Advanced Fin Rot - Salt Question

[ZackyBear]

I'm so used to giving everyone salt treatment advice, but now I need some help, myself. :)

What is the maximum amount of salt you can add to a betta's water before it becomes too harmful?

My Portal Prime is in a 1.5 gal QT tank, heated to 77 degrees with no decorations. He has also started eating again, this morning.

. I started the 1 tsp of salt per gallon on Sunday. It has slowed down, but only a little, and doesn't show signs of letting up. (thought it had reached his body but so far it looks like it hasn't)

I was thinking increasing the dosage would do the trick, but I'm worried about his tank being too small for it to where the salt will kill him. Advice? Please?

[lvandert]

What kind of salt are we talking about? epsom can go up to 3tsp per gallon, but aq I wouldn't dose more than it says. I also would treat for more than 10 days.

[ZackyBear]

Only AQ salt can be used for fin-rot, though. Well, something this advanced anyways. His fins are almost completely gone and his ventrils are starting to curl. Even with the 3 50% water changes a day it's barely slowing down!

T^T

[lvandert]

I would break down and get a fin rot med. If its not slowing with the salt treatments then I would stop those. Ventrals curling is from hard water (nothing to worry about there) but the fins almost gone is a big deal. You have to stop it before it reaches his body. Once it reaches there its very hard to get him back from that.

[sythka]

Stress coat does loads of good for most bettas on their fin-rot cycle. I've seen it completely revive bettas with fin rot.

[ZackyBear]

I stopped by Petco on the way to work from lunch. I'll post tomorrow if it helps. Thanks guy :3

EDIT: PETSMART. not Petco...Petsmart. Sorry, LOL I'm so used to going to Petco, but this time it ws too far away from work.

[Sakura8]

The maximum amount you can safely go up to is 3 tsps for aquarium salt. Can you post a pic of his fins? If it's really severe, you may need to switch to a med such as API Furan-2 or even better, Seachem Kanaplex.

[ZackyBear]

Last night I tried the stress coat. This morning he had a bubble nest, which makes me a bit less worried....that didn't stop me from stopping at Petco on the way home. They didn't have any of that Seachem but I DID get the other one. I'm going to try it tonight as a last resort.

Also, I need some water chemistry help. I have been trying to recycle my old platy tank...

The Ammonia is zero, but the nitrites and nitrates were so high that my chart couldn't tell me HOW high. I did a 75% water change, and now they are low enough on my chart but still almost to where it's too high again.

Amonia: 0
Nitrates: 200
Nitrites:5
Water Hardness: 75, Soft
Alkalinity:300
Ph: 7.5

How do I fix this? Dx

[Aus]

An antibiotic at this stage is probably going to do no more harm than megadosing salt and since it's designed to kill gram-negative bacteria and a few more besides, might just do the job.

(sorry, somehow my spazzy internet didn't load the last few replies - I'd get straight to the medication, if it was my fish, anyhow)

[Sakura8]

Yeah, Zacky, the Seachem one is very hard to find. 9/10 it has to be ordered online so don't worry that you didn't find it.

As for your tank . . . YIKES! Those are some crazy nitrates. Do another water change to get the levels down. Have you been changing the water at all since you started trying to recycle it? It's possible the levels just built up. Basically, just keep doing water changes until the nitrates come down. It sounds like, since your nitrate levels are sky high and your ammonia is 0, that your tank is pretty much cycled. Just keep a very close eye on it for the first few weeks and do water changes any time the levels get crazy.