# Large portion of fin missing: Fin rot? Attack from another fish? Filter?



## marcel lamothe (Oct 14, 2013)

Alright so,
I woke up this morning and noticed that one of my guppies has a large chunk of his tail missing. I've attached photos below of both the fish, and my setup. I'm still somewhat new to the aquarium world (roughly 6 months). I'm using a 12 gallon fluval edge and it is stocked as such: 3 guppies, 1 oto, 1 assassin snail, 1 neon tetra, 1 zebrafish danio, and 1 khuli loach. The Zebra fish in the tank is quite large (relative to the other fish), and I have noticed on occasion him chasing some of the other fish around (he looks like he tries to bully the other fish). Also, the 2 guppies with the big bright tails are almost always swimming together and chasing each other and swimming in circles around each other (looks like playing, and nothing malicious). What I'm wondering, is if the damage to the tail looks like its from another fish biting it, maybe it getting stuck in the filter, or even due to fin rot? (I know this exists but know nothing about it.) If you have any comments about my stocking situation please let me know. I know the tetras and danios should be kept in groups but it didn't work out with how I got them. Anyways, please let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Marcel


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## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

Hard to tell. Looks like it was ripped or bitten but the edge of part of it looks white. Wouldn't hurt to add some aquarium salt. How often are you doing water changes and how much?

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## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

Looks like it got bitten. Your community tank with fish numbering in 1 and 2's spell disaster. They will bully other species of fish, especially that danio. 
I would recommend that you pick one fish to keep. Either all guppies or all tetras. If you are a pretty good feeder and have filter media that can handle the bio load, then you could do two species of fish. 6 neon tetras and 6 guppies. Danios are really feisty and energetic so I wouldn't put them into that tank. 

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## marcel lamothe (Oct 14, 2013)

Thanks so much for the input from both of you. I just have a few questions and answers regarding what you've said.

First off, water changes: I do my best to a 10% change once a week, and then a 50% at the beginning of each month.
Aquarium Salt: I've received some horrible information from the pet stores over the past few months, if I told you the whole story you would bang your head against the wall. One thing I inquired about was putting salt in the aquarium. I was told from some to do it, and some that it was totally unnecessary. I would like to use it though. Is there a specific type I should be looking for? Someone said regular epson salts work? How much should I be using in a 12 gallon aquarium? Is it something I should be adding regularly, or just once?

Questions regarding my stocking:
I know you said that 1's and 2's are a nightmare waiting to happen. I'm wondering if the oto and loach are okay by themselves? They both do their own thing and the oto has done complete wonders for the algae in my aquarium that I just couldn't get rid of. The loach pretty much just hides in the house or under the tree and comes out to eat once in a while. Neither really interact with the other fish.
-In terms of the guppies. I would be happy to remove the danio and tetra and just have some guppies but I have a question about that. I really like the guppies with the big colorful tails. Is it okay to mix and match different colored guppies? I currently have 1 with a big blue tail and one with an orange tail. Would I be okay to add other similar looking ones with different colored tails? 
-The danio and tetra: I've had these fish for a while. Will my LFS just take fish that I don't want? Like can I just take these fish to my LFS and ask them to take them?

So I guess overall I'm just wondering if the tank would be fine with the 1 oto, 1 loach, and then a group of different colored guppies? Other stocking suggestions are really really appreciated. I also have a 5 gallon fluval chi that I'm planning on putting a group of celestial pearl danios in, so any feedback on that is welcome as well.

I guess this post is getting a little bit away from the original topic so if a moderator needs to move it please do.

Thanks again for all the help; there's just so much to learn

Cheers,
Marcel


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## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

People normally do this amount of water change for salt water tanks. I am not entirely sure if the same amount applies to freshwater as I used to change 30-50% once a week and 80% once a month when I had a planted tank. If this amount is working for you with no ill effects on your fish then its good. (assuming that it removes harmful concentrations of nitrates, nitrites, phoshpates, etc.). I had to add nitrates into my system to maintain it...not suggesting that you don't need to do water changes but its always nice for the fish haha.

Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate, this is normally used in freshwater applications for diseases such as dropsy. Epsom salts are not the same as aquarium salt as aquarium salts are sodium based. Aquarium salts are usually used for fishes that resides in water that have some traces of sodium. E.g., cichlids. Your guppies will not mind aquarium salt, but your loaches and otocat will be sensitive to it. So basically don't use any salts unless your tank has any fish that prefers some salinity inside the water. 
Another way that epsom salt is used are in planted tanks. I used to mix 30 ppm of mgso4(espom salt/magnesium sulfate) to 9ppm of CaCl2 (calcium chloride). This amount showed no ill effects on my cherry shrimps and otocats. This will raise gh to approx 50, which is still ok for my harlequin rasboras that preferred softer waters. I did this for my plants, they seemed to grow like weeds with the extra calcium and magnesium.

your loach and otocat will be fine in singles, they might be more shy if you decide to move them into a larger tank. At that time, they might prefer to have a few buddies around. 
LFS usually takes in fish for credits, my lfs does not though. Regardless, they will appreciate a donation 

Guppies are so selectively bred that the ones we see are available in many many colours, but theyre still the same species and will reproduce with each other. It is fine to mix different coloured ones.


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