Fin Rot??? Worms?

[NickK]

What is fin rot? And what is it caused by? I noticed that some of my largest discus have really tattered pectoral fins. Some of the fins look cloudy. Some of the tails are split as well.

What causes this? Could worms or another parasite cause this? I just finished metro dosing, and was about to start a Flube or Prazi treatment (these are new discus).

Here is a bad picture, but you can start to see the rough fins. The tail is not milky as it appears in the picture. That was just the light. The fish look great, but something is bugging them.

Thanks,
Nick

PS - Last night, I noticed some white thing sitting on the bottom of the tank. It looked like a piece of intestine with poop attached to it. Any ideas? I'm assuming it came from a discus, but maybe it was fat from the beefheart (I really doubt that).

Their poop is usually hard, little pieces - but today it smeared on the glass when I cleaned the tank. It looked like it was melted on the bottom of the glass? This has never happened.

[Carol_Roberts]

A high heat metro treatment will do it.

[NickK]

Carol,
I just finished that treatment, and I'm not seeing an improvement. I think there is something else. Could it be worms? Flube or Prazi?

Nick

[Carol_Roberts]

Sorry, I meant the high heat metro treatment will make the fins look bad - not cure them. Water changes and salt will turn around damage from a metro treatment.

Let them rest a couple of weeks - then you can do a worm treatment if you think that is the problem.