male jewel losing its fins

[noxious]

I checked up on my fish after work and found my male jewel hiding in some rocks with his fins looking rotted, i thought it could have been caused by a rock cave in or something? so I moved the rocks and he is freely swimming around, its now day 2, he seems fine and possibly recovering? I check on my fish all the time and Im pretty sure this all happened within 7hours. Its got kinda white-ish at the tips of his fins.. He is with heaps of baby jewels and the mother of the jewels. I do 50% water changes fortnightly / or 25%-40% weekly.

Is there anything I can do to get him recovered?

Cheers

[tHEcONCH]

Here's an extract from an article I wrote - does it look like this?

Thanks jolliolli for the pic...

Fin Rot

Fin Rot is usually a symptom of illness rather than an illness per se, although in some cases it can result from direct bacterial or fungal infection.

What it looks like:

Fin Rot begins at the edge of the fins (or at an injury site) and progresses rapidly toward the fin base. It results in a ragged 'torn' fin edge often with a whitish edge (dying / dead flesh). Once it reaches the base of the fin, the fish will not be able to regrow the fin, and infection may spread into the fishes body.

What causes it:

Fin Rot can be caused by physical injury, poor water conditions, poor diet, general stress, or appear in connection with a primary general systemic infection (usually gut infections). It is most often seen in weakened fish.

What to do:

Because it is a symptom, it is important to identify the likely cause before an appropriate treatement can begin. Small infections will often heal without further treatemnt if the cause is found and remedied. The most likely causes are poor water or gut infections. Test water parameters and rectify where necessary. Look for signs of gut infections (see below) and if found treat the gut infection with an appropriate drug. If these causes can be ruled out and there is no other obvious cause, or if it progresses very quickly, treat with Furan2.

[noxious]

Yea, I think that is the same disease.

Thanks heaps for the help/advice,

Hopefully this one stays alive, Im pretty sure he will be strong, he wont wanna leave his little ones at such a young age!

I've changed the water, he is swimming around fine now, It might be a matter of healing now. (HOPEFULLY).

And does anyone know where I can get this Furan2 from?

[tHEcONCH]

Its available from most pet/fish stores, but don't use it unless the disease progresses rapidly - its pretty toxic stuff and you should avoid useing it if you can.

[alanmin4304]

Fin rot is most normally a bacterial infection of a wound and furan should fix it. If you don't use furan you will need another suitable antibiotic. Jewels are pretty stroppy and when breeding they are normally good parents and protective. This can often result in one parent having a go at the other and causing damage. When I bred jewels I used to remove both parents but this can make things worse because the beat up one could get blamed for the non apearance of the fry and get beat up more. I would at least remove the damaged one till cured.

[noxious]

are you saying maybe that the female is "beating" up the male?

[alanmin4304]

That wouldn't be unusual. All it takes is a bit of fin damage by nipping and a bacterial infection can set in.

[noxious]

I have treated the male and he is happily swimming now, but his tail fin has 80% gone.

[tHEcONCH]

So long as it hasn't gone at the base, it will regrow.

[noxious]

I've been watching over the tanks and noticed that the female is having domestics with the male .. in front of the babies.. has he done something wrong or.. is that actually some sort of mating ritual?

[alanmin4304]

It is misguided protection of the fry. They can be big and viscious and that is why I suggested moving the male or both. The problem with both is they may continue to scrap if in the same tank.

[noxious]

I have moved the male into the community tank and he looks fine there...