Help! Stuck fins!

Question
Well I woke up Saturday to find some sort of reddish "balls" stuck on her tail fin. Thinking it might be fin rot or fungus, I added Melafix and Pimafix to the water (both natural antibacterial). I continued with the Stress Coat as you told me,,, but she only got worse.

She died over the night. I am assuming it would be wise to do a good water change considering she was in a breeder tank? She was sharing the water with the other fish.

Nathalie

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Followup To

Question -
Wow! Thank you for such a quick response.

I do have one question though, about the Stress Coat treatment: I had remembered that advice and poured some on her this morning; just before writting to you. But you do not mention how many times to do it, it just mentions "Several treatments".

Fish is doing good aside from her stuck fins. She is swimming around in the breeder tank, which means she is not listless. :)

I also added Cycle like you suggested. The temperature in the tank is about 77F. I heard that sometimes raising the temperature can help, do you think I should raise it a little? And how does the Stress Coat treatment work: Once or twice a day?

Thank you again for all your help. I do think it is a result of over feeding, as I have been giving a little extra since the fry were born. I did not feed the fish today at all.

Will keep you posted :)
Nathalie
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Followup To

Question -
Hello Nori,

I would first like to thank you for all your help last month as I tried to get my tank back in check. Everything has been going ok since last we spoke: my four guppies are still there; and one of them even gave birth lastweek.

Woke up this morning and thought I had lost one of the guppies: she was just laying on the bottom and the others were shoving her. She is alive though: swam off to hide when I turned the light on. But something is definitly wrong.

She seemed to be doing ok but today she can't swim properly. I quickly saw why: her dorsal and tail fins seem to be "stuck" together. Like clamped as if they were glued. I immediatly put her in an isolation tank (Those breeder box thingies) so the others wouldn't damage her. Other than being slightly white and her fins are clamped, she looks ok. I am looking at her now while writting, and it looks like there's this sort of white "coat" covering her back from the fin to the tail.

Any ideas what's wrong? Is it like fungus or something? What can I do?

Answer -
Hi Nathalie,
What a hobby this is. Anyway, check that you are not over feeding. That is usually the root cause of fish illness. Stop all feeding for a day. Use Cycle in the water. This will make the water lighter and healthier. Then try the Stress Coat treatment described at my web page:
http://steamboats.com/aquarium.html
Try it once. If it does not help within 24 hours, try it again.
However, the most important thing is to reduce feeding.
Nothing will help if the water is polluted. Fish food contains freeze dried animal products that rot quickly once they hit the water. Imagine drinking water that has had a rotting hamburger sitting in it overnight.
Oh gross, I just grossed myself out.
Write back in a few days and tell me how it's going.
Nori


Answer -
Hi Nathalie,
Here are my suggestions.
Lower the temperature a little. I think 77 is pretty warm.
Feed less. Fish can practically breathe in food. If there is food in the tank, the little ones will get enough. Just stick to the rule of thumb, 2 - 3 flakes per square inch of fish. If you really want to feed "extra," figure 4 - 5 flakes per square inch of fish. Anymore than that can be lethal over time, depending on the size of the tank and other factors.
Only do the Stress Coat once a day at the most. Only use a tiny bit. It's an aloe vera solution that helps their skin. But the best thing is Cycle. Fish can never get enough Cycle. Keep it in the refrigerator to keep the bacteria culture alive.
Write back and tell me how it's going.
Nori

Answer
Hi Nathalie,
Sorry to hear about the death of your little pet. You tried. It is always difficult to know what caused it, whether it's contagious, and whether other fish might get it. I would recommend that you change the water gradually over several weeks. If you put anti-bacterial in there, you would want to gradually get it out. Don't tell the manufacturers or experts who receommend aquarium shop pharmaceuticals, but I do not believe they work. Once you turn to those, it pretty much guarantees the fish will die.
However, I encourage you to print out my holistic aquarium care instructions and create a healthy tank.
Write back anytime.
Nori