Baby Sailfin pleco problem

[Rookie0529]

Hey, I'm new to sailfin pleco breeding and i got a big problem with my little sailfins and i need help!!... i bought two baby sailfins (little smaller than 5cm/2 in) 4 weeks ago.. the first two weeks they were in a separate tank as prevention of any disease, everything seemed fine so i introduced them to my main tank (112litre/ c. 30gal) after a week nothing has changed they seemed to be happy, but then i was away for a few days and when i returned i noticed that the tail of the smaller pleco is almost totally gone and the rest of it is whitish and has something like cotton on it, also the other sailfin has something similar on his pectoral fin but without "cotton". i guess it is something like fin rot while also the other fins of the smaller one are torn up, so i checked my water parameters and everything seems to be fine with it so i have no idea what can be the problem...So i moved them to a separate tank and changed the water in the main tank. I'm going to change the water in the quarantine tank every day or so..I also red that these little sailfin plecos (under 5cm) have a high mortality rate. What medication should i use to get rid of this infection as fast as possible and not damage my pleco?? I have an FMC type of medication only atm

[Rookie0529]

Help please!! It is getting worse really fast, since yesterday all the tail of the small sailfin is gone and the other plecos pectoral fin is even more whitish than it was..here are some pics from yesterday and now [img]

[/img] and i checked the water again so nitrit is 0, ammonia 0, nitrate between 5-10ppm, PH 6,9, temperature is 25-26 °C and i don't get a KH / gH tester in my petshop so i can't check that... my tank has been set up a month ago, and only my old fish has been added to it before the plecos ( three three spot gourami, a large-finned bushynose pleco, two rainbow sharks), these are fine, have no signs of any illnes.It's a planted tank with a bunch of jungle vall, cabomba caroliniana and a few small plants

[Narwhal72]

From the white cottony growth it looks like you have a fungal infection. Possibly also with a secondary bacterial infection. I would suggest treating with Tetra Fungus Guard which should be available in your country.

[Bas Pels]

Although my gibbiceps themsel;vesd never had fungus, I have had to treat cichlids in their tank. Adding 1 g/l of kitchen salt NaCl a day to a tank is wholly acceptable to them, and doing this for 3 days in a ros is no problem either

Salt will not do anything agains bacteria, but it will help cure fungal infections.

[Rookie0529]

Thanks guys , imma try to get the fungus guard as soon as i can i have seen somwhere already and just for sure aren't the gibbiceps more sensitive to salt since they are scaleless?? I really don't wanna harm them and what about iodine ?? Kitchen salt could contain some, isn't that a problem? So i should just put 1g/litre of salt to the quarantine aquarium and repeat this with daily 100% water changes till the infection is gone??

[naturalart]

Right move to treat the fungus, but a question to ask might be what caused the problem in the first place? 1) you should always quarantine for at least a month. 2) You may have a fin eater in your tank. Have you watched your fish activity while the lights are out? Pleco fins don't just disappear for no reason.

[Rookie0529]

Sure i will do a longer prevention next time, and most of the fin damage was made by the net in the shop, and most of it was grown back when i introduced them to my tank, and ye i was watching them carefully and im sure that my sharks and gouramis did not nip their fins, the bushynose was a bit territorial but i didn't see any serious conflict only some sudden moves of the bushynose to frighten the gibbiceps, or may the water hardness cause this?? Couse i did not manage to test that and not sure if its not too high. And the other sailfin has no wool on its pectoral fin it is only white and looks like its nibbled to the bone, should i use the same treatment for him too??

[Rookie0529]

Bad news guys i got the fungus guard yesterday and added it to the quarantine tank following the instructions, but i was too late .. The smaller gibbi did not make it, i found him laying on the bottom this morning... The other sailfin seems to be alright, he eats like crazy, is active, but his pectoral fin still looks like its nibbled to the bone (i will try to get a closeup shot). Can i do anything more to save him than changing water every day using the fungus medication ??

[Rookie0529]

[img]

[/img]
Here are some actual fotos of my left gibbi, i hope i will not lose him too

[naturalart]

that pectoral spine looks deformed from here. In that case it probably will always be that way. Did you buy it that way?

[Rookie0529]

Nope, in the shop he was all fine, when the seller was taking him out he probably damaged his fin with the net, but it was only like a bit nipped, not white like now. That damage was slowly getting bigger and was loosing coloration till it became this..And also they were in a separate tank so it wasn't caused by any fish..Exactly the same was happening to the smaller plecos tailfin at the beginning

[naturalart]

Thats unfortunate. I don't know what the return policy is in Slovakia, but I'd be trying to get, at least an exchange, if not my money back.

[Rookie0529]

too bad, i like him too much already, i don't want to get rid of him that way, also the returns here are very poor .. since it did not get much worse since i used the fungus treatment, imma try to get also some antibakterial treatment for him, will see if it works So there's a really small chance it will fully regenerate once right?? btw thanks for replies man I really appreciate it

[naturalart]

Well catfish have incredible abilities to heal, and it doesn't look like you lost the pec. spine itself, and the inner or soft rays will usually regenerate. So it may not turn out as bad as all that. It does look like the spine is more curved than normal though, and there is less than a likely chance that will change. I guess you can look at it as a character charm. You'll always know that pleco in a crowd,