fantail with tailrot

[jfthomas]

I have 2 goldfish (one comet and one fantail) in a 12 gallon eclipse. The comet has been with me for about 2.5 years and the fantail for about 1.5 years.

In any case, in April I noticed that the fantail had developed a small hole at the far end of her tail...I thought that water parameters might be playing a role, so I stepped up my changes from once to twice/week (30%). No change, and in a month or so the hole split and eventually the small part disappeared.

I tried treating with maracyn 2...but it had no effect. Followed that with melafix...with no results...and last month I tried Kanacyn. Also with no improvement.

The fish behaves normally, eats well (i've cut back a bit). But I'm at a loss as to how to get past this problem. The body is around 2.25-2.5 inches...about 4.5 inches to the end of the tail...(the comet is around 4 inches).

several bunches of annachris share the tank (they don't last long before being eaten though) and a few trumpet snails which hitchhiked in in February of this year)

water changes are back to once per week 30% plus

water parameters are stable at (treated with Prime):

pH 7.4
temp 74
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to arrest this problem? Should I try a second treatment w/ the kanacyn? it seems as though this has a better chance to be successful since it attacks gram positive and gram negative bacteria...


HELP!!

[Aderynglas]

What is your KH reading?

I know it seems like a daft question but Goldfish (especially fancy ones) seem to be happier and healthier with a definate KH reading.

I had all sorts of minor fin/skin troubles until I checked the KH and added coral gravel to raise it from 0 to 4 degrees.

Watch your fish carefully, the comet could be chomping on the fantails tail fin, its quite a common occurence :(

Regards
Polly

[plankton]

hmmm. never even thought to buy a test kit for that one! I'll look into it - thanks!

as for the comet, I've never seen any aggression between them at all, and it is definately rotting away...

oops. just realized I created an alter ego on here...this is jfthomas... sorry for any confusion!

[Aderynglas]

Please remember that any antibiotic you add to the tank will probably affect your filter bacteria, causing the filter to cycle all over again :eek:


If the KH reads ok then I would consider one of the treatments for Tail Rot (Melafix should have worked but can take a long time)
and they should be safe for your filter:)

Remember to remove any carbon until treatment has finished. You may prefer to treat in a hospital tank.


By the way, a temp of 74 is the upper limit of their tolerance, its ok temporarily (in summer you probably struggle to keep it that low) but they are far happier kept at 65 as there is more available oxygen for them, and they do need lots of oxygen :)

Regards
Polly

[plankton]

how do you keep a tank at 65? I can understand a pond...but this one is kept in my office which tends to be 74 or so in the summer and 72 in the winter. Short of a chiller, what does one do to keep the temps down?

I did check the ammonia and nitrite levels after the treatment, and they remained steady at 0.

[Aderynglas]

Hi

For you keeping the temperature down is going to be a problem. In my case when temps get up too high I freeze 2L plastic bottles of water and put them in the tank. This is very effective in the short term (in Wales high temperatures don't last for more than a week or so :( )

In your case .....

You could try leaving the tank hood off and running a fan so that the air flow passes over the tank top.

Check the water movement at the surface - you need lots. Add an air stone/bubble wand to improve water circulation and oxygenation. Remember though you want gentle water circulation not the washing machine effect :D

You could take the fish home with you and buy them a nice big tank :D and then stock the eclipse with some tropical fish who would appreciate the higher temperatures :)

Seriously tho, how big are the fish? At two years old I would guess that they aren't that small any more. Any thing over 3 inches (minus tail) really needs a bigger tank simply to be able to move around properly. Even the baby fantails we bred topped 3 inches after 1 year.

[avoxo]

Hello jfthomas or plankton, first off your fishes have out grown their tank. Goldfish need at least 10 gallons per fish and if they are bigger than 4 inches than its 20-30 gallons because they produce so much waste. Your water parameters look good; you can try the KH test because it is very important to find out what it is but as long as the Ph does not jump around then you should be fine.

Now for the fin rot, when my fish get fin rot I check to see if they have any parasites. I do this by scraping their belly and near their gills and check it under a microscope. My fish usually have Trichodina, which I kill off by a salt treatment. If you do not have access to a microscope, then start off with a .03% salt treatment anyways and it won't hurt. Do a 40% water change; slowly raise the temperature to 80-85 degrees. Grab a small bucket an fill it 3/4 full of tank water, then add 1 TEASPOON of AQUARIUM SALT per gallon of water in your tank (12 gallon tank= 12 teaspoons of salt), mix it well and add the solution to your tank. You will do this 2 more times in 12-hour intervals, so in 36 hours you will have a .3% solution of salt in your tank. Do not do any water changes for 5-7 and feed very lightly. Then do a 50% water change and do a treatment of MelaFix. See if it helps.

As for temperature regulation I would suggest strongly against it. Mid 70's are the IDEAL temperature for them but anything higher than that up to 90 (after 90 degrees I would do the frozen 2L trick), all you need to do is add more surface disruption which can be achieved by adding an air stone or a power head that is placed on the bottom of the tank shooting straight up. Quick temperature changes will cause them to stress out in turn making them more susceptible to diseases. Good Luck