Blue Acara Clamped Fin

[Needeles]

Hello everyone. I have a question and I myself can't seem to figure it out. I have a male/female pair of Blue Acaras and they are healthy and lively. Now the male always seems to have his caudal fin clamped. He eats normal, swims normal has no visual problems that can be seen. My water prams are as listed below...

pH- 7.2
Ammonia - 0
NitrIte - 0
NitrAte - 20
Temp - 76D F

I have a couple other fish in the tank but have had them longer and they have no problems. The female also does not have any issues. I feed 2x a day. Now the female does chase the male around at times but he never gets hurt. The colors are also good on both fish. I did have some pepper cory eggs a week or so ago so the tank was treated with a fungas treatment. I just have no idea what else could be going on. The person I got them from said he did it also when she had them. Any other ideas on what my be the problem. Thanks.

[Needeles]

Ok so here are a couple pics of the male. You can see how his fin is clamped. Any ideas. The bottom pic is of the female to give you an idea of how her fins look.

[harles2000]

sounds like he possibly has some sort of injury or issue with the gill on the same side that caudal fin is clamped.
My first guess would be some sort of parasite on the gills - look closely at it, and see if there is any redness or similar signs.
if thats not it, then it may be an infection or an actual physical injury caused by sucking in something that they shouldnt have, and didnt pass through the gill plates easily.

anyway you look at it, you would be well served by applying an antibiotic, and possibly an antifungal. if these do not appear to help, or if he appears to be degrading, then treat for parasites.

[Needeles]

Ok now the fin is not really clamped to either direction. It just seems to hang back. Every once in awhile the fin will unclamp alittle but not alot. Now looking at the gills they seem fine. No redness or anything else that is noticable. I have noticed though that he does tend to sit with his mouth open much of the time. The other acara seems to close her mouth much more often. Also most of his fins are kind of ragged like on the tips. I have treated with an Anti-Funal treatment about 2 weeks ago but it made no difference. Now I don't know if this makes a difference but the female does seem to chase the male around a good amount. He tends to stay in a certain area of the tank unless the female starts to chase him. His color is fine and he seems to be eating good. He is able to swim and quite fast at times.

Here is a short story of how I recevied the Blue Acaras. A friend had them in a tank along with a Convict and a few Diamond Tetras. The convict always chased the Acaras around the tank. She bought them to breed them but never had any luck with them breeding. She did say that the Convict chased the female around most of the time but not really the male. She decided to sell the Acaras and so I bought them from her.

I was thinking about adding some MelaFix but haven't decided yet as I am not sure of the problem. I also do have some PimaFix if needed. The main thing is I have some Pepper Cories in the same tank and I know meds don't tend to be helpful for them and may in fact hurt them in a way. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks

[Needeles]

Ok so I did a week of Melafix and still nothing has changed. Does anyone have any ideas what might be the problem here?