Fins down to nubs! Permanent?

[Phreeflow]

I had several months of breeding from my L134 recently and during that time, I didn't want to disturb them so aside from topping off, I didn't gravel vac, wipe down the walls of the tank, or do any major water changes. I could tell there was a whitish/brownish film on the bare bottom and walls of the tank but couldn't/didn't do much about.

Fast forward 5 months and many of their anal fins are down to nubs. It started with some fraying and damage from breeding or territorial fights but this has happened before and their fins always grew back. But not this time and it's affecting a bunch of them. They eat fine and the water parameters are in check so I'm surprised to see that theirs fins haven't grown back at all. I also have a bunch of fry living in their with them so I don't want to medicate but should I?

I just don't know what it could be...there is no redness, no fungus, no mucous...they look fine except their missing their anal fins and one is missing half its tail. What could be happening and would erythromycin help or be safe? Is the damage permanent? The first one to be affected has had nubs for a full 3 months with no regrowth. Please help...

[Phreeflow]

Any thought? Please help...

[YSR50]

Don't know what exactly happened but the poor living environment was the cause I'm guessing. I have some L201s that I neglected for quite a while that have the same results. To this day, a few years later, they still look the same and still breed.

[Phreeflow]

Don't know what exactly happened but the poor living environment was the cause I'm guessing. I have some L201s that I neglected for quite a while that have the same results. To this day, a few years later, they still look the same and still breed.

Hmmm...thanks for the response and I'm glad to hear your L201 aren't impeded and are able to breed. It's a shame as the L134 looked spectacular when their fins were nice. But what could have caused their fins to erode...bacteria on the floor of the tank? And what I can do now to ensure they stop eroding? Is erythromycin okay or a bunch of water changes?

[Shane]

There is just not enough information in your above postings to give you any type of useful advice. It is most likely a bacterial or fungal issue, but I can't say which. Erythromycin is an antibiotic used for bacterial infections. With regard to the fins, hard rays almost never grow back but soft rays sometimes will.
-Shane
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4305

[Barbie]

Is it just one set of fins? Are they the only species in the tank? No damage to tails? What are you feeding? I would try mixing that up a bit with some better quality foods and see if they're potentially deficient in something as well as cleaning up the water.

Barbie

[Phreeflow]

Thanks for the responses. The L134s eat well...they get the following in their diet: live blackworms, frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, Repashy Spawn and Grow, Sera O-nip, Sera Catfish Chips, Hikari Carnivore, Hikari Discus, New Life Spectrum, Gammarus, chopped clams, and Fluval Bug Bites. I keep their diet on rotation and feed live or frozen only for conditioning.

It is the hard and soft rays of both of their anal fins. On one of them the tail is also affected but it's mostly just the pair of anal fins on the others that's down to the nubs. I am usually meticulous about water quality but did let it lapse during spawning time since I did not want to disturb them with large water changes or by vacuuming the gravel or wiping down the windows.

I did notice something I never had before and that was some long stringy stuff growing on the driftwood and plants. They were easy enough to remove...it was like floss and came right off but would regrow. It wasn't hair algae as I've had that in my other tanks and that stuff is stringy and tough. This brown stuff could just be sucked up with a turkey baster if needed. Not sure what it was but it's gone now.

In any case, I'm sure it was just bad husbandry on my part because the tank was noticeably dirtier than usual. However, I just didn't want to make too many changes to the water parameters or disturb the tank since they were breeding for the first time. Therefore, I mostly just topped off and kept feeding as usual.

What do the rest of you do when your plecos are in spawning mode...do you keep up with the weekly water changes and cleaning of the tanks? A few of my males were on rotation sitting on eggs in various caves and I just didn't know what to do.

And most importantly: 1) what could have happened to their fins (bacteria?), 2) is there anything I can do to fix it or stop it from getting worse? 3) how do I prevent it from happening again?

Thx

[knifegill]

My raphaels lost their side spines to abrasion on pots and stones. The fish didn't seem to mind but I'll never make that mistake again.

Are your breeding caves rough?

[MonsterFishMonger]

I think from research you could have still done water changes by just syphoning the water out from a back corner or at the surface and by taking the tank temp and then taking faucet temp and equalizing that to the exact degree and reducing the pressure of the return. I know that most ppl don’t like to or recommend aquarium salt but I would remove the fry and dose tank with some using abut 25% worth of the volume of the tank. I ve kept a few diff species in tanks with cichlids and they can tolerate the salt without negative side effects. And are you using activated carbon in your filtration? I wouldn’t dose the tank unless you move the fry.