Fin Rot

[BeatrixKiddo]

One of my bettas has fin rot. The aquarium salt and 100% water changes seemed to be helping. I'm on the fifth day of treatment dosing 1tsp per gallon, when suddenly my betta's fins look even worse. When I left this morning for work, his fins didn't look this bad. The progression of the fin rot has doubled in pace. Should I still use aquarium salt? Should I switch to an antibiotic? Should I change his water twice a day?

He is currently in a 1/2 gallon container with a heater, which is keeping the water at 78 degrees. I don't know what to do...

[BeatrixKiddo]

I've also been adding Prime and Stress Coat+ to his tank.

[LeoTheLakerBetta]

I think if you moved him into a bigger tank it would help him more. The size of your tank right now could be accumulating ammonia and speeding up the fin rot. If you don't have a bigger tank for him to go in, change his water every other day... As for the salt, don't continue with it so much and maybe stop in a few days or so.. Stress Coat would be adequate; you don't need to add Prime with the StressCoat at the same time.

[BeatrixKiddo]

I have a cycled ten gallon tank, but I thought it would be easier to do the water changes in a smaller container. I've been changing 100% of his water every day and redosing with aquarium salt.

I was adding stress coat for it's aloe vera properties, and prime because it detoxifies the ammonia for 2 days. Since he is in a smaller tank, I thought that was needed.

[callistra]

What kind of heater do you have for a 1/2 gallon? What kind of thermometer are you using?

1/2 gallon is just too small to keep a fish healthy. Daily water changes are hard on a fish but with something that small not changing it is harder.. It's just a lose lose situation. The smallest tank you should keep a betta in is 2 gallons, but they are MUCH easier to take care of in 5-10gallon cycled tanks. If you're going to use antibiotics don't add him yet because the antibiotics will probably hurt your cycle...Are you saying you just moved him into the half gallon for treatment? That's ok, but it would be better if you had something at least 1 gallon.

I think aquarium salt is a good place to start for fin rot but when you have a situation like yours where it's not working and all of a sudden it picks up pace quickly I would get an antibiotic. I would look for Kanaplex but Maracyn II may also work. If you can't find either then Furan-2 would work but it's harsher. You're going to have to break down the med to use in a half gallon. So for example like Kanaplex one measure is used in 5 gallons. So scoop 5 teaspoons of water. Put 1 flattened (like you're baking) measure of Kanaplex in the water. Mix it up until it's dissolved, then take 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture out and add it to the tank. Other stuff works for 10 gallons so you may have to do measure 10 and take a half