at the tail. I cannot tell if it is still rot or if the tail is growing back.

I do not want to continue to medicate this poor thing if she is no longer in need of it, and just needs to recover her tail. Can anyone tell me at what point I stop/reduce treatment?
 
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