Fin Rot? Please help!

[Ktoneal1]

I dunno even where to begin! Got given a 50gal. freshwater tank (heater, air pump, air stone, filter, gravel, fake plants, included; bought thermometer & light w/ hood). 10 live fish with about 10gal. of original water too. Since I had live fish I could not wait to cycle my tank properly. I have 2 neon tetras, 2 glow tetras, 2 zebra danio, 1 swardtail, 1 bala shark, 1 molly & a fish I cant id (it looks like zebra danio but stripes are silver & much longer pelvic & caudal fins)!
PROBLEM
-Green alge started growing about week 3 bought 2 mystery snails
-Glow tetras started losing color 1st on caudal fin, then dorsal fin
-Glow tetras dorsal & caudal fin edges started appearing white
-Glow tetras, neon tetras, molly & swardtail appear to have fin rot?
-can snails carry fin rot?
-On day 2 of Maracyn treatment & causing ammonia to rise
-how do I lower ammonia with out adding more chemicals
-I dont think water change is correct b/c will get rid of medicine

Side note my ph keeps dropping; at 6ppm currently. Read about crushed coral but how do I administer? Poor whole bag in like gravel? Put in some sort of mesh bag & let sit in tank till ph rises?

I am so new & so lost! I feel like I need a chemistry degree to figure this all out! PLEASE HELP THE NEWBIE!

 

[Kalavek]

This may require some effort, just so you know. First off, you need to do some more tests and post the results here - temperature, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and probably water hardness and alkalinity will all be relevant to your problem (and probably important). Also, did you use Prime or any kind of water conditioner to remove chlorine and chloramine from your tap water?

If you can take photos of your fish to show the fin rot, that might also be a good idea - someone may recognize something you missed.

Be prepared to do a lot of water changes until your biofilter is ready to hold it's own. I'm not sure how that will work with the medication, but someone else will likely be able to help out with that. What kind of filter is it (brand/model)?

For a 50-gallon tank, I would suggest you get yourself at least a couple of brand new 5-gallon buckets for water conditioning. You do NOT want to let chlorine get into your filter, it will kill all the beneficial bacteria off. Also, if you are medicating, I can only assume you have removed any carbon filters - please confirm that.

Otherwise I suggest you get yourself some Prime and dose the tank to help detoxify all that ammonia. I personally think large water changes are in order, but you'll have to detail the meds you are using.

 

[Chris_A]

This might be a bit overwhelming, please do ask if you want any clarifications or questions answered.

So yup All those test results would be really good to know. Including your tap water results. A pH of 6 in that short amount of time combined with the ammonium could mean over feeding. Just the first thing off the top of my head but it depends on what your tap tests out as too.

So far as waterchanges with the med's... don't worry about it. Most med's start to degrade VERY shortly after being added to the water. A water change every second day would not be an issue and you might have to do one every day. Plus that would be the lesser of two evils anyway. Having an infection exposed to the ammonium is much worse and many problems can be helped with water changes. Prime would be a good idea no mater how you cut it though.

Depending on your tap pH, you might not want to do anything so far as the CC (or any buffer for that matter) goes. Basically, swinging the pH all over the place is only going to make things worse. Plus that low pH is going to help keep the ammonia in it's mildly less toxic form, ammonium.

So far as the fish go, it might not even be an infection let alone fin rot. Extremely low pH can cause something called Acidosis, essentially burns. But those burns can allow infections to form, it's like any "open wound". If it is an infection a picture would be a BIG help in making sure we can recommend the right medication. Most infections in freshwater are going to be gram - and can be treated with most medications. There are a few gram + ones though ("mouth rot" which is a bit of a misnomer because it can infect other parts as well, is one of the most common) and those need something else. There is always any of the Furan based meds that will treat both gram- and gram+ infections. API makes Furan 2 and Jungle has Fungus Eliminator. They are the exact same thing so go with the cheaper one, it's just going to get flushed with the water changes anyway .

For what I would ACTUALLY recommend doing... Gonna need the tap and tank test results to know for sure. If your tap pH is high, a big water change could do a lot of harm. If it's OK, that is the first place to start.

Chris

 

[Chris_A]

You do NOT want to let chlorine get into your filter, it will kill all the beneficial bacteria off.

Ya know... I'll probably catch flak for this one...

There was an artical out a few years back, citing studies proving that this is not the case... The majority of the bacteria actually encapsulates and is protected. Now that was only for short periods of time (ie: rinsing media) and I still don't recommend it but I've been doing it for YEARS without any issues. I think most people treat bacteria with kid gloves but when you really think about it... they were hear long before us and they will be LONG after we are gone... They arn't fine china.

I'll see if I can find the artical and referances when I have more time. It wasn't online so I have literally BOXES of material to sift through to find it.

Chris

 

[Ktoneal1]

ok

-I have an Emperor power filter model 280
-Maracyn directions said if filter is more than 6days old leave in place
-per you recommendations I have removed carbon filter

-when doing water changes I am treating water with API tap water conditioner. Yes have 2 5gal buckets!

-water temp at 72-74F

-feeding is done with the 5min. rule so I don't think its over feeding but what do I know

-have no clue how to test water hardness?

-ph=6 NO2=0ppm NO3=10ppm Ammonia=.25ppm

-will see if I can borrow digital camera

 

[MissFishy]

What you need to do is test your tap water PH straight from the tap. Put some water into a cup and test the PH. I think your biggest problem is likely a cycling tank and poor water quality. But the PH test is where to start so we can see if it would be safe to start doing major water changes.