Fin Rot or Nipping?

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Maypea

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Aug 8, 2013
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Texas
I'm fairly certain this is a result of nipping because I've watched this little guy getting bullied around the tank recently. Everyone was getting along just great. We went on vacation for a week and had a friend coming over to housesit. When we came back, one of my little cobra guppies was missing and I found what was left of him during a water change when I lifted one of the tank decorations. After that, my fiancé chose some new fish for his birthday including two new guppies for that tank. At first I noticed the new fish picking on the older ones but as time went on, only one was getting singled out and there was only one major and one minor bully still picking on him and they were two of his oldest tank mates! Now I know if one is sick, the others will pick on him...pretty much until he dies. At first I thought they had fin rot so I've been treating with salt; however, I'm fairly certain it's just tail nipping. I've quarantined the weakling but I need a new set of eyes on if his tail is getting better or worse. I'd love for it to grow and flourish like it once did. This is Dexter, named for his once beautifully blood-red tailfin. The pictures are in order 1. prior to nipping 2. first day of quarantine 3. second day of quarantine

DexterTail.jpg DexterTail2.jpg DexterTail3.jpg
 

tiger_cory

i'm the pie
Jul 5, 2013
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hello
Are there any white cottony stringy things where you suspect there is fin rot? If there are, then that's fin rot. My fish also has that, but he is acting all normal and stuff. Also check for any behaviour changes as these could indicate fin rot too. Fin rot is also extremely contagious so if he does have fin rot then check your other fish too.
 

Maypea

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Aug 8, 2013
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Texas
No white stringy stuff, nope. I guess I'll just keep the quarantine tank and original tank pristine until he gets better and then hopefully they can all get along again.
 

Maypea

AC Members
Aug 8, 2013
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Texas
The Original tank is a 20 gallon with 3 neon tetras, 1 rubberlip pleco, and 6 guppies. The injured guppy has been in a quarantine one gallon tank for almost 3 days now. I just did about 50% water change on both of them last night and treated both with aquarium salt. I'm about to test the parameters again so I'll get back with that in a little while. I'm not sure when to know when it's okay to add him back to the original tank. I would have moved him to the large tank because the bigger fish in there though considered semi aggressive wouldn't bother him and they've been tankmates before but we recently added some tiger barbs and they're known fin nippers so that's a no-go.
 

Maypea

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Aug 8, 2013
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Texas
What's the tank size and stock? What are the parameters?Clean water goes a long way in healing damaged fins and preventing secondary infections.
Ok so size and stock listed in previous response. I'm having a little bit of trouble with the color matching - using API Master but these are approximate values: 1 gallon quarantine tank-- pH high 8.8 ammonia 0.25 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0-5 Original 20 gallon tank-- pH 7.6 ammonia 0.25 Nitrite 0.25 Nitrate 10-20 I think maybe, since the quarantine is only 1 gallon, I may have added too much of the aquasafe when I did a water change...would it be safe to do a small change with untreated tap water??
 
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Maypea

AC Members
Aug 8, 2013
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Texas
sorry if this is on there but I am NOT seeing my edits on the last response. It could be the filter causing too much aeration. Or also that there are rinsed river stones in there instead of gravel from the established original tank which I wanted to use but fiancé insisted on fresh clean everything, including water but I got him to use at least some of the water from the original tank. I didn't want to shock him and expect him to heal in an entirely unestablished, uncycled bacteria free environment!
 

Maypea

AC Members
Aug 8, 2013
42
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0
Texas
I tested some of the stones in the quarantine tank and some of them fizzed on the acid test so removed the stones from the quarantine tank, replaced them with gravel from the main tank and retested about an hour later. the pH dropped from 8.8(+) to 8.0. I also tested my tap water which looks to be at about 8.0 as well. So I guess that answers the high pH problem.
 
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