by Marie J Kelley

Created on: July 15, 2008

Walk into any pet store that sells fish and you'll notice one thing that most of the fish have in common, many of them suffer from a disease called Fin Rot. A dreadful disease, Fin Rot starts at the edge of a fish's fins and slowly causes them to decay. The fins may appear white, inflamed, or black and stringy during an episode of Fin Rot. If not treated, this decay can destroy a fish's entire fin and then begin to eat into the body causing stress, infection, and eventually death. Fin Rot is not limited to just any one breed of fish, but can affect any breed providing the conditions for the disease are there.

The most common cause of Fin Rot is due to a bacterium that appears in poor water conditions. To keep healthy and happy fish as pets, water condition in an aquarium is something that needs to be checked weekly. Aquarium water is typically filled with chemicals like salt, ammonia, nitrogen and others. When the balance for these chemicals is perfect, then a fish can survive, but when one such as ammonia, becomes abnormally high and is not kept in check the quality of the water and the quality of life in the tank decreases rapidly. Unfortunately, this poor water condition allows bacteria to flourish and the fish's immune system to become unable to defend itself.

Another reason fish can get Fin Rot is through stress and injury. Like humans, when a fish's immune system is down from an illness or "fishy cold", they are susceptible to other diseases they may not have had before. Fin Rot is also contagious unfortunately. This means if one or two fish in an aquarium have the disease, it is more likely to be spread to the other fish. These types of contagious fish diseases are why it is so important to have a hospital tank available for quarantining.

At the first signs of Fin Rot in a tank, test the water and the levels of naturally occurring chemicals. Simply correcting the PH problems, levels of ammonia and changing the aquarium water on a regular basis will help cut down on Fin Rot in a tank. If Fin Rot has ravaged a fish badly, treating him or her with antibiotics from an aquarium store may also help save their life. Always remember to follow the directions on these antibiotics, an overdose or underdose does have the potential to be lethal. Fin Rot is treatable and not a death sentence, so it's important to monitor fish each day since the sooner Fin Rot and other fish health problems are caught, the quicker they can be banished from the tank.

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