Re: White spots and ragged tail...

Question
Good Evening.

I have a difficult problem that my research cannot seem to answer.  I have 5 guppies in a 3 gallon tank.  A few days ago one guppy's tail started to deteriorate.  I thought it was because it was the runt of the group that it was being picked on, but that no longer appears to be the case.

He is now sitting at the bottom, upright, and occasionally making a swim.  His tail has deteriorated significantly.  The tail appears ragged and has small white spots where the  tears are.  I cannot determine if this is fin rot or ich.

Fin rot seemed to make sense, and so yesterday I change half the water and treated with Melafix.  I treated again today and changed half the water. No change yet, and now it appears another guppy has a white spot on his fin to at a point that appears to be degrading.  But now having read more on 'white spots' I am questioning whether it is fin rot or ich.

From what I have been reading white spots are also characteristic of ich. The problem I have is that in my case there are no white spots on the body, just the tail, and every site seems to indicate white spots on the body.

So am I right? Does this sound more like fin rot than ich?

While I plan on continuing with the current treatment plan, and stepping it up to Maracyn 1 AND Maracyn II with some salt tomorrow, I would appreciate some guidance.

Thanks.

Answer
Hello Jonathan!

Well since it is spreading to other fishes, it is most likely Ich/Ick. Maracyn 1 and 2 should help but be careful not to overuse them. If you're really planning to use salt you should remove any scaleless fish or snails in your tank. You can also try the API Stress Coat and Stress Zyme because they can lower stress levels up to 40%. Stress Coat also has the healing power of Aloe Vera which should speed up the recovery. Stress Zyme improves the development of the biological filter and helps clean a dirty aquarium. It contains over 300 million live bacteria per teaspoonful & breaks down organic compounds that cause dangerous conditions such as Ammonia and Nitrite poisoning and low oxygen levels. You can get them @ your local pet store.

Hope this helps! :D
~Sam
P.S. Feel free to ask more Q's!