Hi! I've currently got a sick fantail which I'm concerned about and I'm not sure how to exactly diagnose its condition.

Fish is about 2 years old, never had any health problems before. Tank is 50% changed and cycled regularly and was done just before the initial onset of sickness. Tank also contains another fantail and 2 black moors, none of which seem ill. Never had water quality issues before - have used same setup and fish for a couple of years now.

Anyway, what happened is we came home from work one day and one of the fantails was acting very sluggish, lying in plants at the surface and gasping. Her previously very long and frilly tail was reduced to a bundle of long strands hanging behind her with all soft tissue between missing. It was such a fast and dramatic transformation we initially thought she must have been caught in the filter or something as it seemed it had to be physical injury, but we later discounted that. She also had some red spotting along the spine and some red veins showing in her tail.

I did some web research and spoke to guy at pet store and concluded Tail rot which had progressed to septecimia. Moved the ill fish to a quarantine tank with a salt content of about .75g/l and dosed with antibacterial and antifungal (Melafix and Pimafix). The rot seemed to halt, though she did lose the long strands a day later and now just has a stumpy little tail. Her vigor also returned and she swims freely.

Now my issue - a couple of days later and the edge of her truncated tail has developed a black crust looking edge. Looks for all the world like a scab on a wound so maybe its just part of the healing process but I'm really concerned about losing the fish and am wondering if the black crust is a bad sign.

Can someone please advise if this is a normal part of healing or a cause for concern? Also any advice on how I might improve caring for her would be greatfully accepted

It really depends on how much of the fins and tail were eaten by the disease. It would have had to have eaten into the blood vessels to have any scabbing. If you think it has, then it's a normal part of the healing process. If not, if the "scabbing" is occurring more than 2mm away from the closest blood vessels, then something else may be going on. I must caution you though, much of what you just described TB (see below), and goldfish (being part of the carp family) are particularly susceptable to TB.

IF TB is not the issue, then I would recommend treating with .15ppm copper suflate and .15ppm citric acid (helps copper dissolve and for levels to remain steady). These levels can be fairly accurately achieved by mixing 21 grams of each with 1 pint of distilled water, then adding 1 drop of the solution per gallon of tank water (or hospital tank water). If your tank doesn't have any live plants in it, then I would also recommend treating the main tank with the same copper sulfate treatment, then doing weekly 20% water changes for 6-8 weeks without repeating the treatment.

:star: I would also recommend careful attention to touching the water with any open cuts or sores on your hands or arms. Fin Rot can be a sign of TB which can infect you through open cuts or sores and for which there is no cure (causes skin TB in humans). PLEASE read up on TB before continuing. You can read up on it at: http://aquatopiaforum.com/index.php?showtopic=108 :star:

Good luck and keep us posted.

Hi! Thanks for your prompt reply and advice, I'll try what you advised and see how things develop :)

Alright, good luck, and if you do suspect TB, then euthanize all fish and sterilize everything that has ever come near the tank with a strong bleach solution. Fish are never worth contracting an uncurable disease.