# Treating Fin Rot with Melafix & High Nitrates



## Kitfox (Aug 3, 2009)

One of my corydoras has fin rot on its tail and is acting lethargic. All levels are normal except for nitrates which are high (~50ppm)... I immediately did a 50% water change and am going out to buy some Melafix. 


Now I've read that daily water changes are important to bring the nitrate levels down and to help heal the fin rot, but the Melafix instructions say to change the water after 7 days. So what should I do here? Can I safely do 40% water changes daily?

Temp is 74 F


----------



## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

What kind of cory? Some like water temps warmer while others like it fine there. Check and see if he's the warmer type. Stress damages the slime coat often resulting in this, so make sure he has his proper group of five, and proper substrate that isn't grating on him. Try adding a little stress coat+ to see if you can help him repair and fight off infection without meds.

The best treatment for finrot, usually, is actually clean water over meds unless it's serious(serious being...really falling apart and looking bad, swelling and redness with it etc). =) For now, try to get your nitrates under control with water changes. Use Prime, if you have it or can get it, to detoxify it when you do changes. That'll help a whole lot. With how high it is, give it a while, do smaller changes(maybe 30% per day after the initial larger 50% one...larger ones if it doesn't start settling down after three of those at least). See how it goes. If he doesn't start looking better after a few days -don't expect it to be gone just better - then use medicines. I wouldn't recommend melafix with them though, I'd go for one of the maracyn meds. One of them treats finrot, I an't remember which though.


----------



## Kitfox (Aug 3, 2009)

It's an albino cory. I see a lot of conflicting info online, but overall I think 74 is fine for them (correct me if I'm wrong). For substrate I use petco's white aquarium sand. I think it feels a little less "soft" than normal sand (which I didn't know before buying it), but it should be fine as my other cories still have their barbels well intact.

Well, I already added one dose of Melafix earlier today (I saw a lot of threads online recommending it for fin rot, so I figured I would try it)... I think it looks pretty bad... but maybe I can get a good photo of him tomorrow. 

OK, I will try doing 30% water changes for 3 days and see how it goes. I already use Prime for detoxifying - love that one.

Btw, why wouldn't you recommend Melafix? It says it does treat fin & tail rot/repairs damaged fins.

Oh yeah, and I think the nitrate levels might be high because I overfed this week. I was out of town for 4 days, so I overfed (about 2-3 times the daily amount) on the day before I left. I guess fin rot can develop pretty quickly. Or maybe there's some other reason. I do 40% weekly water changes, but who knows.


----------



## Sylverclaws (Jul 16, 2012)

Melafix should not be used with labyrinth fish. It can coat the organ and make it hard to use. Corydoras have a labyrinth organ, much like bettas. This is why they say not to use it with bettas. SURE, you can probably get away with using it anyways, many do...but sometimes it ends up killing your fish instead of fixing them, light though the medicine is. 

74 is probably fine, I used to keep them in 76 degrees. 


You're right, there is so much conflicting info online it's not even funny. You have to find ways of sifting through the carp by using common sense and proper expert advice. That in itself can be a real peach, especially since common sense isn't that common....not that so many LACK it as so many other do when writing that stuff to suit their own selfish desires, and sifting through it is hard because so very, very many people say it's wonderful to have a pair of common goldfish in a 30 gallon tank....often with tropical fish in tow like a common pleco(do-able with goldfish of course, in 100+ gallon tanks, not 30!) or Chinese Algae-Eater to keep it clean. =-=; Mm, those should be ignored.


----------



## Kitfox (Aug 3, 2009)

Ah, I had no idea it was bad for labyrinth fish! I'll keep on with just the water changes.

I agree it's not even funny. A lot of people use weak anecdotal evidence to support their "information"... like "Someone told me they did X and their fish died so X is always bad for all fish" or "I kept 1 cory in a tank all by itself and it lived so they don't need to school". And going off of what you mentioned, yeah, a lot of people either have no idea how stocking works, or they follow that false "1 inch per gallon" rule or whatever it is.


----------

