. The 2 older kiddos are fine. Tails seems unaffected. Here are the specifics of my tank:1. Water parameters
a) Temperature range: 72-78
b) pH: 7.2
c) GH: 6 dH
d) KH: 4 dH
e) Conductivity or TDS (if GH and KH aren't provided): approximately 219 ppm
f) Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite levels (Most LFS's will check your water and give a list of readings): Ammonia=0; Nitrate=0; Nitrate=5-10
g) Water change frequency: approximately 25% every week
h) "Routine" water treatments (e.g, chlorine/chloramine or ammonia neutralizers; pH or hardness adjustments, anti-stress chemicals, tank-cycling bacterial mixes): I use RO water reconstituted with Equilibrium and Baking Soda to bring the water to a GH of 5-6 dH, a KH of 5 dH and TDS of about 200 ppm
2. Tank set up
a) Size: Eclipse System 12 - 12 gallon
b) Substrate: Caribsea Black Tahitian Moon Sand with an under-layment of Caribsea Eco Complete
c) Filtration: Eclipse System integrated filtration system; external Nitrate Filter
d) Furnishings: Live plants and small terra cotta pot "caves"
e) Other tank mates: Only c. similas
f) How long has it been set-up?: about one year
g) Food used and frequency: TetraMin Tropical Flakes; API Bottom Feeder sinking nuggest. Fed every morning Monday-Friday.
h) Recent changes in the tank which occurred shortly before the disease/problem appeared (if any; e.g., changes in water source or water treatment, changes in decorations or substrate, replacement or changes of hardware (filters, heaters, etc.), and additions or removals of live plants or live fish): added a marimo ball and a Cryptocoryne 2-3 months ago
3. Symptoms / Problem description or history: ragged dorsal and pectoral fins, beginning about 1-2 weeks ago.
4. Action taken (if any): started adding Melafix and Pemafix 4 days ago.
5. Medications used (if any) / changes in fish observed since treatment began (if any): Melafix and Pemafix. No change. In fact, the condition appears to be progressing.
I try very hard to keep my water parameters at healthy levels and stable. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Please. Any advice is welcomed. I hate to see them like this.
) I get away with about one and half or two inches of substrate. After cleaning the new sand (something else I didn't do the first time) and doing my first Gravel vac it felt like I was loosing a lot of sand but it was really just the particles that were to heavy for the initial clean- they were still much smaller than the average grain size. You will always loose some sand so its good to keep a bag of it lying around but my 55 gallon has been running for 9 months without needing to add more sand and without incident (besides my forgetting to plug in a heater). I have one of those 'Python' water changing rigs that I hookup to my sink so I can vary the pressure of the suction which helps but I find simply pinching the hose works best (when draining- DO PINCH IT WHILE FILLING). All my tanks are planted either via a section with ADA aquasoil held in place with a barrier of drift wood or stone or with Java Fern tied onto some wood tangles in which case the substrate is 100% sand. You should NOT attempt to remove it while fish are in the tank as the release of the toxins from doing so will most likely be fatal.
