Fin Biting or Tail Rot??

[flyingpony22]

I've had a lot of things going on in my personal life so I haven't been home to take care of them like I normally would, and this fish in particular is a baby. He's very social and likes a lot of activity so I'm unsure if the current state of his fins is due to him being stressed out and biting them, or if its fin rot. I did a water change when I first noticed this and I bought stress coat which I added to his water. I've had him since oct and this is the first issue I've had with his fins. I've never seen him bite them before.

This is a horrible picture of him, he doesn't have that indent in his side but he wouldn't sit still long enough for me to take a better one. And those black spots you see on him is just part of his natural coloring, and something he's always had.

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 78 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? snails

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? omega one buffet pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 pellets twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every 3 days
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? previously prime, just purchased stress coat which I'm currently using since I noticed his fin issues

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: n/a
Nitrite: n/a
Nitrate: n/a
pH: n/a
Hardness: n/a
Alkalinity: n/a

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? tail ragged and shredded
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? it hasn't, he's still active
When did you start noticing the symptoms? about a week ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Started adding stress coat instead of prime
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? 6 months

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

It can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between fin biting and fin rot, you said that this began about a week ago, I was just wondering...you said that you have not been home to care for your fish.....does that mean you have been unable to perform water changes as per normal? If so I would probably tend to think it may be fin rot. I would recommend treating with Mardels maracyn two and keeping his water nice and clean. Good luck

[flyingpony22]

Yeah rather then every three days he made it a week without a water change. I have maracyn (the first one) at home already. Is it ok to treat him with that or does it really need to be the second one?

[veggiegirl]

Hey there,

I believe that maracyn one only treats one specific strain of bacteria while maracyn two treats a broad rage of bacteria so is more likely to be effective. I would probably use the maracyn two if you can get it because there is a greater chance that it will work. By the way is the betta in your avatar photo the one that has fin rot? he is so gorgeous! I hope he is much better soon

[flyingpony22]

That would be him! Thanks so much for your help. Ill pick up the new mediciation for him after I get out of work tomorrow. Hopefully he's back to his old self quickly. I was so heart broken when I looked into his tank last week and saw him like that!

[callistra]

Maracyn is gram positive and no good for fin rot. Of the two, maracyn 2 is better but it is very harsh and fish act stressed. It wouldn't be my first choice.

I'd look for Kanaplex, Triple Sulfa or Furan 2.

Also I see a lot of hard plastic plants with potential to shred fins.. I would remove them and use women's panty hose to thoroughly drag through all of them. If they snag they need to be kept out. I see one I can't even imagine won't snag..

[flyingpony22]

Unfortunately the pet stores I went to today only had maracyn two so I purchased that because I'm afraid of it getting worse while I wait to order one of the other brands online. I gave him a 100% water change and removed the plants for now. I'm going to add the medicine in a few hours. My question is that it's a five day treatment. Should I still do water changes as normal? Or would that be removing some of the medication from the water? Or should I do a 25-50% instead of the normal 100%?

[Nicci Lu]

The Maracyn is only active for 24 hours and gets added to the tank once a day. So yes, you can do your water changes as normal.
1) Do your water change
2) Take out about one cup of the tank water and pre-dissolve the Maracyn.
3) If it's the first day you're using the Maracyn, add the pre-dissolved medicine gradually, over a period of one hour so as to not overly stress him from the shock. If it's after the first day, go ahead and add it all at once.

As long as you always do your water changes right before you need to add the Maracyn, you'll be fine.

[LittleBlueFishlets]

Originally Posted by Nicci Lu

The Maracyn is only active for 24 hours.....

The OP has Marcyn 2, not Maracyn. They are different medications. Maracyn 2 contains 10 mg Minocycline per packet.... Minocycline is a derivative of tetracycline, and is active against a wide range of both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. The average half-life of Minocycline in humans is 15.5 hours. (This means that after 15.5 hours, one-half of the medication is still active in the body.)
Source: http://www.rxlist.com/minocin-capsul...armacology.htm

I don't know what the half-life is in fish though.

The manufacturer's website states:
"Each packet of Mardel Maracyn Two contains 10mg minocycline activity. Due to its unique properties, Maracyn-Two is absorbed by the fish through the skin. During the prescribed treatment, the concentration of Maracyn-Two in the fish fluids rises to a therapeutic level and is available to fight systemic infections susceptible to its action. Minicycline is a broad-spectrum antibiotic which has been shown to be effective against a number of pathogenic bacteria associated with ornamental fish disease. Maracyn-Two may cloud the water but will not interfere with the biological filter. New activated carbon or charcoal and a 25% water change removes any cloudiness resulting from the treatment. After treatment Maracyn-Two can be removed by water changes and fresh activated carbon."

If you want to know whether to do water changes, you could ask the manufacturer. Here's a link to the page where you can submit questions: http://www.sentrypetcare.com/ContactUs/contact.asp

[Nicci Lu]

Originally Posted by LittleBlueFishlets

The OP has Marcyn 2, not Maracyn. They are different medications.

Oops, I got them mixed up because I used both the Maracyns at the same time. I guess I can only say that that is how I performed water changes when dosing with I and II, and it worked. However, I cannot verify that this is the correct procedure.

You can also call Sentry's hotline for a quicker response, they're very friendly and it doesn't take a long time to get through. I had to do this when my betta decided that his Maracyn II was a tasty treat- hence the always pre-dissolve your medicines advice. 1-800-224-PETS