# Swordtail Problem



## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

I noticed earlier that my male swordtail's tail looks strange. I recorded a video of him here:

29 Gallon Tank w/ Mollies and Swordtails - YouTube

Can someone watch the video and see what's wrong? I only have one male swordtail, so he shouldn't be hard to spot.

Also, can someone tell if any of my fish(molies and swordtails) are pregnant? 

Thanks


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Hard to say from short shot of him, but look into fin rot.Whats your pH?If tank is mostly mollies and swords salt(1 tablespoon per 5 gallon ) would possibly help.Salt is a true skin irratant and in irratating it cause the fish to produce more natural bdy slime.Both mollies and swords prefer a higher pH of 7.4-7.6


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

I have some aquarium salt. Will that work, or does it need to be something else? I will also do a test on the water to see what the pH is. I will also try to get a good picture of him and upload it, but it's kinds hard to sine the move alot(lol).

Thanks.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Aquarium salt is perfect.If you never put any in before than go with my recommendation.Also change water as most disease(especially fin rot{or disease of skin infection type})are directly related to water quality.Change at least 30 % with dechlorinated fresh and add salt.Change water at least every other day till he looks better than figure out how much you should change weekly.I change water on my fry/growout tanks every day or every other.Fresh,clean water is the difference between healthy happy fish and sick , dead fish.


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

Will do. Thanks for the info.


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

Well I just got finished testing the water, and my Nitrites were high. So I wen't ahead and changed 30% of the water(10 gallons), and added 8 tablespoons of salt. How long do I need to wait to test my water again after the water change? I also did a water change(6 gallons, 20% yesterday), so they could of been really high.

Thanks


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I would change 30-50% daily till nitrItes are gone.Both mollies and swords can be fairly dirty fish so possibly after getting water good,you could be looking at 50% waterchange every week.


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

Ok. Thanks for the information. Another thing that could have happened is that I rearranged the aquarium last week and stirred up the sand. It could have thrown some of the waste out of the sand.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Never got your pH? Don't add any more salt when changing water.It is not necessary all the time .Hope he gets better.


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

I have test strips, and it is hard to tell what the PH is with them. I think it was between 7.4 and 7.8.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

No more salt.Just change water every day till he looks better.Your pH is good and he should show improvement pretty quickly.Liquid test are more accurrate than the strips.


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

I actually bought a liquid test kit, but dropped and broke the tube. Do you know where I can buy a replacement tube? Thanks.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

PM me your address as I have like 25 and will mail you a couple if you can't find some any where.


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

Well I got home today and found my male swordtail dead. Yesterday he seemed like he was actually improving, but I guess that was not the case. I am also seeing the same symptoms in my female swords, just not as bad. There are white spots on her tail, and one of her side fins are rotting as well. They all had a "whittish" look to them.

Changed out 50% of the water earlier. I still had some nitrites in my tank, but not as much before. I hope I can get this problem fixed soon!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Sorry to hear about your male.I'm going to provide alink to fin rot(if you think that's what they got).Most every link say bacterial infections need antibiotics,but they have a very negative effect on your biological filter.So read it all and I suggest the last idea of methylene blue as a treatment.Follow their advice of treatment(drops per gallon and water changes).MB may disturb your biological filter and will definately "soak into plants" causing them trouble, but is in my opinion safer than antibiotics.MB can be safely doubled or more in dosing but try prescribed amount for a couple days first.If you have an air pump use it to add oxygen to tank.Iff you have a HOB(hang on back) filter lower your water level a couple of inches to increase oxygen.Good luck and your tubes should reach you on friday according to post office.Here's the link;Fish Fin Rot - Fish Disease


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

Will MB harm my Nerite Snails?


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

It probably is not safe for snails .I looked at your video again and the MB will probably cause trouble for your plants also,so search fin rot and see if you find a suitable treatment.Most I found recommend antibiotics,but I'm not sure they would be snail safe either.
You could move snails and plants to your 10 possibly.The plants definately will not carry the infection, but not sure about the snails?


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

I took some more pictures of the fish with my phone:







You should be able to see the spots on the sword's fin.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Nice looking tank and swords! Could it be ich?Do the spots look like salt grains?If so kordon rid ich is my choice of meds.It also has "dye" based meds but I have not had problems with my plants ,nor has it eliminated my wild snails.It's more a "cocktail" of two meds;malachlite green and formaldehyde(formalin).There is also a herbal formula(of rid ich) that is specifcally invert safe.


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

I decided to start treating my tank with Melafix. It says to treat for a week, so I will keep you informed. I hope this works....


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Let us know how the melafix works out.I read that it could be used for minor infections(your fish didn't look that bad in photo) so hoping it works for you.I'm a long time skeptic of any of the "fix" products, but have read some positive feedback.


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## ccm290 (Sep 16, 2012)

Update:

Ok, so it's one week after I started treating my tank with Melafix. I have to say it healed my fish nicely, and it's fins are not showing signs of fin rot.

Thanks, coralbandit for all the help you provided.


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