I bought this awesome little black moor from the store 8 days ago. I’ve had him in his own separate QT and 4 days ago I noticed a couple little white spots on his gills and fins. He was still acting fine and seemed happy but a little stressed with occasional bumping against the glass. It started out as just one dot on back fin that grew larger and then seemed to split into multiple. The ones on gills seemed to have settled down thankfully as of now but it seemed I believe to be ich that maybe turned into fin rot. I’m pretty new to the hobby so any help would be appreciated. I’ve tried to do a lot of research but still doesn’t seem enough.
Since I first assumed it was ich or a combo of ich and infection I started treating with Ich X and Erythromycin. After 24 hours I did about a 30% water change and dosed again but noticed the white stuff was getting bigger and not spreading randomly across the whole body so started to think maybe a fungus instead. At that point the fin rot seemed to have set in though the ends were looking pretty frayed and starting to split. I got concerned it could also be velvet or something but wasn’t sure, after 24 hours did about a 50% water change and dosed with both again. Another 24 hours and dosed again with a 30% water change.
Now today the gills seem to have gotten better and be normal but the tail is just getting worse. The big white spot on the outside of tail is gone but a smaller one on inside is growing that’s hard to see. There are also some white growth looking stuff at the ends of his tails with some smaller dots of varying sizes. The ends are looking very frayed I feel so bad for him.
I tried a ten second methylene blue dip in about a 50ppm concentration hoping that would help. He seems slightly more active, still eats fine but sometimes will seem like he’s gasping for air at the top but doesn’t do it often and I sometimes think he’s just looking for food. I then did a water change and dosed again with the two medications. Overall he just seems to be getting worse and not sure what I should do next or if I should continue the same treatment? I really love this guy and want him to pull through. Don’t know what’s going wrong, I know sometimes they just come home with something but hoping it’ll be treatable. I have quite a few other meds on standby but haven’t used anything else in tank cause didn’t want to overload them, aside from, aquarium salt, a little occasional stress guard and of course conditioner.
I don’t think it could be water quality but could be wrong. It’s not a cycled tank but I had it setup for a couple weeks and was adding stability, quick start, and a bit of ammonia to at least get it started. I figured since it was just a 10 gallon QT tank and I was fine with doing water changes it would be okay. I included a few pictures I’ve taken over the past few days as it’s progressed. I have quite a few meds on standby but didn't want to over do it and can also get more if anyone has any suggestions or if there’s anything else I can try.
pH 7.0
Nitrates 0
Hardness 150 (I believe from salts and crushed coral, any suggestions on bringing down?)
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
KH/Buffer 60
Water Temperature 75
