See pictures, is it fin rot?

[blueray]

Blue Ray, my betta, is acting normal but I've noticed parts of his fins getting progressively translucent. No fuzzy stuff. I think its fin rot and thankfully there is no black on the fins. I just added maracyn two treatment to his tank for tonight. I'm thinking tomorrow I should do a 100% water change and more maracyn. He's solo in a 2.5 gal tank with slim heater; no filters or other devices. Temp is usually 80 degrees. I've always added a little aquarium salt during water changes.

So, do you think this is fin rot and would a 100% water change a good idea?

[TheCheese909]

It could be, my Eery (a halfmoon) had something similar where his tail and "skirt" lost colour and then started to look almost like a moth-eaten jacket.

Before doing any heavy medicating I think you should try for a 1 week aquarium salt treatment to see if that helps. It's better then medicating right away, especially if we aren't totally sure if that actually is what it is.

[Sakura8]

Hi blueray and welcome to the forum.

Since you've started the Maracyn course, I'd recommend finishing it but just to let you know, Maracyn and Maracyn II aren't effective if you have a pH over 7.3 or so. TheCheese is right, though, that usually you want to start with conservative treatment but I do understand that Blue Ray is your pet and you want to do everything possible for him. :) However, sometimes too much medication does as much harm as no medication at all.

In general, you don't want to add AQ salt to the water unless there is a definite reason to. Long-term use of AQ salt can potentially damage the internal organs, as freshwater fish like bettas are not meant to live in brackish water.

Go ahead and do 100% changes every day during the 5 day course of Maracyn II and redose the meds each day. If he has not shown any improvement at the end of the course, give him maybe 2-3 days in clean water with no additives except for the water conditioner. Then put him in AQ salt for 7 days at a dosage of 1 tsp per gallon.

If you have Indian Almond Leaf, I'd highly recommend using that too. Naturally dried and clean oak leaves will work too. Just crumble them into the water until it turns a tea color.

Good luck and keep us updated!

[blueray]

It looks like it has not spread further since I added the maracyn two.

I use pH test kit in attempt to keep the pH at 7 but it seems to creep up somehow on its own.

I really don't have time to change the water, so I think I will just add more of the maracyn tonight after work.

There is salt in the water now, but I think I'll stop using it once this infection is cleared up.

[Sakura8]

Okay. I think I understand now. If your pH fluctuates quite a bit, then it can cause some problems in your fish like wear and tear on the fins, specifically, the kind of translucent deterioration that Blue Ray has. Based on what you just said, my advice is to stop using EVERYTHING but water conditioner. Go ahead and let the pH go up to its normal level, whatever it is. Bettas are very adaptable and it's better for Blue Ray to have a stable but high pH than a wildly fluctuating one. My bettas live in 7.8-8.0 pH.