Fin Rot Question

[Itchy Trigger]

I have a baby French angel in QT now. It's eating well, active, etc., but recently developed a case of fin rot. QT is a stable tank, parameters all good, but for whatever reason her pec fins and tail are eroding. I started a course of Erythromycin, and am on the third day of treatment but have noticed no improvements. I also have Triple Sulfa on hand and was wondering if I should patiently wait out the Erythro treatment, or if I should do a big water change and switch over to the Sulfa. Or if adding the sulfa at the same time would be too risky. As I said, the fish is eating well, active and acting completely normal. But I want to stop the progression of the fin rot ASAP, as I don't want her to lose the fin, and have the infection spread to the body.

 

[Itchy Trigger]

Anyone? Is there a chance this is NOT fin rot but something else? I've read that flukes can cause ragged fins too. The fish eats well, but the pec fins and tail are eroding. The left pec is mostly gone at this point.

I read that triple sulfa and erythromycin should be safe together, so I went ahead and dosed the triple sulfa. Will continue with fingers crossed. If anyone has any tips, I'd certainly appreciate it.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

If you don't see improvement in a day or so I would switch to kanamycin. Here's an excerpt from a website:

Kanamycin works especially well in salt water aquariums.
As noted a few times earlier in this article, Kanamycin works well combined with (& compliments) Nitrofurazone for flexibacter (Columnaris), which may includes these symptoms; fuzzy, thin, white "saddles" on the body and fins.

Also useful for Pseudomonas-Open red sores or ulcerations, fin and tail damage, fins and tail are eaten away, in severe cases, down to the body.
Kanamycin is very effective in high pH applications, especially Vibrio, making it useful for brackish and marine treatments. Kanamycin is easily absorbed skin absorbed, making it an excellent choice for systemic infections.

Kanamycin is one of the more effective broad spectrum antibiotics available with recent tests showing it to surpass the Tetracycline class antibiotics in cultures including Minocyline (found in Maracyn II), although Kanacyn has been also been shown in these studies to be even more effective when combined with other antibiotics such as Nitrofurazone or Tetracyclines for a "œsuper" antibiotic effect.
Kanamycin can also be used for aquatic Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium marinum), although Isoniazid is often the drug of choice, both can be used together as Isoniazid seems to affect certain active TB bacterium whereas Kanamycin has often different TB activity effectiveness (Kanamycin can also be combined with Neomycin for difficult cases of Mycobacterium marinum.

 

[Itchy Trigger]

Thanks. I'll see if I can find some Kanamycin tomorrow. Hoping the Triple Sulfa will do the trick in the meantime, but sounds like Kanaplex or Kanacyn or some Kanamycin-based med should be in my fish medicine cabinet...

 

[Newsmyrna80]

I keep it on hand along with a couple of other antibiotics.

 

[Itchy Trigger]

I meant to get back here with an update... The triple sulfa ended up doing the trick! I did pick up some Kanaplex though, so I'll have that on hand in the future if it's needed.