Green Tea?

[LolaQuigs]

I thought I read somewhere that you can use decaf green tee to treat fin rot, does anyone have experience with it? I bought a fish yesterday and he is a mess; his fins are shredded and rotting, and he seemed to have difficulty breathing, though his breathing looks a little more normal today. Right now he's in a 1 gallon hospital tank treated with Prime and aquarium salt and heated to 77-78 degrees. Does this sound like a good treatment for fin rot? Would green tea be safe/helpful?

Also, does anyone know what those black spots on his dorsal fin are? His normal color? Fungus? Fin rot? Something else?

He also has some dark spots on his body (you can see those best in the second pic), are they lacerations/scars?

[Oldfishlady]

What a pretty fella you found...

Yes, the treatment sounds good-aquarium salt 1tsp/gal along with 100% daily water changes for 10 days-temp 77-78F and good nutrition-small frequent meals

Decaf green tea-I am not sure how the tea is processed and so I am not sure of the effects as far as antibacterial/fungal properties like you get with oak leaf and IAL- since high heat kills it....but the tannin the tea will make can help-the tanned water can help ease or de-stress in a sense and this in turn can help the fish immune response...stress is a big killer of fish.....

[LolaQuigs]

I really wanted to use IAL, but I don't know where to get it locally, and ordering it will do me no good because by the time I get it, his treatment will be almost over (though I may order some for future use); so I thought about trying green tea. Not as good as IAL or oak leaf (all the leaves around here have been long gone, so I figured I wouldn't be able to find that either) but I'm glad to know that it is safe and can at least help with stress.

Thank you, Old Fish Lady!