frayed tail isn't getting better

[slink]

Not sure what to do with a beautiful blue ram. He came to me with a slightly frayed tail that looks ragged. Despite the water being clean and not other fish having problems, his tail continues to look ragged. You almost want to trim it with a scissor so it's straight just like the 2 other rams that seem to be fine (of course, I'm not doing it.) I'm not sure what to do but it looks a little ridiculous in comparison.

[steakman]

It's gonna take some times before it heals completely. I got one with heavy damaged tail and dorsal fins (attacked by bigger fishes) and it took him almost 2 months before he got it all back. A little patience would definitely help.
Good luck

[pinkertd]

I've taken a look at all of your recent posts.....plants melting, goby fins frayed, ram fins frayed and cories losing barbels. My advice will adress all of those issues. You have a 16G tank and I believe you posted that you change out around 40% of the water every 2-3 weeks. I don't know your complete stocking in that tank but your water changes are not frequent enough. You can't base the quality of your water strictly going by what your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test results are. Yes, the fact that there is 0 ammonia and nitrite and low nitrates is good, but you're also building up dissolved organics in that water that is also detrimental to the health of the fish. The cycle in the tank renders the ammonia from your fish harmless by converting it to nitrates, but that doesn't make your water clean enough for the fish. I posted about the cory barbels in the cory section and believe the gravel isn't being cleaned thoroughly enough, nor often enough. They're rummaging their little faces in dirty substrate and dirty substrate will harbor a ton of bacteria. I think if you don't keep that tank cleaner, you're eventually going to run into bacteria infections and deaths.

[jenazen69]

I would suggest 30-40 percent water changes once a week for the rest of there lives. I agree weekly water changes are a must to a healthy tank. The gravel needs to be vacuumed when doing the water changes. The first time I would do the entire tank with the gravel vac to get it closer to what it should be. After that you can do it in halves or thirds. The water change is not just about removing the waste and keeping the water level topped off. As stated earlier you are also removing dissolved organics, and replacing trace elements that are vital to plant and fish health and growth. I would also cut back on feeding them. I would suggest a little aquarium salt, but I am unsure if it is safe for corries, as I no longer keep them. You may want to take the fish out when you do your first full gravel vac to cut back on the stress of the added release of gasses and debris.

[DrNo]

pinker's advice above ^ is really your best bet here. You simply can not expect consistently healthy tanks/specimens with anything less than weekly water changes and weekly gravel vacs.