Ammonia Poisoning

[FishyFishy89]

Originally Posted by Orsini

After X amount of days do I need to remove all of the salt from the tank? He's now in a 10 gallon tank and I've put 2 tablespoons of the salt in a corner so I can easily take it out.

I think you're supposed to be doing daily 100% water changes and adding new water with AQ salt. I think most users use this treatment for 14 days.

[Orsini]

Current Symptoms:
- Sinks. Lays on the bottom of the tank (on his side).
- Lethargic. Lays on his side unless he's exploring.
- Silver Near Gills. The area around his gills are getting more silver by the week.
- Loss of Color. His color is really starting to fade badly.
- Gasps. Every once in a while he'll open his mouth as wide as possible.
- Thrashed Fins. He's completely destroyed his fins. Looks absolutely nothing like my Avatar.

Current Treatment:
- Moved to new unfiltered 10 gallon tank. Will be doing 25% water changes every other day.
- Reduced pH level from 7.6 to 7.0.
- 2 Tablespoons of AQ Salt. Will remove all of the salt and reapply during water changes.

Previous Betta's Symptoms (died from Ammonia Poisoning) that are missing:
- Lack of Appetite.
- Red Gills.


Are we still at a consensus that this is Ammonia Poisoning? Is there ANY possibility it can be something else that I can treat for at the same time? It's driving me up the wall that I can't cure this little guy. He is at least 300x more active now that he is in his new tank but still shows all of his symptoms. It seems like he has plenty of energy in him, but is unable to exert it.

[Sakura8]

Ammonia poisoning can cause several secondary problems such as bacterial infections and parasitic infections. Overall, I'd say AQ salt is still the best choice because I have no way of telling if he has a bacterial problem (it would be internal). He isn't bloating or looking like he's retaining fluid, which are usual symptoms of internal bacterial problems. I can totally understand your frustration. It's awful not knowing how to help your buddy (been there so I know). But treating him with meds when we don't know what he has could just make him even worse. That's the heartbreaking problem with fish illness: so often we don't know how to treat them for lack of symptoms. :(

If he's in a 10gal, you don't need to do 100% water changes every day. You can do 50% once or twice a week. Just keep careful track of how much you take out so you know how much to put back in.

The silver could be from ammonia burns. The opening of his mouth sounds an awful lot like the "yawning" that many fish do so it could be a natural thing and not related to his illness.

His fins most likely have a bit of rot and ammonia burn and that's why they're gone. Do you see any new growth at all? Is there any black edging?

Also, the AQ salt can only be used for 14 days and I've lost track what day we're on now. :/