I noticed that my serpaes had kind of ragged fins/tails when I got them, and assumed that they'd been chomped by others. Though on closer inspection today it looks like one has an actual tear in it's dorsal fin, and after many hours of reading trough the 'disease' forum I'm thinking that maybe what I'm looking at is in fact fin rot (or perhaps I'm just paranoid, but please read on). I also noticed that one of my clown loaches has a similar white/raggedy edge to the tail that I'm positive wasn't there when I bought him just yesterday. So I mentioned to my daughter that I read about adding salt tonic to the tank and she offered me the last of what was in the container that came with her tropical tank (only 2 tablespoons), but I'm cautious to add it before I get some advice from here. It's probably not enough to make any difference given the ratio to water, but then probably wouldn't hurt either? If it's recommended I will definitely buy some and have it mailed out to me. Likewise I don't have a ph testing kit, so I really have no idea what is going on with the water (bad I know) - but I did a 20% water change today, and plan on doing that weekly (or more often).
So any advice in regards to raggedy tail syndrome & salt tonic would be very much appreciated. And if you happen to have an opinion on what is the best (mail order - read TM) water testing kit is the best (ph/aquachem/master set) - well that would be helpful too