Fin rot???

zen242

hey guys. I think this might be finrot but i could be wrong. What do you think?? Thanks guys!

bettababy

Hi zen242, good picture. That is not fin rot. That appears to be an open sore, and the cause could be injury or water quality. If you can provide us with water params, basic tank info (how big, how long it's been set up, what else is in it, temp, and what and how often you feed... etc.) then we can help you much faster.

zen242

hey
thanks - Our tank is a 40 gallon tank with three silver sharks - this guy being the biggest, a three spotted gourami, two clown loaches, some neons and a very inactive and small paradise fish. Ph is 7, nitrate is zero. temps are a little hot because we are trying to get over a ick problem that our clown loaches.
We were the ones with the psycho dwarf gourami, but this appeared after that time.
The sharks fly about quite often so chances are he could have hit something. There isnt many jagged edges though other than on a piece of wood we have in there.

girlofgod

I would check the jagged edges on your piece of wood, and if there are any found, i would try to sand them down some. also, melafix is great for wounds and fin tears.

bettababy

How long has this tank been set up?
Ammonia, nitrite readings?
Are you sure about the nitrate at zero?

zen242

Ill check again but the nitrate has been zero last six times or so ive checked. Why do you ask? Would taht contribute to the wound?

Lupin

Too much nitrates appears to burn your fish's gills and maybe their skin. Can't say much about the latter.:)
What test kit are you using, Zen?:)

joeshmoe

ballas are very shy fish and can get hurt on any thing

pleco_cory_fan

you could use some melafix to help prevent infection.

bettababy

The reason nitrate concerns me is because if it's at zero, then one of two things is happening in your tank water... either there is a high ammonia or nitrite reading which hasn't broken down to nitrate yet, and both of those are more toxic than the nitrate, or... your water quality is "perfect" with zero everything, which means it hasn't cycled, and with no ammonia ever present, that also means no beneficial bacteria present. Unless you're performing almost a complete water change very often, or are not feeding your fish... there should be SOME sign of waste in your tank if it has living animals in it and food going in regularly. Balas are extremely sensitive to water quality. Ammonia and nitrite can both burn the skin and cause sores such as those in the picture. There are other causes for sores such as that, but it's difficult for me to sort it out without complete and accurate test results from the water quality. Something doesn't make sense.
Any information you can offer, inlcluding those other test results, would be of big help. In the mean time, Melafix would also be my choice for treatment to prevent secondary infection. There are other medications, but Melafix would be least affected by the water quality should there prove to be an issue there.
Those of us here at ff that work so hard to answer questions like these, appreciate when we have as much information about a situation as possible. When we ask questions, it's because without the answers, we can't properly sort through any situation. Think of going to a Dr that never runs tests... just prescribes medications without knowing the problem... it would be a shot in the dark to treat something only knowing partial information, and little of it. We, also, would be shooting in the dark if we were to try to find the cause of your problem without the proper information. That picture concerns me because I have worked with balas for many years, and they don't have strong immune systems, and are not always an easy fish to keep. They get quite large, are very sensitive to everything, environment, stress, illness/infection, etc. I'd hate to see something happen to this animal if it can be prevented.
So, what else can you give us to work with???