Split Fins

[underwaterforest]

Does anybody have a good suggestion for helping discus heal split fins? Is time the only solution or can I speed up the process somehow? I just noticed it today. The discus have a few splits in their dorsal/anal fins probably from me freaking them out when I replaced a broken heater earlier. Aggression between the fish has been relatively minimal.

I have already added salt at about 1 tbsp per 10 gallon to help with their acclimatization and I have only had the fish since Tuesday. I'm not too sure if I should add anything else to help them heal up.

So far I am feeding them hikari blood worms and some FD mal's black worms and haven't made a homemade mix with vitamins yet. I'm using tap water treated with prime and the water is rather soft with a pH around 7.2 and am changing 75% of the water everyday. My tank is fully cycled (fishless) and I haven't read any nitrite/ammonia and nitrates are usually below 5 ppm. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[bluedimond123]

It should heel on its own you just need to watch it really good to make sure it dosent get infected or get fungus.
jeff

[rickztahone]

the salt will help plenty. they will recover soon enough though. it's usually do to ammonia burn.

[Eddie]

Clean water and time. ;)

[underwaterforest]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'm still having problems which are starting to spread to all the fish :confused:. It looks a lot like fin rot, the edges of the fins are ragged and starting to turn white. The fish that looks the worst is also the smallest my AEL, but even the largest healthiest altum flora is starting to get it. I'm hoping the salt will start helping with but so far it is not. They are all still feeding heartily so it hasn't effected the overall health of the fish, but I do see them shaking their fins occasionally probably from the rot and salt.

Should do anything more drastic or just wait and see? I'm still changing 75% of the water each day and have moved to starting to feed light portions (twice a day) of the Mal's black worms to help limit organics/bact in the tank. The salt dosage is about 1.5 TBSP per 10 gallons. The tank temperature is at 86 degrees, should I lower it to slow the bacterial/fungus down? Thanks.

[lkc]

Make sure you rule out stray voltage. Even though I keep all the tops of my "Submersible" heaters out of the water, I had some. This can lead to all kinds of unexplained illnesses. If you don't have a grounding probe, get one.

[underwaterforest]

I did have a little problem with stray voltage, my new stealth heater was leaking but I removed that promptly. I still think my problem is probably due to bacteria/fungi or possible long term shipping stress, since I just got them. The fish are still having fin issues and I may have to resort to an antibiotic if it doesn't start healing up soon. I sure hope I don't have to use the antibiotic though if possible. I'm crossing my fingers that clean water, salt and time will help.

[tcyiu]

Can you post a picture?

Tim

[underwaterforest]

I don't have any current pictures but these were taken a few days ago. What has been happening lately is the pelvic fins have been disappearing and the tips turning white, probably due to both fighting and possible fin issues. The splits are still increasing and more fins are turning white in patches. I would get a picture for you but it is very hard to get them to pose for me. You can see on the AEL that his tail fin is ragged and this has only got worse, but I hoping soon that the scales will tip back toward fin growth or else its antibiotic time. Thanks.

http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae177/paganfx4/Fish%20Tank/FP1.jpg
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae177/paganfx4/Fish%20Tank/FP3.jpg
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae177/paganfx4/Fish%20Tank/FP2.jpg

[Eddie]

Clean water/bit of salt.


Eddie

[rickztahone]

Clean water/bit of salt.


Eddie

+1

[hedut]

you'll need WC and salt everyday for a week and will show the result. Like Eddie said " clean water will answer anything";)

[darkknight87]

I agree with eddie, I often see this with newly shipped fish..clean water will clear it up after a few days..I dont even like to use salt most of the time. Clean water is key