Treatment + Water Change Question

[Bluelily54]

Captain Barbossa seems to have developed fin rot, and I'm in the process of preparing his quarantine tank to start treatment this afternoon. I'm moving him to a quarantine to keep the aquarium salt from hurting his tank mates (two ghost shrimp). In his normal aquarium, should I do a 100% change when he's ready to be moved back? Should I put a silk plant in his quarantine aquarium, to keep him from getting stressed about lack of hiding places?

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum....

It is important to know why the Betta got fin rot and fix that-otherwise it could be an on-going problem.
If you will fill-out this info sheet and add it to your thread-we can help you figure out the cause-unless you already know....But we will need more info regardless.
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=49233

It sounds like you already have a good idea and instincts on what to do.
Good that you are using a QT for treatment-IMO/E-in most cases it is almost always a good idea to QT for any treatment, however, there are some exception.
Yes, it is a good idea to add the silk or live plant to the QT to help make him feel more secure.

Can you post a pic and/or describe what you are seeing. Depending on the degree of damage/infection will determine the treatment-If it isn't too involved-often a clean water and tannin treatment is all that is needed-along with good nutrition. In severe cases-I like to use aquarium salt 1-3tsp/gal, tannins and good nutrition.

Depending on his regular aquarium with the ghost shrimp-several factors regarding the need for 100% water changes-Once we get more info on that aquarium we can advise on those needs.

[Bluelily54]

Housing
What size is your tank? 2.5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 76F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
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? 2 ghost shrimp

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Omega One Betta Pellets and freeze-dried blood worms (as a treat)
How often do you feed your betta fish? twice a day, 2-3 pellets each time

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? 2x a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Stress Coat (I also have Aqueon Betta Bowl water conditioner, which would be better to use on a regular basis?)

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

Ammonia:
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:.5
pH:7.8
Hardness:very hard
Alkalinity: 200-ish
(Today would have been another 50% water change, so these parameters would be different).

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Fins have become more tattered looking along the edges, today is the first day there has been any black discoloration at the edge of his tail fin
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? He's acting normal, swimming about and such.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Middle/End of last week
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? Not yet. Plan on using aquarium salt and the dosage of Stress coat recommended for fin regrowth
Does your fish have any history of being ill? I've had him for about a month, this is the first time anything has come up.
How old is your fish (approximately)? Not sure, I got him from Petsmart and he appears to be full grown.

[Oldfishlady]

A pic would really help.....and you are sure he is not tail biting...

It looks like you are providing perfect care IMO....The one thing that sticks out for me and tattered fins....Is the filter....sometimes the Long fin males can't tolerate the water current from filters-those long delicate fins tatter...somewhat like the flag in the wind effect....

[SolomonFinch]

I have a male in the color range of your avatar and I became panicked about fin rot when I saw some slight darkening at his fin edges. There was faint transparency then a slight dark edging.Turns out he was having a growth spurt.
I also had another betta who had a fight with a filter that he had previously ignored for months before one day he decided getting his tail ruffled in it when no one was watching was the most awesome thing in the world.

[Bluelily54]

I haven't seen him try to tail bite before, and the edges aren't "clean cut," they're pretty ragged. I have one of those mini betta bow tanks and I've been using the filter that came with it. I've tried dampening the filter with a pre-filter sponge, as well as cutting one up and stuffing the output with it to help out more when I noticed the output was too much for him. Are there any other ways I can help? I really like having the filter, I'm a senior college student and pretty pressed for time between class and studying.
I went ahead and moved him to the QT tank, we'll see if I see any improvement. I'll try to get a picture this evening, I'm having my senior flute recital hearing this afternoon

[SolomonFinch]

Sounds like you are doing all you can, but I have only been betta fish keeping for 6 months and have only treated tail rot when I get fish home, not after actually being in tank. Since I said that, I will go home and have tail rot in all my tanks.
There are SEVERAL more experienced keepers than you or I on this site and I am sure someone can help you. Your parameters do not indicate (to me) so much sudden damage.
Take heart he is behaving happily now (another reason I though he had an accident, withdrawel then suddenly normal). Fish are like kids. I would rather see a kid happily playing while displaying symptoms of a cold than no symptoms but obviously lethargic and ill.

[Bluelily54]

Here are some pictures I just took, I had a little more free time this afternoon than I thought I would.

http://s112.beta.photobucket.com/use...ain%20Barbossa

I would be much more anxious about it if he wasn't as energetic as he was when I brought him home. He has happily made a bubble nest in the QT tank, so I'm not extremely worried. I just think his fins are so pretty, and I want to keep them that way.

[SolomonFinch]

:)