PlanetCatfish.com

Greetings,

I've got a couple of madtoms with fin rot that I have not been able to cure. I've kept margined madtoms before with no problems, but I can't seem to get a break with these guys. I've tried Melafix and Paraguard with no luck. I'm not sure what else to try because I'm worried about the potential toxicity of the medicine to the fish. Should I try raising the temperature and treating again? Are there any other suggestions for safe medications/dosages? Has anyone tried Bio-Bandage? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I saw in one of the other threads about madtoms that it's safe to feed bloodworms but not annelids. Why are annelids unsafe? I've fed earthworms for extended periods of time to other madtoms I've had with no ill effects. Maybe I was just lucky.

Thanks,

Bill

ok, first off, you'll need to post your water parameters before we can advise anything. Secondly, what kind of madtoms do you have, you say you have kept margined madtoms before, but no names of the afflicted ones.

pH is 7.6. Ammonia and nitrite are below detectable limits. I couldn't find my nitrate test kit, but I change the water in the tank (10gal) every 2-3 weeks. The water is hard. The tank is unheated, so the temperature varies with that of the room, usually 66-74 degrees F. Usually, it is 70 or below. Both are margined madtoms. One is ~3in long and the other is just under 5in. There are a number of rocks from the stream where I caught them for them to hide under. I feed them in the evenings, and I feed them bloodworms, brine shrimp, or tetra catfish pellets. They've been feeding normally and haven't been losing weight. I've not observed any agonism as both fish have enough rocks to hide under. The fin rot has not yet reached the muscle and has been more ore less stable for the past two months. I treated them twice with intervals between treatments to see if the fins regenerate. This is the second interval, and there's been no signs of regeneration. The rocks and gravel are all smooth and rounded, so I don't think abrasion is a problem. I originally put them in the 10gal tank because the other fish in the 55gal tank where I originally kept the madtoms were having problems with parasites.

The next two medications I was considerint were binox powder or furan-2. The info on the respective websites suggests that they're safe for scaleless fishes.

I think that's it.

Thanks,

Bill

A ten gallon tank with 8 inches of pretty "hungry" fish will produce a quite high level of nitrates with water changes every 2-3 weeks.

You probably want to:
1. Move them to a bigger tank.
2. Starting changing the water more often.
[That's not an OR-choice, it's an AND-choice, but you could start with #2 to begin with and then continue with #1 soon after].

I'd be surprised if your nitrate level is below 100 ppm after three weeks. 100 ppm is a level that starts to harm most fish except for really tolerant ones (guppy, non-fancy goldfish, etc). I don't think Madtoms belong to the "really tolerant" group.

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Mats

Thanks for the info. I was afraid the small tank size would be a problem. I meant to use it only temporarily but it became longer term than I wanted once they got fin rot. I'll take care of it right away and see what happens.

Any advice about safe meds?

Thanks,

Bill

I would think a mild, generic anti-bacterial should be fine. What there is available in Maryland is a question I can't answer. In fact, I can't really answer what's available in England either. I've used something called BSB, which is a "general tonic" [which probably means that it contains more than one active ingredient that covers a whole heap of different things], but I don't know if that is "safe on catfish" [it didn't kill my Ancistrus when I used it on that tank for a few days, in fact I had (my first) ancistrus babies come out a few days later. The babies got eaten by the goldfish that needed the medication. Goldfish now relocated to other tank, and 50+ babies growing in the original tank.].

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Mats

That eight-degree temperature swing can easily be a source of stress, which will give the rot more ground. Advise temperature control.