Fishy with Fin Rot :(

[JanetR]

:1zhelp:I had my betta Fishy for about 4 months and he's recently gotten fin rot. Its eaten up 1/2 of his fins in just 2 weeks. Since then I've cleaned out his whole tank and I've been giving him salt baths everyday with has helped but I now wantt to use medication. I just bought maracyn and maracyn 2. I just want to ask how to set up a one gallon hospitalized tank and administer the medication. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated. And I know Fishy would love the help too:goldfish:

 

[ConnerFish]

Well I imagine the meds will kill any good bacteria so just use an air pump and air stone so the water is not stagnant. Then add the meds according to the directions and the size of the tank. Hopefully someone else has more detailed directions and help.

 

[H2Ogal]

What is his regular tank like — size? filtered? heated? What are the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrates)? Are you using a reliable liquid test kit like the one from API or the dip-strips? And what is your tank maintenance like? Do you do weekly water changes? When you say you "cleaned" the tank, what did you do exactly?

I know that's a lot of questions, but fin rot is frequently caused by poor water conditions. If that's the situation here then just using medications won't solve the underlying problem which is causing the fin rot.

 

[JanetR]

I have a 5 gallon tank 1 Betta,3 ghost shrimp. It have a bio filter. Heater is always at 78. Ammonia and nitrite are at 0. nitrate is always below 20. I do 25% water changes a week. full water change a month. By cleaned I mean I striped the whole tank, cleaned gravel, washed decorations, washed the whole tank down. I recently started giving him salt baths with seems to slow the fin rot down but I just wanna get rid of it for good

 

[ConnerFish]

If you washed the filtet in tap water it will kill the bacteria on it. You can use old tank water to clean it without this. You can treat him in his own tank with daily water changes. I would remove the shrimp though.

 

[JanetR]

Hmmmmm that sounds like a good idea I will keep you posted on Fishys progress

 

[Jannika]

Hi janet
I had a similar problem with a male betta. I brought him home, put him into a cycled 10 gallon @ 79F but his fins started deteriorating even though the water was 0,0,10. They actually looked better in the cup the store had him in! He then started laying on the bottom a lot. Don't know why he got finrot, but this medication brought him quickly back to health, and since it floats just like betta pellets he actually ate it as is. You can use it alone or in conjunction with the Maracyn, but I always try to avoid putting medications in the water if possible. If the Maracyn has instructions for dosing with food, that may be better and will save your filter. Just a thought.

 

[H2Ogal]

I have a 5 gallon tank 1 Betta,3 ghost shrimp. It have a bio filter. Heater is always at 78. Ammonia and nitrite are at 0. nitrate is always below 20. I do 25% water changes a week. full water change a month. By cleaned I mean I striped the whole tank, cleaned gravel, washed decorations, washed the whole tank down. I recently started giving him salt baths with seems to slow the fin rot down but I just wanna get rid of it for good

Your water parameters do look good. Are those recent readings, since the cleaning? How often do you test the water (especially after these monthly cleanings)?

Is there some reason you are doing a "full water change a month" and breaking the tank down for such a thorough cleaning? Doing so probably removed a lot of beneficial bacteria, which grows on all surfaces in the tank — gravel, glass, decor — not just in the filter media. If you are doing weekly water changes, all you should need to do to keep the tank in good shape is vacuum the gravel each week and use a magnetic scraper to clean algae off the glass. If you don't like algae on decor items, just remove them occasionally and rinse/rub them off in used tank water.

 

[H2Ogal]

Hi janet
I had a similar problem with a male betta. I brought him home, put him into a cycled 10 gallon @ 79F but his fins started deteriorating even though the water was 0,0,10. They actually looked better in the cup the store had him in!

Perhaps the ammonia poisoning during his time in that cup caused loss of fin tissue later and/or made him susceptible to bacterial infections ... ? So you were actually helping him heal from damage he'd sustained earlier.

 

[Jannika]

That could be, H2Ogal. Also agree Janet may have had a mini-cycle without knowing it.