Hey everyone,
I don't know what to do anymore with bluey and crumb. Bluey's half moon tail has been totally destroyed by fin rot that won't go away. I've tried every medication under the sun. I even went to the LFS here and got some seachem bath that i soaked him in every other day for several hours for 3 or 4 treatments. It came back. I tried again and it came back. I've disinfected the tanks, boiled the substrate, cleaned the plants in melafix, salt, hot water, and dried them out for days. I"ve changed the filters, tried filter, tried no filter, upped the heat, and this last time i even went out and bought spring water for the water changes. Now, not only does bluey have it, crumb does too. Andi don't share nets or plants or put my hands in one and then the other. They both came down with it just before i left for vacation last week. I gave them both a 7 hour bath in seachem polyguard. I came back after 5 days and they were both fine, tails growing back happily. I did a 50% change on each of them on Friday with spring water, atison's betta spa, and dechlor, and now i woke up this morning, all the new growth is gone, and they're both worse. they're both soaking in seachem again, but i can't keep this up! they're totally destroyed as half moons and i'm sick to death of constantly doing this upkeep and not actually enjoying the fish. I just don't know what to do anymore. I change 50% of the water every week, sometimes more, and i vacuum. They're in 3 gallon, filtered tanks with heaters. constant 80F. Anyone?
i've never really understood how to cycle the tanks properly and i feel like they're a little on the small side to really do it well.
i'm wondering if i solved the problem last night (i hope so!) my meticulous friend came over to help me clean out the tanks and he ended up pulling apart the filters and finding a spot where some junk was hiding inside. we cleaned it out as well as possible and then ran it on a tank of clean water for a few minutes. i boiled the sand, sanitized the plants, and scrubbed everything clean. i'm praying this solves the problem. he's back in and looking ok. let's see if the healing begins! tonight i do the same clean job with tank no. 2
a) Tailbiting. I can know for sure if you can get a picture whether this is fin rot or whether they are simply chomping.
b) Tank cleanliness. Allow me to explain:
You are cleaning your tank too thoroughly to allow it to cycle, but not thoroughly enough for an uncycled tank.
An uncycled 3g should get 100% water changes 2 times a week. With your cleaning schedule, what you are doing is allowing it to get relatively dirty, then as soon as nitrifying bacteria start to grow (to eat the ammonia), bam! You scrub the whole thing down and wash them away. Then you put the fish back in and the whole cycle starts again.
An ammonia test kit will help you alot. Test it before you change your water and it will probably be .25-.5.
thanks to both of you. i was just presented with a "fish care kit" that includes a bucket, a siphon, rags, brushes, etc. i think with the bucket and siphon, i'll be able to easily get a 100% water change in at least once a week for these guys, hopefully more. let's hope that solves it! i'll take a look at the article, kelly. it will be good to understand.
also, i'm happy to report that crumb is back to his normal self and his IQ seems to have returned. although bluey was totally fine, crumb had a terrible reaction to his meds and i thought he was a goner for a day. but my little trooper made it! yay! :) he'll be getting a thorough clean today.
thanks. Well, he still has the chunk taken out of his tail. let's hope it doesn't keep getting worse!! i gave him the ultra clean treatment last night. the siphon REALLY cuts down time on tank cleaning. So i'll be doing another 100% change in a few days on both of them and keeping them super duper clean. let's hope that solves it!!! poor bluey doesn't have much of his tail left to lose. :(
i tried to get photos but little crumby is afraid of the camera. poor dude turned while and lost all his color. i stuck the camera into the tank with bluey and he was so curious that he came right up and i couldn't focus on him and he kept biting my fingers while i tried to take his photo. needless to say, i have pictures of neither of them. :)
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