my damsel seems to have fin rot

[joshlegs]

So here's the deal. my damsel hasn't been looking all that good lately. He's been a little discolored, and he got some whitestuff on his tail about 4 days ago or so. I didnt think much of it initially because the day after i first brought him home, he had the same looking stuff on his tail, but it went away. It looked to go away a day ago, but then it came back, and this time i've noticed that a little bit of his tail fin is missing where the white stuff is.

What should i do ?? I dont have a QT or anything. :S

The last time I checked my water parameters, about 2 days ago, everything was spot on. I'm not sure what to do, and I dont want my fish to die, even if he was a cheap fish that is mean to my clown fishes. :S

 

[little_fish]

Without QT there isnt much you can do. Is he still eating well?

 

[joshlegs]

Yeah, he's still eating really well actually.

 

[little_fish]

Then he has a pretty good chance of fighting this off on his own, just keep feeding him

 

[Bifferwine]

+1 Hannah. Fish have a good shot at getting better if they are eating. Like she said, you can't really do much if you can't medicate the fish. And you shouldn't put medication in your display tank. You don't need a fancy or expensive quarantine tank. A plastic storage tub from the hardware store will do the trick.

 

[joshlegs]

So i figured i'd post an update. My damsel still has tail rot, though it seems not as aggressive. It turns out my tank heater went out (i didnt have a thermometer .. i know, shame on me). i was relying on the thermometer on the heater to keep things straight. well, obviously it didnt. I've had to go out of town for a couple days at a time a few times in the last couple weeks. and I think what happened was the temp got too low and stressed the fish out (My starfish went kaput after the temp got down to 64 degrees this week). I realized it when i got back from my cousin's basic training graduation and the water felt freezing and my starfish was falling apart.

I'm kinda pissed because the heater is only 2 months old. I got it from my LFS, but i dont have the receipt or box so I dont know how i could get them to replace it. i got an emergency replacement from walmart last night and the temp is back up. so hopefully it's problem fixed. (also got a thermometer).

i really hate that i lost the starfish. also, i'll now be going with redundant heaters for failsafe purposes.

 

[little_fish]

That sucks :( heaters are the #1 thing to break in this hobby though, many of us have two heaters because of this

 

[joshlegs]

yeah, it sucks i had to learn it the hard way :(

I really hope the damsel makes it. he's still eating healthily, and i've added some dried shrimp to the diet. i figure diversity is good for digestion and for happiness. I really really hate that the starfish died, but i knew they were super hard to take care of anyway. maybe i wont replace him. not sure what i'll do. i'm gonna wait till the damsel recovers before doing anything else thoughf

 

[little_fish]

What else are you feeding? Dried foods are really high in nitrates and phosphates which are bad for your water quality, but i also feel that they are bad for your fish.

 

[joshlegs]

... Just flake food. I suppose I need a total overhaul of their diet?

 

[motorcyclereefer]

Another point that is going in your favor is the fish. Damsels are some of the hardiest fish in the hobby.

 

[little_fish]

Ya, i would suggest getting a variety of frozen foods. Petco/petsmarts are great places to go and get frozen foods (avoid brine shrimp though, its like fish candy) and rotate through them. Variety is the spice of life and key to good nutrition!

 

[poksal]

+1 littlefish
I have never fed my fish anything but frozen or live... to me flakes are a cop out and I'd consider myself the flake if I was to feed them to my fish. ..ok now that is me.. not you. .. based on my experience.. I can't see me feeding flakes.

I usually buy the frozen variety packs... and shave the cubes onto a small dedicated 4" x 4" piece of acrylic I use as a cutting board. Then I scrape it off into a shot glass of tank water to thaw. When I hold that over my tank, the tank comes alive. I've used that same method (same piece of acrylic and shot glass) for around 30 years of fresh water. I guess that is about all that hasn't changed as I switched to reef.

 

[joshlegs]

thanks for the tips guys. i'm going to go pick up some frozen foods with my next pay check (this friday). i might get some brine shrmp just for a little treat every now and again too. i want my fishies to like their papa!

 

[Bifferwine]

Brine shrimp is fine as along as it's not all you feed them. They seem to like a variety of foods. If you get really into it, you can save money by making your own frozen foods. I'd put fresh and frozen seafood from the grocery store into a blender with some garlic, nori sheets and Selcon, then put the mush into gumdrop shaped mini ice cube trays. Then when it's frozen, pop the gumdrops into a ziplock bag. Your whole kitchen will stink, but it's kinda fun and you know exactly what is going into the food.