Fin nipped or fin rot Long-Finned Rosy Barb

[Khemul]

Not sure what to make of this one. I came home this evening to everything seeming normal, except that one of my Long-Finned Rosy Barbs (the female I believe) seems to have lost a good portion of one of her fins. My first thought was to blame the Gold Gourami or the Tiger Barbs, but on closer look I see 3 rows of scraped scales on the same side also which I wouldn't think the other fish would cause. This leads me to think of a second possibility of her scraping against the rocks for some reason and maybe having fin rot set in in the damaged area. Water parameters are 0 ammonia/0 nitrite/5 nitrate (guess I need to look into dosing Nitrates for the plants) so I'm thinking fin rot would be a result of injury and not poor conditions here.

So my questions are, should I be still suspecting the fish here? I know the Gourami chases the barbs around but never seems to actually do anything more then chase. This much damage would be quite a step up aggression-wise. Plus the barbs doesn't seem to be avoiding anyone. It is swimming rather normallly, although it is staying near the heater more.

If I assume fin rot, I have some Tetra Parasite Guard. Enough to treat the 40g tank for 2 days or the 10g hospital tank for 8 days. Will this work or do I need to get Melafix and set up the hospital tank? If the Parasite Guard is fine should I treat the whole tank or move the Rosy Barb to the hospital tank for treatment and recovery?

Below are some pictures of the barb incase they help.

It's the fin right behind the gil on the fish's left side.

 

[Jannika]

Hi Khemul,
my guess is that the gourami and barb got into a scrape, with the barb losing. I would put the barb into a hospital tank to heal and keep other fish from picking on it. The fin should grow back if the water is kept pristine. Some find Melafix helpful as an antiseptic, to prevent fin rot. If it does turn into fin rot, then a stronger antibiotic medication would be your best bet. Good luck!

 

[Khemul]

I went ahead and moved her (plus the male Rosy Barb because for some reason I don't like to seperate them :screwy to the 10g hospital tank before I went to bed last night. I keep the heater and filter going in the 40g while the hospital tank is not in use so should be good for keeping their water clean and warm while she recovers. Picked up some Melafix and will add it tonight. The wound didn't seem to get any worse so guess it is probably fin loss from the Gourami and not fin rot.

On the funny side, I left the hospital tank half-filled and as I was emptying and refilling it noticed a bunch of dark specks floating around. I've had MTS in there off and on over the last couple months. Turns out the specks were tiny MTS that came out of the sand some time after the water stopped getting filtered/changed regularly a couple weeks ago. :rofl:


Not sure if they Rosies will go back in the 40g or not. Considering adding them to the 28g instead, but have to check around to see if there will be any problems with Rosy Barbs and a female Betta living together. Doubt the Cherry Barbs will care one way or another.