Fin Rot?

[emma2010]

Ok, so I've totally murdered my cycle and I'm in the process of fixing that but I've noticed that 2 of my boys in my destroyed 30g have black on the edges of their fins. Also, I have another fish who is completely seperate that is also showing some blackening. This seperate fish and one of the boys in the 30g are both new fish that I bought at the same time and store. Is it possible that they have fin rot and it's spreading in my 30g?
If they do have fin rot, what's the best way to treat it and should I remove all the fish from the 30g and scrub it and start the cycle all over?
Also, I have a female that I bought with the infected(?) males, should I also treat her and my other female(they are in the same tank) to be certain that they do not have fin rot as well?

[1fish2fish]

I would treat everyone. I would start by doing daily water changes and adding aquarium salt. Do this for 10 days.. if you don't see healing I would move to some sort of medication.. perhaps Maracyn1 or 2.

Try the natural route first before resorting immediately to medication. You might want to look up OldFishLady's home made food recipe and feed that... it really helps sick fish. I know from experience

[xxabc]

Fin rot is extremely common with bettas, so everytime you see it you have the right to be very upset, but I definitely wouldn't completely worry. And DEFINITELY not something to kill a cycle over, so basically it's okay! The most important thing with fin rot is - try to prevent it from being infected and rotting until it gets close to the body.

[Oldfishlady]

Spot on Jackie, also to add, fin rot is a bacteria/pathogen that invades the fins when the right condition are present, most pathogens are present in our tanks all the time and when water quality falls allowing the pathogens to multiply and/or an opening occur from either ammonia burns, tears, nips...etc....or the fish is stressed....not all tears or openings in the tissue will get infected and generally just making some water changes to improve water quality and/or removing the stressor will prevent a secondary infection, other fish can't catch it per se' from another fish but the chances of it spreading is higher due more to conditions in the water and/or stress from the fish.

Bottom line IMO/E water changes are the best first line defense against most issues that affect our wet pets.
Understanding your water and its quality....to be a keeper of water will help you keep thriving fish.

[emma2010]

I've been doing water changes and adding the salt for about 7 days now. The tears in Dave's fins are almost completely gone. The boys in the 30g are picking up and starting to flare and etc again. However, all of them(except Dave) still have black edges on their fins. There are no tears or other symptoms, just the blackening. Is this something that will go away with time or do I need to look into medications?

[emma2010]

Oh and an unrelated question, is it possible to completely clean a tank without destroying the cycle? I have a 3g that could use a cleaning along the bottom. The gravel vac just doesn't cut it. My idea was to float the hiding places and filter in a bucket of the old water while scrubbing everything else, would this work out or just destroy the cycle? I'm actually switching the fish in the tank and wanted to be sure all the old poop was gone before moving them.