Mild finrot on my Bangaii Cards...

DAvis

DAvis

Reefer Madness
I have a minor issue with my Bangaii Cardinals. One in particular. To start, standard tank parameters are where they should be (ammonia - 0, nitrates - 0, pH 8.3, salinity, 1.026). I was moving them from their old home (28g cube) to their new 65g. That's when I noticed the shy one (always in caves except when feeding, but very healthy) his lower pectorals were flattened, either chewed or rotted. I'm not sure if he was being harassed by a rather large emerald green, hanging in the rocks, or if he had mild fin rot.

I feed them a multitude of foods (mysis, cyclop-eze, some veggie material, and supplement with GVH+.

I am considering treating with melafix, but first I want to see if good nutrition and no big emerald! will help.

I've used melafix for years in my freshwater tanks with great success (however you can't use with anabantids). Any of you have any experience with melafix in a reef tank? I'm currently not running a skimmer, but will soon.
Thanks,
DAvis
 
Have you considered a QT instead of treating the entire system? I used that stuff once in my system and it throughly screw all my parameters up and messed the skimmer up too.
 
little_fish said:
+1 Erin

I would be very caution about adding that stuff to a reef tank. I would only treat in a QT tank.
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I know that is prudent, am working on making the 28 g as a quarantine tank. I know, I know, closing the barn door after the horses are out!

dcantucson said:
Have you considered a QT instead of treating the entire system? I used that stuff once in my system and it throughly screw all my parameters up and messed the skimmer up too.
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I figured it would mess up skimming, as it is a fine oill and affects surface tension, but I wasn't aware of it messing with tank parameters. What did it negatively affect, if you don't mind me asking?
 
Alot of those medications can be pretty harmful to the corals and the waste processing bacteria.

Also, you dont need a glass tank for a QT tank. A plastic tub work just fine!
 
I dosed Melafix in my main tank and I couldnt get my skimmer running for over a month because of it. I'm not dosing my DT ever again
 
little_fish said:
Alot of those medications can be pretty harmful to the corals and the waste processing bacteria.

Also, you dont need a glass tank for a QT tank. A plastic tub work just fine!
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This is just Melaleuca extract, tea tree oil, it has no harmful effect on the nitrogen cycle, and is quite mild on invertebrates, but... I'll get that QT set up right away.

Northstar24 said:
I dosed Melafix in my main tank and I couldnt get my skimmer running for over a month because of it. I'm not dosing my DT ever again
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Thanks Northstar, I'm not using a skimmer yet, which is the only reason I would consider using Melafix in the DT, but that is good to know, and not to do!:Cheers:

The Cards are no worse off, and may be on the mend, will keep you posted. I will show you before and after pics... Here is before the fin damage...
 

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Retest nitrates. Fin rot is linked to high nitrates. The fish could also be malnourished and shy fish tend to get like that.
 
sen5241b said:
Retest nitrates. Fin rot is linked to high nitrates. The fish could also be malnourished and shy fish tend to get like that.
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Thanks sen, Nitrates are 0 by two tests. Bangaii Cards are generally shy. They love caves, but swim about freely when feeding. One, even when little, likes to move about the caves, the other stays out with the clowns :shock: but still is not far from cover. THe more I look at it, it's not fin rot, but more of an abrasion from tucking in the rocks. I've seen this in local trout streams with native fish. On rock bottoms the pectorals were worn down to the bone almost! It is more subtle in mine, instead of a rounded fin, they are squared off a little. I will keep a close eye on them and will try to get some pics too. Very helpful advice, thank you. Oh, and both are eating quite well.
Time will tell.
 
DAvis said:
Oh, and both are eating quite well.
Time will tell.
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To quote myself....

Well, time did tell. Both my Cards were healing quite nicely, the shy one eating sporadically, but still eating. He would always stay by the overflow box, in the gentle current and nip a few bites hear and there. No one was even remotely harassing him, but he never sized up like his brother. Well, yesterday when I got home from work to my horror, he was sitting on the bottom of the tank. I had the quarantine running, but it was set up too late for him. He didn't survive the night... One of my oldest fish, but still only had him a year and a half.

I don't know why he wasted away, I hope it wasn't out of my ignorance and neglect. I never treated with the Melafix, and just continued with mixed diet and lots of garlic, vitamins and all that. All else are thriving and tank parameters are good (of what I can test) Ammonia "0", Nitrate is "0" on one test and maybe "5" on another. I do 10% water change weekly (at most 10 days!) and I top off daily with RODI. The temp is 79F +/- 1, and pH of 8.3 +/- 0.1 (hard for my eyes to distinguish the subtle colors!)

Thanks to all for your suggestions.
 
Sorry to hear :( Always sad to lose a fish you've had a while. I don't think he would have survived quarantine anyway....the move would have been too much. Which is why it's ideal to quarantine fish when you first get them, get rid of whatever they might have, before putting them in the main tank. But, as I'm sure you've read at other posts, most of us do not quarantine; we just hope to keep our water parameters pristine, and hope they can fight off illness on their own.
 
Im sorry for you loss :(

And i dont think its from anything you did, sometime fish just dont make it. They can suffer from genetic disease just like we can and there is nothing we can do.
 
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