Lucky me - Day 5 - Suspect fin rot...

[Marcus Fox]

The right pectoral fin on one of my male swordtails is looking a bit ragged
and a bit looks to be hanging off. Do I medicate the whole tank or just
transfer the sick one into a tank on his own and medicate there? I have no
way of heating or filtering the other tank, but it's about 8 gallons. If I
were to use something like melafix in th main tank, would I need to carbon
filter, or would water changes be sufficient?

Marcus

[NetMax]

"Marcus Fox" > wrote in
message ...
>
> "Marcus Fox" > wrote in
> message ...
> > The right pectoral fin on one of my male swordtails is looking a bit
> ragged
> > and a bit looks to be hanging off. Do I medicate the whole tank or
just
> > transfer the sick one into a tank on his own and medicate there? I
have no
> > way of heating or filtering the other tank, but it's about 8 gallons.
If I
> > were to use something like melafix in th main tank, would I need to
carbon
> > filter, or would water changes be sufficient?
>
> I mean, when the treatment has run its course, how do I remove?
>
> Marcus

AFAIK, there is no need to remove Melafix from the water, though water
changes would eventually dilute it to insignificance. However, I'm not
sure that Melafix will be of sufficient strength to do anything for your
Sword's fins, but that's another topic.

NetMax

[Marcus Fox]

> AFAIK, there is no need to remove Melafix from the water, though water
> changes would eventually dilute it to insignificance. However, I'm not
> sure that Melafix will be of sufficient strength to do anything for your
> Sword's fins, but that's another topic.
>
> NetMax

How would you recommend I treat?

Marcus

[NetMax]

"Marcus Fox" > wrote in message
...
>
> > AFAIK, there is no need to remove Melafix from the water, though
water
> > changes would eventually dilute it to insignificance. However, I'm
not
> > sure that Melafix will be of sufficient strength to do anything for
your
> > Sword's fins, but that's another topic.
> >
> > NetMax
>
> How would you recommend I treat?
>
> Marcus

I wouldn't be the person to recommend anything, as I don't know what
medications you have locally available, nor can I see the fish to make a
semi-educated guess. If your prognosis is that it's bacterial, then
there are a number of anti-biotics available. For a true fungus, there
are sulphur based medications (some turn your water a lovely shade of
lime Jell-O ;o). The point is that Melafix is not very strong stuff,
more useful as a preventative, or to slow the progression of a bacterial
contagion (which gives the fish more time to get their immune system
ready for it). There are cases where I've effected a complete cure using
only Melafix (especially useful with tiny fish which don't tolerate
strong medications), but it took about 2-3 weeks each time, and there was
still some mortality. Besides making sure your water parameters are all
good, Melafix is a good idea if your expectations are modest, and you
continue monitoring their condition, being ready to intervene with real
medicine if needed. JMO, YMMV

NetMax