Fin injury

[Echo]

My O got a hold of one of my SD's tail. The remaining part of the tail is turning white. What I don't understand is all his other fins are turning white also. What could this be?

I am doing a water change today. I usually get the water as low as possible so it will be a significant WC. I was planning on adding salt as a treatment. Let me know what you think.

[Kmuda]

Any chance of a photo? Sounds like something that a MelaFix/PimaFix combo would take care of.

I had an Angelfish loose 1/2 of it's tail in that 1/2 of the tail was missing, horizontally, all they way down to the nub. It has grown back in full. Grew back so fast it surprised me.

[Echo]

I tried to get pictures, none of them have turned out. I noticed there is a white patch on the mouth of the SD. It does not looked raised or fuzzy. Another injury or something else?

[Kmuda]

Don't know. Not really enough info to accurately make a diagnoses. It's obviously enough to be concerning you... and you are the one with eyes on the fish... so a combo treatment of MelaFix/PimaFix may be in order.

[Echo]

I will work on getting a video. Thanks

[Echo]

Some video. Two of the SDs are showing the white fins.

http://s959.photobucket.com/albums/ae77 ... mage_1.mp4

http://s959.photobucket.com/albums/ae77 ... =image.mp4

[~RuSh~]

Looks like fin rot of some sort. I'd definitely take some sort of action quick.

The melafix pimafix combo should suffice. Add some salt and keep up on the w/c's. You know the routine.

[Echo]

does fin rot usually spread really fast? The white area have doubled since this morning. I just ran out and go meds. Put the first dose in a few minutes ago.

[Kmuda]

If it's spreading that fast, might require more than MelaFix/PimaFix. What meds are you using?

[Echo]

melafix/pimafix/salt

edit: Just started these about 15 minutes ago

[Kmuda]

See where that gets you. On things that are sensitve to the tree oil products, MelaFix/PimaFix are very effective. If it continues to get worse, big water change and go with something stronger. I don't know what your LFS carries, so it's difficult to recommend. The Mardel products are good and are carried by most chain stores.

[Echo]

I am not sure the two with the illness are going to make it through the night. I will be suprised if they do. They both have stopped schooling with the healthy ones. I am amazed at how quickly this spread.

[~RuSh~]

They still alive?

I've noticed that silver dollars go down fast when they are sick. They are pretty hardy in general, but once they get an illness things can go south with them in a hurry. I think adding an aerator helps big time with SD's because they tend to panic when they are sick, and having extra o2 makes it easier for them to calm down.

[Echo]

Nope they didn't make it. The rest of the SDs seem fine. I am going to continue with the treatment just in case.

Was this something other than fin rot?

[~RuSh~]

It looks like fin rot to me, but man was that fast. Were those the two new guys you added recently?

[Echo]

Yes, so far two down, one left. I watched this particular batch at the store for almost a week before I took them home. The whole school looked fine. Bo got a hold of the tail of one. From what I have read injury and stress is a common cause for fin rot.

Did you see the discoloration along the body of the fish? That was the white discoloration that started on the fins. It almost consumed the entire body.

I turned the aerator up so that it puts out the maximum. I noticed adding the meds cause the bubble to be tiny. Why is that?

[ArcAngel]

looks like fin rot or clamped fins.

[Kmuda]

It looks like fin rot to me, but man was that fast. Were those the two new guys you added recently?

Certainly looks like fin rot, but I've never seen fin rot set on that fast or kill that quick. Fin Rot is normally something easily dealt with. But wow, that was fast. And to jump fish.... that almost certainly rules out plain ole fin rot.

I would be concerned about columnaris.

[Echo]

oh wow, what is columnaris?

edit: googled it http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/columnaris.htm

Symptoms:
White spots on mouth, edges of scales, and fins

Cottony growth that eats away at the mouth

Fins disintegrate beginning at the edges

'Saddleback' lesion near the dorsal fin

Fungus often invades the affected skin

Rapid gilling in cases where gills are infected

Well the some of the symptoms fit.

[Kmuda]

Columnaris has different species (for lack of a better phrase). Some can wipe out an entire tank overnight, taking effect too quickly to do much about it. Others are more delayed. And some are highly, highly contagious.

I'm fortunate in that I've never had to fight it first hand. Don't want to, either.

[~RuSh~]

Hopefully it's not Columnaris. Keep your eyes on the others and keep your fingers crossed.

[~RuSh~]

After looking at some images of fin rot online, I think what got to your Silver dollars was some kind of bacterial infection. Take a look at these images.

http://www.jbl.de/onlinehospitaluk/perp ... alleryId=2

Scroll down until you come to Bacterial infections and you'll see a few images of fish that have what looks like the fin rot that your fish have, and also some have that clearish whitish coating over their bodies. Perhaps this is what got to your guys.

[Echo]

These pictures look very very similar to the pictures I took.

[Echo]

So it's been a few days and all my other fish look great (even the last new SD). Should I continue the meds for the full week (tuesday night) or just get in an extra WC and resume my maintenance schedule?

[~RuSh~]

If the meds aren't hurting anything, I would just continue them. Better to be safe than sorry.