Sometimes an aquarist notices that yesterday still healthy fish have a white border on the edges of the tail or fins. With its growth, the tissues exfoliate from the processes and die. Thus, one of the most common aquarium fish diseases manifests itself - fin rot. There are many ways to deal with this scourge. Very often for this purpose, for example, hydrogen peroxide is used.
What fish can get sick
Most often, fin rot develops in barbs, blue neons, goldfish, labyrinths, and live-bearers. This disease is especially dangerous for young animals. The tissues of the fins and tail of such fish are still very tender and “dissolve” due to rot almost instantly. Adult individuals pick up rot much less often, and the disease itself passes easier.
But, of course, the most dangerous rot is for fish with luxurious tails and fins. This mainly concerns such beauties as veil-tails. The onset of the disease can completely reduce the decorative qualities of these aquarium inhabitants to nothing. Therefore, the methods of its treatment and prevention will be most useful for the owners of this popular variety of goldfish to learn.
The main reasons for the development
Causes fin rot a special kind of bacteria - Pseudomonas fluorescens. In this case, the main causes of infection are:
- low-quality water;
- improper feeding;
- aggression of other fish;
- stress and infections (bacterial).
What drugs can be used
If a disease such as fin rot is detected in goldfish, treatment can be carried out using either purchased means or ordinary home ones, always at hand. The same goes for other species of aquarium inhabitants. Most often from this disease they use:
- salt;
- hydrogen peroxide;
- streptocide;
- chloramphenicol.
Sometimes owners of aquariums use other drugs to identify diseases such as fin rot in goldfish. Treatment with methylene blue, for example, can give a certain result. However, this tool is not too strong and does not always help. Of the special preparations purchased, TetraMedica General Tonic and SeraBaktopur are usually used. These are very effective means. You can also try to treat rot with bicillin-5 or malachite green (not to be confused with diamond).
How to treat
Fin rot treatment is best done in a common aquarium. This can prevent the re-development of the disease or infection of other fish. The fact is that the bacteria causing rot rot enter the aquarium usually with river soil, food or plants taken from open water bodies. Thus, disinfection carried out directly on the spot will make it possible to get rid of the very cause of the disease.
In a separate vessel, the rot of the fins is treated only if there are some healthy fish in the aquarium that cannot tolerate the drug chosen for this purpose. Before starting the procedure, it is mandatory to replace water in the aquarium by 30-50%. You will also need to raise the temperature to the maximum allowable for this particular species of fish. If there are healthy representatives of the fauna in the aquarium that do not tolerate warm water, the diseased person with rot should still be treated in a separate vessel. In this case, the aquarium itself will subsequently need to be disinfected separately. To do this, remove all fish and snails from it, and then remove and thoroughly wash the soil and plants in a solution of bicillin-5. Plastic and ceramic disinfection decorations can be simply boiled.
The benefits and principle of action of peroxide
Fin rot in goldfish, labyrinths, livestock, etc. with the help of this tool can be cured quite quickly. The principle of peroxide is simple. Firstly, it saturates water with oxygen (which is good for fish in any case), and secondly, it oxidizes well the organics that make up the cell components of the disease-causing bacterium.
Fin rot: treatment in a common aquarium with hydrogen peroxide
Apply H 2 O 2 , of course, should be correct. To treat fish from fin rot, a 3% solution of this substance is used. It is such peroxide that is sold in pharmacies in liquid form. If necessary, you can make a 3% solution from tablets. On a glass of water they will need 6 pcs. For the treatment of rot rot , 2-2.5 ml of the product per 10 liters of water are needed.
Of course, pouring a pharmacy or tablet solution prepared directly from a glass or bottle into an aquarium is not possible. After all, at the same time, you can accidentally get a jet on some fish and burn it. The same goes for plants. It is better to dilute the required amount of peroxide with water in a half-liter jar and carefully pour everything into the filter stream. Add H 2 O 2 in the treatment of a disease such as rot of fins, in the aquarium should be 1-2 times a day until the fish recover (7-14 days).
Since after using this product a lot of dead organics appears in the aquarium, at least 30% of the water should be changed daily during treatment. Otherwise, rotting residues can cause fish poisoning.
Tip
Peroxide is a cheap and quite effective remedy. When it enters the aquarium, an active reaction begins to occur. In this case, the substance decomposes into two harmless components - oxygen and water. But despite this, peroxide should be used only if the rot of the fins of the veils, barbs, livestock, etc. in severe form is detected. At the initial stage of fish, it is better to treat with some more sparing purchased means. In any case, you need to add peroxide to the aquarium in an amount of not more than 2.5 ml per 10 liters of water. Otherwise, aquatic plants will be damaged. In particular, they do not like peroxide of Wallisneria, all kinds of mosses, camboba and hornwort. Adding 4 ml of this substance per 10 l to the aquarium will be dangerous even for the fish themselves. Fortunately, peroxide has no special effect on the bacteria of the biofilter.
How to treat rot with salt
This is another cheap and quite effective tool. A very good solution may be its use in identifying a disease such as fin rot in goldfish. Salt treatment to some other fish species, unfortunately, is contraindicated. They do not tolerate its presence in water, for example, barbs and all labyrinths. Livestock, on the contrary, love her very much. Therefore, fin rot can be treated with salt not only in veil tails and ordinary goldfish, but also in guppies, swordsmen, and malls. The correct dosage in this case will be 1 tbsp / liter per 10 liters.
Treatment with streptocide and chloramphenicol
Both of these funds can be purchased at a pharmacy without a prescription and at a low cost. Chloramphenicol may have a negative effect on the microflora of biofilters. Therefore, for treatment in a general aquarium, it should be used as carefully as possible. The required dose of chloramphenicol is 500 mg per 10 liters. This remedy has a beneficial effect on fish fins within 48 hours. Then you will need to replace as much water as possible. Next, 500 mg of the drug should be added back to the aquarium (and so on up to four times).
Antibiotics are generally a very good remedy for a disease such as fin rot in goldfish. Treatment with streptocide, for example, can also be carried out both in a separate tank and in a common aquarium. Of course, this drug can be a good solution for any other species of fish. The required dose of streptocide in the detection of rot is 10-20 g per 10 liters. This amount of drug must be added to the aquarium every 8 days for a month. And of course, in this case, it is also worth more often to do a water change in the aquarium.
How to prevent the development of the disease
Usually only fish with weakened immunity are infected with fin rot. Therefore, the prevention of infection with Pseudomonas fluorescens consists primarily in good care of the aquarium inhabitants. To prevent infection, you must also disinfect the new soil before laying it. Do not plant in the aquarium and no plants taken from ponds, lakes or rivers. To provoke the development of fin rot in fish, among other things, too low a water temperature can. Therefore, it is imperative to monitor the correct operation of the thermostat.