Bacteria

[MikeC_EE99]

Well, it appears that my two yellow tailed blue damsels have come down with fin and tail rot. I have a question regarding the best way to treat this. I have read that I should quarintine them and then treat them with a chemical such as Melafix. What about the main tank? Do I need to treat the main tank also, so that after treating and quarintining them for several weeks they don't come down with fin and tail rot when I put them back into the main tank?

I'm not sure exactly how they got the bacteria. I'm good about water changes and they are the only fish I have in the tank at this time. I do have several snails, three shrimp, three emerald crabs, and several hermit crabs.

Any thoughts or suggestions as to how to treat and prevent in the future?

Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't treat the main tank, the bacteria that you are talking about is (usually) normal flora-they are in your tank at all times and normally harmless. Fin and tail rot is a kind of a secondary condition, they appear as a fish's immune system gets compromised. In other words, when a fish is healthy, the bacteria that causes these things is easily overcome. It's when they are weakened by another underlying problem that the bacteria takes hold.

The way to prevent it is to make sure your tank's water parameters are the best they can be, and to try (this is the hard part) to only buy fish that are in good health to begin with.

 

[MikeC_EE99]

Thanks for the info!

I have been very good about checking the water parameters weekly (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, calcium, pH, salinity, etc.) and so far everything has been normal, but maybe I missed something. The fish seem active and have been eating well though, so maybe they can fight it on their own?!?! I'm thinking about going ahead and quarintining them for a few days and treating them anyway. It can't hurt obviously.

Any other advice would be helpful! Thanks again!!!

 

[Anonymous]

I would remove and treat them in a Q tank. Hard to tell without a picture of the extent of the damage done but IME they don't usually climb over those infections without treatment.