What is this? Fungus? Bacterial? Excess slime?

Sorry to be so slow. Just as I started working on this I had an interruption.... sigh...

Aquarium salt is fine if you have it. It's a little bit harder to measure as a level teaspoon, but that's OK.

From what I've read here on AC, regular table salt is OK, too, and the Iodized salt is not a problem. I read that you would avoid table salt if it had something like Prussian something-or-other in it.

I'd use the aquarium salt since you have it.

I noticed one thing I said that needed clarification. On that first day of treatment I said to do the waterchange and add the antibiotic. Then take a cup of the tankwater and add the salt and bring it nearly to a boil, cool it and then add that over the next 12 hours.

I don't know that it would hurt anything, but I should have said to get the cup of water from the tank after the water change, but before adding the antibiotic.

It would inactivate the antibiotic in that one cup of water, probably, but I don't think it would cause any problem otherwise if you've already done that.
 
I see Army doctors when I get sick and they care less for my health than the two of you do for this betta. I'm not trying to say anything bad towards you, just towards the army medical system. lol.
 
Oh... also, on the pea question. :) Once a week is good on that, I believe.

Also, I think it might be a good idea to soak the medicated food in some water to get it to sink. Maybe some distilled or spring water.

It's better for her is she doesn't try to gulp the food from the surface of the water. It's been a while since I used the medicated food and I can't remember how long it takes for those little pellets to sink.

Having said that, however, I think ideally it would be better for her to eat them without having to soak them so they sink, but I worry about her swallowing air as she eats food from the surface. My concern is that if the pellets sit in water until waterlogged that could dilute the medication in the food.

Do you notice that she's eating them as they sink, or from the surface of the water?
 
LOL, EOD. I'm sorry they don't take better care of you guys.
 
If you ever come down with Columnaris, or Ich... just check in here on AC, lol. We'll take good care of you. :)
 
<lol> EOD - the problem is that you don't have Mel as your Dr I think!

Mel - I try not to let the pea foul the tank, so when I feed them (I do that once a week ANYhow), I deshell, then hold one half of the pea about an inch under the water in my fingers, and she comes and grabs a bite, swims away to eat it, and comes back for more when she's ready. When she quits coming back, I take it away. No interest in fouling the tank with uneaten pea bits and since she's a typical betta - she has no problem eating from my hands. :)

With the pellets (now the medicated ones but even her regular Hikari ones), I show her it's coming, she comes flying up, I drop one on the water and she grabs it - yes from the surface. I used to soak pellets, but then I read that it may well not be necessary because it wasn't the worry once thought, and two, not a great idea because you're actually soaking some of the vitamins etc out. :huh: I haven't a clue - but I don't soak them anymore and would be worried, as you said, about soaking the medicated ones unless I had to briefly soak in garlic.
 
Mel - quick dosing and water change question. The Kanaplex says to repeat the dosing every 2 days - so I'm assuming that a water change inbetween those 2 days is going to seriously dilute the meds for that second day. So do I understand it right, that what you suggest I do is dose, then after a day, change a LOT of water (90% or so), then re-dose full dose every day into the clean/changed water rather than every 2 days as the bottle says?

The Binox says a second dose may be added in FOUR days after a 25% water change. Here again, ignore that and do 90% (ish) water changes and completely redose as brand new each day?

BTW... that binox is bright yellow. Anyone know if this is gonna stain the acrylic? (I'll still use it, of course!, just want to be ready for whether I need to get a replacement later.)
 
That's what I did, Samantha. I removed so much water that my fish barely had enough to cover his back. He swims around furiously, but I have a bare bottom hospital tank and I don't worry about tummy scrapes with a bare tank, and having the replacement water ready to pour in immediately made the experience rather brief. I have never encountered any problems with this method.

You are using Diva's tank and she does have gravel, so you will want to be careful, but I would remove as much water as you safely can. 90% would be good.

Another option that requires more effort is to slightly reduce the daily dosages that you add to the tank water each day. That is a method that is the method that sherryazure has used on occasions that she treated for Columnaris.

A few here on AC will say that just follow the directions and don't do water changes, but I and many others are concerned that water conditions stay pristine in the tank in which you are treating a sick fish.

Many here agree, and I spoke with several aquaria drug company/technical reps that also say this, that the antibiotic breaks down in the water column after several hours and is unavailable then, so big water changes every day with fresh dosing is fine.

The drug/technical reps I spoke with say the main concern is that the hobbiest won't do big enough water changes to remove residual components each day.

I like doing huge water changes and dosing each day, and I do try to reduce the dose very slightly each day to compensate, but that's tough in a smaller tank. I use a 5 gallon hospital, and though I don't have a chemists/pharmacists scale to weigh such small amounts, I use my eyes to get approximates.

Another technique that I have used, and recommended to someone that was too nervous about calculating dosages, was this:

Follow the directions, but carefully monitor the water parameters twice a day.

The first 24 hours will probably not show any ammonia, but if any so, then, add Prime to the tank at the dose for the full volume of the water in the tank. This will detoxify the ammonia for a while.

Hang on... I've got someone here in the house that needs me for something... I'll finish this in a minute. brb
 
OK... I'm going to try to finish this, lol.

You can each day dose the tank with Prime. I have done this before and as long as you

OH SHOOT!!! brb
 
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