# Hanalei's Fin Rot Diary Part 4



## Hanalei (Mar 1, 2011)

Day 4 of the 7 day Melafix antibacterial treatment course and I would say the fin rot has certainly not progressed, and maybe there is even a little healing of the tail fin. No more clamping anyway.

Based on the tuxedo female's behavior, I'd also say the fish is feeling pretty good. She seems to have bonded now with the two sunset swordtails and hangs out calmly with them now which she didn't use to do. She was a bit skittish at first.

I will continue through Day 7 and if there are no clear signs of advancing healing, then I guess I will go for an antibiotic.

A lot of people are probably thinking I should have just gone for the antibiotic to begin with...

But given how antibiotics like Tetracyclene and Erythromyacin are so over used in our culture and we're seeing drug resistant superbugs everywhere, not to mention antibiotics appearing in our lakes and streams from all the drugs people flush and pee into their toilets, I'm probably always going to try and treat without antibiotics first. That's how I'd go with my own body or with my family, so might as well extend that to our little fish friends.

Anyway, glad the tuxedo seems to be feeling better and I'm hoping with the improved mood she will kick the fin rot without the heavy duty meds.


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## chronoboy (Jan 17, 2011)

i know how you feel parents these days pump thier kids with antibiotics everytime they sneeze, and i do believe kids need to get over thier colds on thier own helps build a good imune system, and you know what im 25 and healthy and i dont get flu shots if and when i get a cold i ride it out, because of that when people get sick with the same bug it never hits me as hard and it dont last near as long as my friends that run to the doc or to the pharmacy the second they feel a cold comming on, eating right and working out is the best medicine, are bodies are amazing on how well they can heal themselves as long as we help aid are bodies to be healthy. dont get me wrong thier is some things that are bodies need help with to recover not saying if you get ammonia to ride it out, deff go to the docs for somthing seriouse like that.


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## Hanalei (Mar 1, 2011)

*Hanalei's Fin Rot Diary Part 5*

Day 5 of 7 and the tuxedo seems to be doing fine except for the raggedy fins with white patches. At this point it's probably safe to say that Melafix Anti-bacterial did not cure the fin rot. I'm of the belief that it definitely stopped the progression of the illness. Also, for whatever reason, the fish seems to be feeling a whole lot better than she was 5 days ago. Pretty feisty in fact.

Don't have any experience with how fast these conditions clear up with the use of tetracyclene or other antibiotics, so I don't know how to gauge what's happened so far. Perhaps experienced aquarists can provide some info as to whether the fish would be totally cured by now had I gone the antibiotic route. By cured, I guess I would mean there would no longer be any white patches on her fins, though I imagine it would take some time for the ragged and torn edges to grow back and heal completely. Would antibiotics have gotten rid of any white patches by now?

Will continue for the full 7 days. Glad the illness has not gotten worse and glad the fish is feeling better. A little disappointed I haven't seen more concrete signs of actual healing.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Its hard to say if anti-biotics would have helped more. It completely depends on whether the cause was mainly bacterial. Mela-fix is helpful for regrowing fins, but isn't going to stop a full-blown bacterial infection. Fin erosion from nipping, pH, ammonia, or nutritional deficiency will likely be undone just with clean water and good food. Fins will recover from bacterial fin rot the same way, but only if bacteria stop eating the fins. There are non-drug ways to change conditions to hopefully make the fins less hospitable to fin-rot such as raising the pH & hardness and adding salt, changing the temp, etc. But they may or may not work or not work fast enough to save the fish. Certainly meds have their own risks including creating drug-resistant pests. 

I think we both over- and under- medicate with anti-biotics in this county. We give amoxicillin for colds, and feed it to chickens, that over-medicating. Feeding a low-dose to food animals is, IMO, worse than giving it to sick kids who are in danger of getting a secondary bacterial infection. At the beginning of every school years, I'd get rag-weed allergy symptoms followed by a cold a week later, followed by strep the next week. A doctor with pattern recognition who skipped straight to antibiotic would have saved me much misery and missed school. But we also give amoxicillin first for ear and sinus infections even though most of the bugs that cause them are already resistant. That's under-medicating. So we have this protocol which makes sure that the bacterial that are resistant to the second and third antibiotic are still resistant to the first. Maybe we should agree to table one drug at a time in rotation for a few years at a time to let the bacteria lose that resistance. 

I hate to be in school or work with someone 'toughing it out'. If you tough it out, stay home. People with damaged immune systems, pre-exiting breathing problems or even just with a life would thank you. But the person next to you with the prescription in hand but still contagious is just as bad.

Does anyone use sick days for their own illnesses anymore? We tend to use them to go the dentist (why do they only work 'business hours'), have necessary, but non-illness related doctor visits and take care of sick kids, spouses, and pets. We need to stop rewarding 'perfect attendance' and go for 'productive, non-contagious attendance.

Anyway, sorry for diverting the thread. 

There are good arguments for hitting any suspected illness hard with multiple anti-biotics. Fish are small and die quickly, you don't have a lot of time to emerging disease. But meds can also kill fish and are expensive. So when is it worth it? 

My first response to a sick fish is to isolate it in hospital. I either check water quality or just do a large water change instead of farting with tests. Then I treat visible symptoms in the hospital tank. I watch all the fish in both the main tank and hospital for additional symptoms and keep water quality up. Usually I'll notice a fish moping or being picked on before I can tell any specific illness. If I see something that looks contagious (ich, flukes, parasites) and not injury related, I'll treat the main tank too once I have a good guess. If I don't know, I'll rotate through various meds in hosp. in the hopes of finding a cure before other fish come down with it. Anything serious and the first fish usually dies. My goal is to find a treatment before I lose all the fish.

Some fin-rots are mild. Fins get nipped, infected, but heal when nipping stops and water is clean. Some fin-rots are serious bacterial illnesses that will kill all your fish. In the earliest stages, I can't tell the difference. I usually guess based on speed, number of fish affected, and time since last new addition. If the fish is isolated, in clean water, and the fins are still shrinking, then I medicate with real meds, not melafix. If the fins aren't shrinking, bloody, or fuzzy, I'll be more conservative and watch to see if fins start regrowing before I treat with anything more than a little methylene blue or malachite green or salt to prevent secondary fungal infections.


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