Albino Pleco Possible Fin Rot

[LivingLegacy85]

Hi all. I need some insight to what may be going on with my Albino Pleco.

I want to be inline with the sticky note so here goes:

1. Albino Pleco's Pelvic Fin seems to be rotting away
2. No medications used to date
3. Bought fish and it was small that I didn't notice any problems at first
4. I currently have: A variety of platy x 7, African Dwarf Frogs x 2, Albino Pleco x 1, and a few snails that more than likely came from Petsmart
5. I feed the fish once a day
6. 15% WC weekly
7. 25 - 30% monthly along with gravel vacuuming
8. 29 Gallon
9. Current water temperature is 80 degrees
10. Current pH 7
11. Ammonia .25
12. I'm not sure about the hardness
13. Currently using a Marineland Penguin 150 Filter
14. I have a lightly planted tank with Glossostigma, dwarf hair grass, anacharis
15. Fish diet consist of blood worms, tetra color granulate, generic algae wafers
16. Water source is added from the tap after adding Prime
17. No idea of the chemicals used in the water
18. Well water not applicable
19. RO water not applicable
20. No chemicals have been used to repair or clean the tank
21. Last WC was Sunday
22. Tank was set up at the end of September

Any insight to a solution to the problem would be a great help.

[armthehomeless]

Can you post a picture of the pleco? How big are the frogs?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[LivingLegacy85]

Sure thing. The ADFs are both 1.5 in. See attached photos of the pleco.

[DoubleDutch]

Bacterial infection to me! Is 80F not a bit high ?

[Lannie]

Bacterial infection to me! Is 80F not a bit high ?

Hi temps usually a bad combo with bacterial infection, no? Plus I'm wondering if root cause of infection may have been frogs biting.

[DoubleDutch]

Hi temps usually a bad combo with bacterial infection, no? Plus I'm wondering if root cause of infection may have been frogs biting.

Correct, my thoughts. Platys and frogs should be kept cooler also to my believe. My frogs never went for my fish. Could be a secundairy infection !!! Can you qt it and treat it seperately?

[LivingLegacy85]

So could 80F could be to high of a temperature overall? I originally thought 72 - 82 was ideal for tropical tanks. I could be wrong, but that was my original thought.

I can investigate bacterial infections treatments also. In addition I have seen one of the ADFs nip at my Pleco before. That very well may be the cause of the infection to begin with like you wrote Lannie.

[DoubleDutch]

Don't think the temp has started the problem, but as Lanny mentioned : bacteria love high temps !!

[LivingLegacy85]

Ahhh yes. I see. Any insight on bacteria treatments? I'm reading that quarantine is the fist step.

[DoubleDutch]

Don't know your meds that good, but Melafix maybe? Just ordered melafix (has to come from the UK to Holland).

[LivingLegacy85]

Thanks. I will purchase API Melafix and treat as indicated on the bottle. Will keep you posted on results.

[Lannie]

Antibiotic treatments?

Don't know your meds that good, but Melafix maybe? Just ordered melafix (has to come from the UK to Holland).

I don't much about meds either, other than the fact that in the U.S. it is easier to obtain true antibiotic medicines than it is in the U.K. Some people say that Maracyn-Two (comparative to original Maracyn) is best for gram negative bacteria. But I don't know how to tell the difference between the two types of bacteria, let alone between bacterial vs fungal infection in fin rot. Regardless, sounds like qt is first order of business.

Here is URL to helpful article on Houston Aquarium Warehouse website:

http://www.houstonaquariumwarehouse.com/index.php/helpful-tips/7-antibiotics

[morpheus]

most of my tanks are high 70s or low 80s. bacertia do multiply faster in warm water, so some meds say to increase the water temp when treating so any eggs around hatch during the treatment. Melafix and Pimafix are usually the more gentle antibiotic remedies. Things like Maracyn are for more widespread infections and are heavy duty.

it is best to quarentine if you have that ability. if only one fish is showing symptoms then its safer to assume its not a widespread infection and quarentine should work. but if its a bacteria in the whole tank, you will still need to treat the whole tank. just watch the other fish in the tank for similar symptoms.

i agree it could be a secondary infection, either from a bite or scratch if you have any jagged ornaments/rocks. the quarentine is more so to stop other fish from continuing to harass the injured fish.

[Brileeant808]

Keep up with water changes obviously but you prolly know that. I would turn that tank down to 78 F just to be safe. I know to cure "ich" you want to turn the temp up... so.. I would think that isn't the issue but I'm not really sure what is going on. Looks to me like someone nipped the fish's tail.. here is a thread devoted to this same exact thing http://catfish-tank.com/pleco-finrot-bacteria-white-spot/

[LivingLegacy85]

Melafix purchased and HT set up. We'll see progress in 7 days.