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OK I did it. I broke down and got a hospital tank. Tails, one of my blue dwarf gouramis, has developed what appears to be fin rot. So, immediately I dose with mela fix and as soon as I can run to petsmart for a small hospital tank and set it up. Threw in some gravel in a nylon for bacteria and a small decoration. I understand I should not turn the light on (that's good as the light on the tank is very bright) so he doesn't stress out. Also I removed the other fish from that tank and stripped it for a serious cleaning. It was time anyway and gonna set it up for DP's.

Anyways I could not find the jungle buddies med at petsmart. The one near me only carried Mardel brand Marcyn-Two so I am dosing with that. The active ingredient is a broad spectrum anti biotic (minocycline). WIll keep you posted on the results, hoping for a quick recovery. Thank you all for any replies. Water parameters were ammonia and nitrite =0, nitrate =20, pH at 7.2. Anything else I could do for the little guy?

Last edited by divertran at 12-Jun-2005 02:11

Last edited by divertran at 22-Jun-2005 01:11

what if the fin rot is fungal in nature and not bacterial?

Keeping the lights off is good, make sure you can see well enough that you can keep an eye on any progress. Some meds are also photosensitive so keeping the lights off can help in those cases.
Keep surface agitation up, and us informed .

Good luck!

^_^[hr width='40%']"Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
and life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button girl,
So cradle your head in you hands
And breathe, just breathe..."

good thought, life, I was wondering about that. I am into the third day of dosing for the full five days they recommend. Imma wait and see. if no improvement I'll find the other stuff. Hoping for the best.

If you're not finding jungle labs look for furan-2 it's got the same active ingredients of nitrofurazone and furazolidone that the jungle labs tabs have.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
and life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button girl,
So cradle your head in you hands
And breathe, just breathe..."

OK gonna goto petco tomorrow and get some. should I just switch halfay thru the medication plan or continue or dose both? water change b4 adding the jungle buddies?

Hmmm... I know some medications can be combined, and that others absolutly must not be combined. Unless we can get confirmation here, you could try calling either or both companies (they should have a customer service number on the package, I've called jungle before).
I'd complete the current round of meds before doing anything else if you dont get a response here or thru the companies.

^_^
[hr width='40%']"Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
and life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button girl,
So cradle your head in you hands
And breathe, just breathe..."

Here's an update. Tails was noticably worse after three days on the Marcyn-2, so I did a 50% water change, ran charcoal in the filter for 6 hours and switched over to jungle labs fungus tank buddies. After just 24 hours I believe he looks much better. I am hoping to see much more dramatic improvement over the next 24 hours (keeping fingers crossed).
I am worried that the meds might stain the tank, but oh well. Its the fishies that are important./:'

Oh good to hear divertran!
You know by now to keep an eye on it, but with that much improvement it looks like we might have a positive outcome .
Running more carbon when you're done with the meds will take care of any staining. I don't remember having any problems with it in my tank.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
The hope that starts, The broken hearts...
I’ve got another confession my friend, I’m no fool.
I’m getting tired of starting again, Somewhere new."
[link=*refighting lost battles*]http://babelfish.qwertydigital.com/" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link]

Thanks, but my concern is because whe I got the tank all I could get smaller than a 10 was acrylic, but I think mebbe I'll be ok if I don't need to keep it in there too long.

OK here's another update. Tails is doing fairly well and appears to be improving every day. Three questions, tho.
1. How long should I leave him in the jungle buddies med? the instructions say 4 days and repeat if necessary. I'd hate for him to relapse.
2. I know I should dose with mela fix after the meds are done. How long should I dose that?
3. oh crap, I forgot the third question. Oh well, thanks for the help, tails and I appreciate it.

This is the fourth day of the fungus tank buddies treatment, so I did a 40%water change and put a half dose in, which I'll leave in for another four days at which time I'll do another water change, run some carbon and switch to melafix, prolly for a week with small (10-20%water changes every other day. looking good, he is

*pokes her actives thread list*
Not sure why it wasn't up there :%), didnt mean to leave you hanging....
From what I remeber reading up on you're supposed to continue treatment till the tail is showing signs of regrowth. Doing water changes as necessary. Where I found that I'm not quite sure I remember...may have been here on the forums, might have been thru google searches. I believe the reasoning was that with fin rot it's easy to let it get ahold of the fish again if you let off the meds too soon, and that as each case is different (unlike with ich) each case needs to be treated differently.

With the melafix...standard dose is generally given as 7 days. I'd do water change and repeat as necessary till you're comfortable with not dosing...again...case by case basis.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
The hope that starts, The broken hearts...
I’ve got another confession my friend, I’m no fool.
I’m getting tired of starting again, Somewhere new."
[link=*refighting lost battles*]http://babelfish.qwertydigital.com/" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link]

yesterday I puy carbon in the filter to pull the meds out. tail look much better although he does need to do some regrowing. Tomorrow I will replace the filter with a new one and dose melafix for a week. keep ya posted, and thanks.

sorry its been so long. Tails is now out of the hospital and doing well. I put him and his buddy bruno into the 29 gal tank where he will be happy. keeping an eye on him. rebuilding the 10 gal into a dp tank. be cycling it for a bit. Afraid I have new tank syndrome, oh bother.