Advanced Fin Rot / Deterioration

[Danielra]

Please Help, I don't know what else to try. We have tried many treatments over a span of two months and nothings seems to help. We recently bought Tetracycline but we don't want to use it just yet. We want to give the last treatment of kanaplex some time to see if it works. I'm nervous about all the treatments we have given him...

He is even scared of us now because he doesn't like being scooped up for hospital treatments. He swims to the bottom of his tank and into his shell whenever we come near by. : (


Housing
What size is your tank?
5 Gallons

What temperature is your tank?
76 degrees
Does your tank have a filter?
yes
[b]Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
no
[b]Is your tank heated?
If the temperature drops below 72

What tank mates does your betta fish live with?
-none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
-Top Fin Betta Bites
-Omega One Betta Buffet Flakes
How often do you feed your betta fish?
2 bits 1x a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
1x a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
25%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?
-API Aquarium salt
-Tetra Aqua - AquaSafe water conditioner

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

Ammonia: .4
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: 5
pH: 7.6
Hardness: 180
Alkalinity: 150

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed?
-His fins have been deteriorating for over two months. It was a slight deterioration at first but has gotten significantly worse.

About a month ago he also developed a white patch on his head. It is going away slowly but their is still a slight patch left. I thought it might be columnaris .

How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
He still remains active.

When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Over two months ago.

Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
-We tried Betta Revive at first

-Maracyn - 2 treatments - Half a packet every 24 hours for 5 days

-Furan 2 - 2 treatments - removed filter - half packet and repeat in 24hrs. In another 24 hours, replace 25% of the water. Repeat process a 2nd tie

-Methylene Blue
hospital tank for 10 minutes.

-KanaPlex - 180mg every days. We did this for 3 doses as the company recommends. Then we found a website suggesting we try it for 10 doses, so we did 6 as a compromise.


Does your fish have any history of being ill?
-acted depressed once. It lasted less than a week and it was sometime in his first year of being with us.

How old is your fish (approximately)?
2 years 3 months

[Aus]

Okay. You could increase your water changes.. are you testing regularly for ammonia/nitrites? Buying a test kit and doing regular checks for those can save you lotta money for meds in the long run..

He isn't getting enough food. He could probably have his food doubled, and replaced with a higher protein content pellet, and a little live food for extra protein.

Your temp is too low. Bettas thrive in 78-80 and need constant temps, not fluctuating. I'd recommend an adjustable heater with thermostat, set it to 78 and leave it on all the time. Use an aquarium thermometer to make sure the heater's thermos are not a little out of wack (you can adjust them up or down accordingly).

All that is preventative - your already sick fish is probably better at the lower end of 76-78 if he has fungus..

Don't add AQ salt to his water every change, you'll just hurt his organs. Its for medication only.

Poor fish, all those medications.

Aggressive fin rot/fungus can be really hard to cure, and can become resistant if antibiotic treatments aren't followed all the way to recommended treatment time.

Are you removing the carbon from his filter?

Quit using the salt altogether. Finish up the Kanaplex and then give him a week's break in 100% clean water from the medications.

See how he goes with the complete Kanaplex course before trying anything else.

[LebronTheBetta]

Aus ^

Without all the other Medications, AQ Salt would do him some good. It would only hurt his Organs if used more than 10 Days of Treatment.


Danielra ^

Advanced Fin Rot is really hard to cure. More Water Changes, High Protein Foods, Good Temperature, and some Aquarium Salt should heal him. Growing Fins would look Clear at 1st and then get their Colors.

[Danielra]

Yes we are testing regularly for ammonia and nitrates. We are trying to bring them down to zero. Our other Betta has the exact same conditions and he is doing better than ever. Additionally, his ammonia and nitrates are at zero. We are doing the same thing in both tanks and can't figure out why the two tanks are different. It might just be because Fishertin's (the sick betta's name) tank has the rotting fin particles in it. I think the high ammonia is a symptom of the fin rot, not the cause.

We followed the instructions of each medication regarding the carbon filter. Some said it was ok to have it running others said to take it out.

We gave him his last kanaplex treatment on Monday and turned on the filter Wednesday. It has been running since.

Should we do a 100% water change then? Or just don't add any more medication for a week? I don't want to change all of his water if I don't have to. I figured the filter would pull out all the medication.

[Danielra]

Does anyone have additional advice? Anyone's thoughts would be helpful.

Fishertin doesn't seem to be getting any worse. We gave him a 2 week break from all of the medication and we have been testing his water regularly.

The white spot is finally gone, but his fins aren't showing any sign of healing. He has been lethargic for the last week or so. Additionally, we noticed that he is having trouble eating pellets. He used to eat any size pellet with no problem. But now, he can only eat the really small ones. The larger ones get stuck in his mouth and sometimes he can't even grab them. It's like he can't open is mouth all the way. Nothing seems to be on or around his mouth.

I was thinking of starting him on the Tetracycline but I'm not sure. I just don't know if we stoped the fin rot yet. Even if we did, I'm not sure how to boost fin growth and healing. Any thoughts?

[zombiegirl]

Are his scales raised? Or is it just a trick of the camera in photo 2?

[lelei]

Wow, I feel so bad for that lil guy..in any case I know that OFL (Old Fish Lady) would suggest some tannins, from the IAL Indian Almond Leaf, if you have some, but I would PM her for her advice, since where it's so advanced, that is gonna be hard but it's worth a try..also dried Oak leaves, but i think they are an online item, unless you can find clean ones around, you can boil them and add to clean water, in a jug, with the aQ salt, and do the water changes accordingly..but again check with her, she is the expert..good luck I hope fishy gets well soon:)

[lelei]

Are you still treating in the reg 5 gal tank, you may want to take him out to treat in a Hospital tank, like a kritter keeper for a about 3 days, water will be easier to change and less stress on your fishy..