Fin Melt

[Maura]

A couple of bettas at work came in with some pretty severe fin melt. Is there a better way to treat this than 80º water and aquarium salt? There are 6 bettas in a divided 20 long. 2 of the 6 have fin melt. They've been here a week and haven't improved, so I started AQ salt at 1 tsp/gal today.


Housing
What size is your tank? 20 long
What temperature is your tank? 80º
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? 6 bettas total in divided tank

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? A mixture of several different brands of betta pellets, depending on what we have in stock.
How often do you feed your betta fish? Twice a day, 3 pellets each

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50% (purely because of the amount of fish coming in and out each week)
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? RO Right and Neutral Regulator (we use RO water in all of our tanks)

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

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: <5 ppm
pH: 7.1
Hardness: I tested this the other day and already forget. Will retest in the morning.
Alkalinity: I tested this the other day and already forget. Will retest in the morning.

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? Fin melt
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? N/A
When did you start noticing the symptoms? They came to the store with it
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? AQ salt at 1 tsp/gal, started today
Does your fish have any history of being ill? N/A
How old is your fish (approximately)? ~ 5 months

[Maura]

Bump. Suggestions before I leave for work would be great.

[Pogthefish]

Ok, so fin melt is pretty much fin rot right? Fin rot also means gill burn, which comes long before fin rot, so make sure you have AQ. salt to open up the gills. I usually use the metric system, 2.5 ml/1500 ml and slowly raise it to 5 ml/1500 ml aver a few days. Pristine 0 amonia water heps treat fin rot because it is caused by amonia. It takes a while to treat fin rot, but usually after a week or so of treatment you should stop aq salt and continue with clean water. Using AQ salt for more than 10 days causes kidney damage. I suggest another 50% waterchange during the week, or at least a 25% just to be sure the amonia is down.

[Maura]

Originally Posted by Pogthefish

Ok, so fin melt is pretty much fin rot right? Fin rot also means gill burn, which comes long before fin rot, so make sure you have AQ. salt to open up the gills. I usually use the metric system, 2.5 ml/1500 ml and slowly raise it to 5 ml/1500 ml aver a few days. Pristine 0 amonia water heps treat fin rot because it is caused by amonia. It takes a while to treat fin rot, but usually after a week or so of treatment you should stop aq salt and continue with clean water. Using AQ salt for more than 10 days causes kidney damage. I suggest another 50% waterchange during the week, or at least a 25% just to be sure the amonia is down.

Their fins don't have any rotting edges at all. They look perfectly normal other than being smushed together. The gills look fine as well.

[Pogthefish]

can you add a pic? and fin rot doesn't mean they are literally rotting, its just what we say, and it is usually describes as "fins appearing as if they are rotting away or simply melting off, sometimes with a black or red line at the edge"

[lvandert]

I would suggest pristine water conditions, aq salt and stress coat (both dosed to "repair fins" it should say how much on the back). Also if you have it Indian Almond Leaf (or dried oak leaves) in the tank. They release tannins, and the IAL promotes healthy bettas

[Maura]

Originally Posted by Pogthefish

can you add a pic? and fin rot doesn't mean they are literally rotting, its just what we say, and it is usually describes as "fins appearing as if they are rotting away or simply melting off, sometimes with a black or red line at the edge"

I know what fin rot looks like -- I'm trying to tell you that it's not fin rot. There is no fin loss. The fins are not shorter, just stuck together.

[Pogthefish]

What tail types are they?

[Maura]

Originally Posted by Pogthefish

What tail types are they?

VT
There's only one left now -- the other sold sometime this afternoon.

[TheCrabbyTabby]

Then its clamped fins.