BETTAS!!!!!!

Fin Rot tank

So since I have two babies with fin rot and 10g doses of the medication, I went ahead and set them up in the 10g with the divider. I also hung some aquarium background on the divider so that they wouldn’t stress each other out by seeing each other all the time. It has been dosed with:

• 1st dose of Tetracycline
• 1/2 dose of aquarium salt
• Double dose of stress coat
• Normal dose of water conditioner

“Hole in Head” Infection to Body Wound tank

Balraj got upgraded to the 1g for the sake of my sanity (dividing a 10g packet of powder into 20 parts? kill me now). His tank has:

• 1st dose of General Cure
• Double dose of stress coat
• Normal dose of water conditioner

Healing fins tank

Fezzic is still in the tiny tank for now because he’s been doing fine in there, fins are growing back, he eats well, etc. Tank had:

• Normal dose of water conditioner
• Double dose of stress coat
• 1/4-1/2 dose of aquarium salt

I fed everybody once they got settled in their tanks and everybody ate well! Everybody is active except for Balraj. He’s moving around, but his fins are semi-clamped and he likes to sit still for a little bit in spots. I think he’s beginning to feel the effects of the infection. 

pH Poisoning cup

Meanwhile at Sav’s house, Bonaparte is still in a cup but he gets daily water changes with normal dosages of all the usual stuff. He’s displaying more color each day, though its still a slow process. His fins are no longer clamped! But they have some growing back to do, they aren’t as majestic as they were before the pH poisoning. He eats well and flares his fins at all other fish. He is clearly just as fierce as he was before getting sick!!

On the downside, it looks like Ilana might be showing signs of popeye? We bought medication today, will start dosing her tomorrow. Seriously like… I know the main cause of problems is dirty water, that makes total sense. What I don’t understand is that we do diligent water changes with treatments and everything, how is everybody still getting sick? Ugh! Anyways, jesus, I feel like I’m going to be a pro at caring for sick betta fish at this rate, its almost like we’re cycling through every freaking disease they can get.

pigeonhearted asked: Hello again, I was just wondering if you have any bettas that have been attacked by a cardinal tetra (yeah, strange) and then bit their own fins off and caused them to gain severe fin rot. Because my betta has done exactly that and I'm so concerned :/ x

I’m going to publish this to see if anybody else has had this happen!

I haven’t kept my bettas with any other kind of fish, but I have had fish that bit their fins off, and fish that have severe fin rot. :(

The tail biter, I honestly don’t know how to help, so I ended up returning him to the pet store. :< My boy with severe fin rot though, I have him in a quarantine tank with a marimo and we just got some Tetracycline to start dosing him with that. 

Have no fears! Fin rot seriously sucks, but I’ve never seen a fish die from that specifically, unless the stress got them as well. There are a lot of great posts and websites with instructions on caring for fin rot (nippyfish, bettatalk, gokillthehipster has a good write up, etc.), but here are some basic points!

• Make sure their water is clean and balanced. The testing supplies would add up to $30+, so its not cheap, but you get A LOT of use out of them and they’re very useful for making sure your fish are in safe conditions. I suggest getting the Ammonia kit, the Nitrate kit, and the pH kit (With pH up and down).
• Determine how severe the rot is. Minor cases of fin rot can usually be cleared up with a combination of daily water changes and aquarium salt. If they have severe fin rot (are missing half of their tail, check my Crisanto tag for an image of a fish missing half of his tail due to fin rot), its been suggested to move onto some serious antibiotics. Tetracycline and ampicillin are the two that I read about, but we were only able to find tetracycline. 
• If you have to resort to medicines, follow the instructions closely and make sure to do a full dosing period! Even if your fish is looking better before the dosing finishes (he probably won’t, sometimes fin rot can take a long time before fins start growing back). If you stop the dose before its complete, the disease could build up a resistance and make a come back as a stronger, deadlier version.

I wish you luck with your boy! It always sucks when your fish get sick.

Read up on how its caused by bad water, which I already knew in theory, and continued to read on about how you can test the ammonia and nitrate to judge how good your water is. Testing Crisanto’s tank atm. He had a 100% water change 24 hours ago, and has had a marimo in there with him this whole time.

Ammonia: 3ppm

Nitrate: 0ppm????

So apparently

Crisanto pees a fuckton but has yet to digest the food he ate yesterday and today?!?

Either way though, isn’t that kind of high for the ammonia? Shouldn’t the marimo be helping that? 

His fins aren’t looking any better.

And Balraj is healing up GREAT except for one little scratch. Which is infected and now a big scratch. Sav has le medicine so we’ll be all up on that tomorrow. 

I’d be a better judge on how everybody was doing except I got a timer for their lights so they’re on a schedule! And everybody was sleepy and groggy because I got home after their sun set.

gokillthehipster:

Whenever I lurk the #betta fish tags, I see so many posts of people not knowing what to do when their fish gets fin rot. I feel bad and just want to help them out, but sometimes its super hard to effectively get back to them.

So here, this is a tried and true, tested and effective method to get rid of (non-severe) fin rot using Aquarium Salt/ Non-Ioddized salt.

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First thing is: What is rot and how did this happen?

Fin rot is caused by bacteria that is living in your fish tank. All tanks have this bacteria in them, and it is not inherently dangerous. What makes this bacteria dangerous is when the tank is not clean, if it is over stocked, or if the fish is injured or stressed. The bacteria that causes fin rot is gram-negative.

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Important step:

Assess your tank.
Be honest with yourself. Are you cleaning the tank enough, is the water frequently changed for the tank’s size? Is your fish living with tank mates that it shouldn’t be, or living with too many other fish? These issues are critical to relieving fin rot, as the fin rot will not go away unless the tank is kept clean and not over stocked. 
Be honest with yourself to save your little fish.

A tank under 2gallons should be changed at least once a week completely. 

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How do I know its rot?

Mild(er) cases of fin rot are…

• Mild tattering on the fins to moderate tattering
• Slightly darker in color or turning grey/brown at the tips
• Only present on the tips of the fins, not near the body
• Small amounts of redness at the fin tips/ some irritation

 (Big rips do no necessarily mean rot, but its good to be careful the rip stays healthy!)

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FIRST STEP:

Here’s what to do first:

• “Quarantine” your fish if it lives in a tank over two gallons, lives with other fish or snails, or if it lives with live plants.  
• If your fish is in a tank larger than two gallons, etc. find another container that is clean and safe to treat the fish in. This allows you to not need to do as large of water changes, spares other fish from being harmed, and saves plants from medicines that may kill them.
• Try to keep the “QT” tank .5 gallons-2 gallons,  as it is easier to dose medicines this way.
• Once the fish has a QT home, float it in the original tank to keep the fish warm. You can tape the QT container against the tank. Doing so will prevent the QT from tipping or being knocked around. Take care that if it has a lid with holes that it doesn’t flip over, which will drown the betta. If you are doing this in the main tank and its heated, that’s fine.

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 NEXT:

Now that the fish has a temporary home to be treated in, you need to focus on the water:

• Change the water 100% in the QT tank. This helps get rid of or discourage bacterial growth. Be sure to properly acclimate the fish when doing the 100% change in the QT.
• Try and keep the water the QT tank is bobbing in at or around 76-78’F. This range discourages the spread of bacterial growth.
• Keep the lights off in the tank as well as the filter ( if you are treating in-tank), as the current will hinder fin regrowth.

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USING SALT:

• Take a clean cup of some sort to mix clean tank water and salt in. Take a small amount of the QT tank’s water out and into this cup. 
• Add in 1 teaspoon per gallon of Aquarium Salt into this cup and allow it to dissolve fully. Stir it around to mix faster.  So, if you have 1/2 gallon of water, .5tsp, 1 gallon of water, use 1 tsp of salt, 2 gallons, 2 tsp of salt, and so on. This is why you use a smaller container, its easier!
• Add the salt/water mixture back into the QT tank gently so it wont knock around your fish.
• USE SALT FOR NO MORE THAN 10 DAYS.

Your fish now has all the medicine it needs to cure its fin rot.

• Stay away from unnatural remedies, as these can be dangerous when not dosed correctly. Salt and clean water does wonders. Melafix and bettafix do not cure rot. They are antiseptics.

After one day, do a full, 100% water change in your QT tank. 

• This is important because it keeps bacteria growth down, provides a clean environment for the fish, and makes re-dosing the salt easier. 
• After  a 100% water change (100%!!!), re-dose the 1tsp/gallon of AQ salt.
• Acclimate your fish properly and gently each time you do.
• USE SALT FOR NO MORE THAN 10 DAYS. Try for 5.

DO NOT COMPOUND THE SALT DOSES EACH DAY. Do NOT add 1 tsp one day, 1 tsp the next, etc, while not changing the water. It will kill your fish!  


 Hope this helps! Be careful when treating. For questions, just ask.

All info here is from my blog here. I address using medicines and antibiotics as well as more severe to very severe rot. Check it out!!

laurenhagley answered your question: I think Crisanto has fin rot

Maybe try a Methylene Blue product? You can use small amounts with heat and salt, which may have more effect.

I’ll try that as my next step! I’m just starting up with heat and salt today, and I’m going to move my boy away from the lighting set up for all my fishies. If that doesn’t work, then well, its time to get even more serious. @__@

t-h-e-kid:

bettabutts:

But medication isn’t helping him. 

Would this be where I do daily water changes with aquarium salts? I’m afraid it’d be too stressful, but I am no pro with fish, if this is what he needs then this is what I will do for him. 

Fin Rot

I was trying to cure fin rot for a while before I found this and once I did it cleared up in about two days!

That looks awesome, I’ll have to see how much salts + small heater add up. c:

But medication isn’t helping him. 

Would this be where I do daily water changes with aquarium salts? I’m afraid it’d be too stressful, but I am no pro with fish, if this is what he needs then this is what I will do for him.