How To Treat Guppy Fin Rot? (What Causes Fin Rot In Guppies?)

Guppy is the most common fish aquarist love to add to their aquarium. They are peaceful and do great in the community tank with other compatible tank mates. Guppies are low-maintenance fish and are an excellent choice for beginners.

However, there is some common disease like fin rot from which your guppy fish can suffer, and knowing the symptoms and treatment of such an issue is essential to learn. So, How to treat guppy fin rot? Let us find out.

Follow these steps to treat fin rot:

  1. Clean the tank by siphoning all the solid debris.
  2. Ensure adequate water parameters.
  3. Run the antibiotics by consulting with a pet veterinarian. (Medicine that affects against gram-negative organisms is usual)
  4. Remove carbon from the filter as it eliminates the medication.
  5. Feed guppy, high-quality food regularly.
  6. Keep a regular check on water conditions and parameters.
  7. Once your guppy fish regain their health, add the carbon back to the filter.

We will discuss fin rot and its causes in this article. Also, we will discuss how to treat mild, major, and severe fin rot. So let us get into it.

What is fin rot, and how is it caused?

Fin rot is a condition caused by pseudomonas, vibrio, and aeromonas bacteria.

However, the primary reason for fin rot disease is stress and inadequate tank condition.

Fin rot disease is easily preventable but is challenging to cure.

You must know that fin rot disease is contagious if caused by bacterial infection.

If your guppy fish is infected by fin rot, it can be dangerous for the remaining fish in your guppies tank.

What are the symptoms of fin rot disease?

There are two types of symptoms to detect fin rot disease:

  1. Physical symptoms
  2. Behavioral symptoms

Physical symptoms

The edges of the fins get discolored and appear milky at the early stages of fin rot. However, it is not noticeable in the early stages until it starts becoming worn at the fin’s edges.

With time, the infection will spread, and your guppies fin pieces will start to fall, making an uneven tail shape at the edge.

You will notice that the fins of your guppy are getting shorter and shorter over time.

The affected spot of your guppy will become red and swollen. 

So these are the symptoms of fin rot disease in guppy fish:

  1. Milky edge
  2. Frayed fins
  3. Swollen Fins
  4. The whole fin is rotting away.

Behavioral changes

These are the behavioral changes your guppy fish will show when suffering from fin rot disease:

  1. Your guppy fish will become lethargic.
  2. Your guppy fish will stay at the bottom of the tank.
  3. Your guppy fish will lose its appetite and will avoid eating.

Your guppy fish will become weak and inactive when struggling with fin rot disease.

You will notice your sick guppy avoiding swimming with other fish and resting at the bottom of the tank.

Your guppy will lose its appetite and avoid feeding on food in most cases. 

Symptoms of bacterial fin rot and fungal fin rot

Bacterial fin rot

Your sick guppy fins will have ragged rotting fins in case suffering from bacterial fin rot.

Fungal fin rot

If the reason behind fin rot is fungal, you will notice more uneven fins of your sick guppy.

Also, your sick guppy fin will become milky at the edges, showing the symptom of fungal fin rot.

In most cases, both types of infection are seen together.

Symptoms of Mild, Major, and Severe fin rot

Mild Fin RotMajor Fin RotSevere Fin Rot
Guppy fins will get darker in colorGuppy fins will get extremely darker in color and will develop white fuzz on the fin’s edge (If fin rot is due to fungal infection)This is also known as body fin rot.
The tips of the fin will change in color, appearing white, brown, or grey.You will notice a large amount of your guppy fin has been rotted.At this stage, the fin of your sick guppy will get entirely eaten up.
The edges of the sick guppy fin will look tattered.The remaining fins will get discolored.The body of the sick guppy will also start rotting.
The tips of your infected guppy will look sore and wornSick guppy fish fin will start dying over time in a complete manner.You will notice the white fuzz on the base area of the fin. (If it is fungal)
The infection is only on the fin’s edge and will not appear near your guppy’s body.Your guppy will show behavioral changes like losing appetite and staying at the bottom of the tank. Your sick guppy will become lethargic and will lose its appetite.
This table shows the symptoms of mild, major, and severe fin rot.

How to treat fin rot disease in guppies?

To treat fin rot disease, we have to know the severity of the disease.

If your guppy fish is suffering from mild fin rot, then you don’t have to isolate the sick guppy, and you can treat your guppy in the main tank.

However, if your guppy is suffering from major or severe fin rot, isolating the sick guppy is essential. 

Follow these things to treat your guppy fish in the main tank:

  1. Clean the tank by siphoning out all the solid debris from the bottom of the tank. Such debris will act as food for the bacteria.
  2. Perform 35% water change with fresh water.
  3. Run a check on water parameters to ensure that the chlorine, nitrite, and ammonia remain at 0 ppm and nitrate under 25 ppm.
  4. Now, you can run the medications by consulting with the veterinarian. Usually, an API stress coat will do the work, but consult your veterinarian first.
  5. Ensure to remove the carbon from the filter as it will eliminate the medication process.
  6. Once your guppy fish regain health, add the carbon to the filter.

Fin rot disease can make your guppy fish suffer a life-threatening condition if not treated early.

Also, fin rot disease is contagious, so your other healthy guppies and tankmates will be vulnerable to fin rot disease.

Follow these steps to treat major and severe fin rot in your guppies:

  1. Isolate your sick guppy fish in a hospital tank.
  2. Run the antibiotics to treat fin rot.

Also read: Will My Guppy Tail Grow Back?

Isolate sick guppy

Moving your sick guppy to a hospital tank is essential to keep the other healthy fish safe from the infection.

Fin rot diseases are contagious and will spread all over the tank if you don’t move the infected guppy to a separate tank.

Make sure to keep the water parameter of the hospital tank as same as the guppies tank.

Run the antibiotics

Run the medication according to the cause behind the fin rot.

If the cause behind fin rot is a bacterial infection, then run antibiotics like Seachem ParaGuard or Maracyn.

You have to treat your infected guppy with special medication if the fin rot is caused by fungus.

If the reason behind fin rot is ammonia burns, ensure good quality water.

We recommend following the instruction given in the medicine box for knowing the correct dosage and how to apply it. Also, consult your fish veterinarian before running any medication.

Make sure of these things while treating major and severe fin rot in your guppies:

  1. There should not be any solid debris present in your guppies aquarium as the bacteria use such debris to feed themselves. So siphon the substrate to extract all the solid waste from the tank.
  2. Keep a regular check on water parameters and ensure that the chlorine, nitrite, and ammonia remain at 0ppm and nitrate under 25ppm.
  3. If you are using aquarium salt to treat your sick guppy, ensure performing a 100% water change every day and don’t put the aquarium salt twice in the same water.
  4. Make sure to provide the water temperature between 72-82 °F.
  5. Perform a 100% water change of your main aquarium and clean it, so other fish will not suffer from fin rot.

How to prevent our guppies from fin rot?

Ways to prevent fin rot in guppies are almost the same as the ways to cure fin rot.

Perform these things to prevent your guppies from fin rot disease:

  1. Perform regular water changes.
  2. Siphon out all the solid debris from your guppy’s substrate.
  3. Perform routine maintenance of your guppy fish aquarium.
  4. Ensure providing adequate and stable water parameters to your guppies.
  5. Avoid overcrowding your guppies aquarium.
  6. Avoid adding aggressive fish to your guppies tank.
  7. Provide high-quality food to your guppies in a regular manner.

Perform regular water changes

Perform a weekly water change of 35% to keep your guppies tank clean and safe from harmful toxins like ammonia and nitrite.

Make sure to treat the water using a water conditioner to dechlorinate it.

We recommend using the API water conditioner to treat the water, as it will help you eliminate chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrite, and heavy metals from the water.

You can buy this product on amazon: API TAP WATER CONDITIONER.

Small tanks will require more frequent water changes than bigger tanks.

Also read: My Guppy Died After A Water Change.

Adequate water condition

Providing your guppies with adequate water conditions will prevent such issues.

To ensure good water quality, perform a weekly water change of at least 35%.

Make sure to treat the water using the water conditioner to dechlorinate it. 

We use the API water conditioner as it will help eliminate chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrite, and heavy metals from the water.

You can buy this product on amazon: API TAP WATER CONDITIONER.

Consider adding a good filtration system with biofilter media to help keep the water clean and safe from harmful chemicals.

We advise you to purchase Fluval High-Performance Filter to maintain your tank’s water quality. 

You can buy it from Amazon Fluval High-Performance Aquarium Filter.

You can also add lots of live aquatic plants to your guppy’s aquarium.

Live plants will help you keep your guppy’s aquarium water clean and increase the oxygen level of the water.

Also read: Best pH Level For Guppies.

Adequate and stable water parameters

Providing adequate water parameters to your guppies will prevent such issues.

ParticularsGuppy Fish Requirement
Water temperature72-82 °F
Water pH level6.7-7.8
Nitrite level0ppm
Ammonia level0ppm
Nitrate levelBelow 25ppm
This table shows the ideal water parameters for guppy fish.

Guppy fish require a water temperature between 72-82 °F.

Ensure provide your guppy fish with a water pH level between 6.8-7.8.

Also, ensure that the chlorine, nitrite, and ammonia should be at 0ppm, whereas nitrate should not be above 25ppm.

We recommend using the API freshwater master test kit as it will show you accurate results and help test the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH level of your corydoras tank water.

You can buy it from amazon: API FRESHWATER MASTER TEST KIT. 

Like adequate water parameters, you must know that stable water temperature is equally important to keep your guppies away from such issues.

We recommend using the Fluval M200 Submersible heater for your tank.

You can buy this product at amazon: Fluval M200 Submersible Heater.

Also read: What Is The Ideal Water Temperature For Guppy Fish?

Avoid overcrowding

Overcrowding your guppies aquarium will result in these things:

  1. Your guppy will not get space to live and swim comfortably.
  2. Your tank will get polluted faster than regular.
  3. Oxygen will lack in the overcrowded tank.

An overcrowded tank will make your guppy fish come under stress.

Follow the one-inch per one-gallon rule to ensure that you are not overcrowding your guppies tank, which means one inch of fish per one gallon of water.

This will ensure that you are not overcrowding your guppies tank.

Also read: How Many Guppies In A 20 Gallon Tank?

Avoid adding non-compatible tankmates.

Non-compatible tankmates will make your guppy fish come under stress.

Guppies are peaceful fish and do great in a community tank with other peaceful fish.

Aggressive fish will chase and nip your guppy fish, making them come under stress.

Also, nipping can result in fin rot disease.

These are some best tankmates for your guppies:

  1. Neon tetra
  2. Mollies
  3. Platies
  4. Gourami
  5. Shrimp
  6. Zebra danios

Also read: Can Guppy Fish Live With Angelfish?

Serve high-quality food regularly.

Providing your guppy fish with low-quality food in an irregular pattern will make them weak and vulnerable to diseases like fin rot.

Guppies are omnivore fish and require both plant and meat matter food in their daily diet.

Guppy FoodServing QuantityNo of Times
Veggie pelletsOne pinch at a time2-3 times a day
Brine shrimpOne pinch at a time1-2 times a week
BloodwormsOne pinch at a time1-2 times a week
Tubifex WormsOne pinch at a time1 time a week
Mosquito larvae10-15 pieces2-3 times a week
Zucchini (Blanched)One small slice2-3 times a week
This table shows the dietary requirement of guppy fish.

You can feed your guppies high-quality flake food and pellets, but providing them with a variety of food will help you enhance your guppy color and faster growth.

We recommend feeding your guppy fish with Hikari Micro Pellets as it is a high-quality food that provides all the nutritional value required by guppy fish.

You can buy this product at amazon: Hikari Micro Pellets.

Also, irregularity in serving food will make your guppy come under stress.

So, ensure regularly feeding your guppies.

You can feed your guppies once or twice a day, keeping a 12-hour gap.

Also read: Best Food For Guppy Fish.

Conclusion:

There can be two causes for fin rot disease, bacterial and fungal.

Fin rot will be contagious when it is because of bacterial infection.

The primary reason for fin rot disease is poor water condition and stress.

Other reasons are overcrowded tanks, aggressive tankmates, and low-quality food.

Clean your tank by siphoning out all the solid debris and ensuring adequate water parameters to treat and prevent fin rot disease.

There will be a requirement of antibiotics to treat major and severe fin rot. Ask the veterinarian before running the medications.


Reference: Wikipedia, ResearchGate, Petbarn

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