Stats: 3 gallon eclipse tank, Amm - 0; NitrIte - 0; NitrAte - 5, pH right around 7. Temp 76-78. Water additions - Prime, aquarium salt, IAL.
My CT, Cielo, has been battling fin rot since March when I was gone for 5 days and his tank was not yet cycled. However, it seems to pop up now and then. It has manifested itself as broken rays, eventually shriveling off. What can I do to stop this? It's definitely not effecting him in any way, but aesthetically it's not great looking. He also likes to scrounge on the bottom, and let himself get sucked into the filter intake, which may or may not cause some of the larger ray breaks.
Any advice would be much appreciated! I'd rather not give him meds if not absolutely necessary.
Let himself get sucked into the filter intake? :shock: That definitely should not be happening, lol. What kind of filter do you have in the tank? If it's a Tetra Whisper of some kind, you can usually put a strip of pantyhose over the intake slots, or maybe a thin sponge. If it's an external with a descending intake pipe you can usually put a sponge around them, or again, a piece of pantyhose.
Is there a chance it could be tail biting instead of fin rot? Your water sounds so clean, and with aquarium salt and Indian almond Leave (which is supposed to help treat fin rot, right?) present I can't imagine fin rot being an issue. Not that it couldn't, somehow, anyway. But, maybe there's just a chance he's stressed? Does he have a lot of plants or decor to hide in? Regardless, I'd suggest fixing tampering with your filter to prevent anymore accidental suctions and see if he doesn't improve.
No, he's not tail biting. I can actually see the whole progression of the "melting" starting the broken rays, shriveling, and eventually falling off.
It's an eclipse with the regular marineland filter. He doesn't actually get sucked up, obviously, but he rests against the intake "slats" sometimes and his fins might break from that. I've put pantyhose around it before but it tends to get clogged and then doesn't work properly.
Although your pH is not all that high I have found that with my CT I need to use lower pH and softer water or the rays will drop, how many IAL are you using and how often are you replacing them?
On my main CT breeders I have to keep them in rainwater with lots of native oaks leaves, pH in the 6 range KH & GH in the 20-30ppm range, not saying that is your CT problem but you may want to try add more IAL and maybe some peat moss or use rain water if it is safe to use in your area and see if that helps...just an idea...
Also changing the water everyday of at least 50% and turn the filter off and make sure nothing in the tank will snag his fin.
I would use enough of the IAL to stain the water to a nice amber color, tear them up in pieces if you don't already and if you have carbon in the filter remove it and IMO I would turn the filter off the current can cause fin damage and IMO/E more water changes are better anyway especially for the CT delicate fins.
You can pre-mix your water and keep IAL in the pre-mix, you can even make a tea out of the IAL just pour hot not boiling water over them and let them steep 5 min or so, dump that water and repeat to get all the tannins out of the leaf and keep in a clean jug, dilute and use for water changes.
I use native oak leave, they do the same as the IAL, I have used the IAL in the past and I used 1 large to 5g of water and left them in the tank until they fell apart, I do the same with the oak leave, I like the nylon idea that would make for easy cleanup...lol....
Here is an awesome sponge you can put over your intake. I've had one on mine for months with absolutely no problem (but I do take it off and rinse it during water changes). You can get it at petsmart for about $2.50. I use them on all my filters with intake tubes.
One thing I would try is to stop using the salt. Salt hardens the water while IAL softens the water. Since bettas prefer the softer water I would use only the IAL to see how it works, just keep an eye on your pH to make sure it doesn't change drastically.
Do you have your out flow buffered? That may help also.
Right now I'm still using the one it came with. After it gets worn out I'll be removing it and just putting open pore sponge in there and holding it in with rubber bands.
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