Guppy Fin Rot (Tail Rot)..

[vannel]

Hi bros,

I recently purchased 2 pairs of guppies from a breeder and they were initially fine. After a day or two, I realised one of the females had patches on her tail fin and was worried that it would be fungus. Salt was added and a dose of PetFran's External Bacteria & Fungus Defense was applied into her quarantine tank. 2 days on, she's now got a ragged tail fin that is typical of fin rot.

I've checked water params and they seem to be constant. The other fishes show no signs of any ailments. WC has been done every 2 days for about 20% each time.

So my question now is, how long will it take before I know the medication is taking effect? I'm quite desperate for the fin rot to stop. If it ever gets to the base of the tail fin, then chances are, the guppy will not make it. Has anyone ever had luck using medications on their fish? It never really seemed to work for me.

[stormhawk]

I never had much success in treating fin rot except with that "yellow powder" thing from the LFS which I suspect is some sort of antibiotic. There's the option of cutting off the affected part of the fin and letting it grow back in time but that is usually done to much bigger fish. It's probably a good idea to isolate her from the non-affected fish, just in case.

[vannel]

I never had much success in treating fin rot except with that "yellow powder" thing from the LFS which I suspect is some sort of antibiotic. There's the option of cutting off the affected part of the fin and letting it grow back in time but that is usually done to much bigger fish. It's probably a good idea to isolate her from the non-affected fish, just in case.

Yes. I've only ever successfully treated a Corydoras Hastatus for fungus/cotton on the tail fin, and that was through rather unorthodox means (medication didn't work well, so I manually scraped off the fungus/cotton). After that, medication was still applied to kill off whatever I could not remove. The cory has since returned to normal.

However, fin rot is a whole different ball game. I'm quite sure I won't cut off the guppy's tail (that's quite morbid) and hope it solves the problem. So far, salt doesn't seem to help. The medication, as prescribed, is still being applied (but not sure if its working after only 2 days). Yesterday, I went to the extent where I applied the medication directly onto the tail fin without diluting in water (read in an article that its highly effective, although the medication is carcinogenic).

I'm hoping that'll help. Still monitoring.

Does the yellow powder really work? I'll get it if its going to help.

[stormhawk]

It is probably an antibiotic so it works, but since the wording on the packets are in Japanese, it's hard to make out the appropriate dosage. However, I would only use this in the worst case scenario because it can make the disease more treatment-resistant if it ever pops up again.