Finrot??

[Tracey73]

Hi everyone

Been told to post in the emergency section so here it goes.. a few weeks ago I was having problems with my ph plummeting which caused one of my discus to break out in white spots/blotches. I have stabilised the ph for a few weeks now with Merrilyns advice of putting shell grit in the filter. Now it seems the same discus maybe suffering from finrot. Over the last few days his dorsal fin has turned jagged and has a melted look about it and he is not eating properly. He is sitting at the front of the tank as he usually does, but soon as we approach the tank he tends to hide behind the driftwood. He is eating very little, he will eat live brineshrimp & bloodworm but everthing else he shows no interest at all. I am on my fourth day of protozin treatment and its hard to tell whether there really is any improvement in his fins. I have also added 1tsp rock salt per 40 litres as of yesterday. Only one of the other discus has white spots/blotches on his fins and tail but is fine in every other way.
I am concerned for this discus as he is the runt of the bunch and he is just not his normal self. I am meticulous with cleaning.. 40% water change every third day, cleaning of the filters and they get a very wide variety of food.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Ph 6.8
Temp 30
No white stools, everyone is bright and alert other than this pore little bugger with the bad fins.
Any suggestions or ideas as to what should be my next step? :roll:

[Nitecongt]

Mela Fix helps when my discus pick eachothers fins apart.

they all seem to enjoy it really.

[Tracey73]

thanks for the reply but I have read many times on here that Melafix is not good for discus at all..

Can anyone please help me? The protozin has not done anything, the second discus with the white patches/spots on his tail and fins looks no better at all and my little guy with the'melted' dorsal fin is still not eating properly and hiding whenever we go near the tank. Do I continue with the protozin, do I try something else? I am really lost as to what to do next next :?

[ILLUSN]

finrot is a bacterial infection, depending on the organisum causing it, usually your fish need to be rather rundown for it to take hold, if your fish are eatring try some medicated food, if not myaxin by waterlife is antibacterial but it's never worked all that well for me, even at a 2x dose.

what are merrilyns or samirs thoughts on erithromyacin or even penicillian in the food for a bacterial infection?

[Tracey73]

Thanks Illusn, the only reason he might have been rundown is from the bully in the tank :evil: But he is always bright, alert and eats like a pig! This infection seemed to almost appear overnight, one day he was fine the next day he was hiding and not eating. Thanks for all your help!

[Tracey73]

Today I started treatment with Myxazin and just now my little guy just passed a long white stringy thing :roll: Would this have anything to do with the Myxazin?

[Merrilyn]

Could well be Tracey. It's a broad spectrum bactericide so it could have been removing some excess bacteria from the gut.

Either way, it's nothing to be concerned about. Just keep giving the normal daily dose till you see an improvement in the fins.

[Tracey73]

Phew thanks Merrilyn, my face has been like this :shock: for the last 20 minutes! Jothy is helping me out with some meds.. what are your thoughts on what is wrong with my little fella? Do you think its finrot? Im just really worried about him :(

[Merrilyn]

Sometimes the runts just don't thrive, no matter what we do. I'd like to see him eating a more varied diet, but there's only so much you can do to make him eat.

Finish the full 5 day treatment, then do some large water changes and commence a course of Metro. You may want to put him into a hospital tank for the treatment, so you can observe closely any improvement.

If he doesn't respond, then just know that you've done everything possible, and it may be some internal defect that you have no control over.