Well I wne to the aquarium store today to buy aquarium salt to help fix the small tare in Dorian's tail fin, anyway, they were all out of it there and weren't gettin in another order of it till the end of the month.
So annoying.
Anyway the people there reccomended melafix? Now I bought it but decided to do some research before I used it... and eesh there are so many different stories, some really good and others really bad. .
So I am really confused.
The reason they say it is bad is because it is too concentrated... now, if I were to use SIGNIFICANTLY less in my tank than what the bottle specifies for the amount of water he is in (it says 5mls per 10 gallon, but if I were to dilute some to a much lower concentration with water before I put it in) will it be okay?
That's what I do.
It's never negatively affected any of my fish.
I know some members on the board disagree though, saying it's bad for their breathing organ.
I use just a few drops in my 2.25G tank.
As for salts, I think you can use epsom salt.
Not sure though, so someone back me up?
I have a medicine dropper in my cupboard so I got a glass and I mixed 3 drops of the Melafix into the whole glass of water... now If I were to use a couple of drops of the mixed water (which I will leave to sit to make sure the medication is mixed in) would that be alright?
I really don't want to have to buy different medication after I went all the way into the city and paid the money for that one =S
That might be a little too weak now.
But at the same time, it be a good way to see how your betta reacts to it.
So sure, try that out. Adjust accordingly to how much progress the healing makes.
Also, make sure you put water conditioner into the medicated glass of water too.
Oh I almost forgot that!
Just did that then.
And I can see why people think this is too strong, even with only a few drops in the glass it smells strongly of tea tree. Wow.
And thankyou for the advice, his fins aren't majorly torn, (just a little bit on the ends from when I was moving him the other day, he was really hesitant to get in the cup I was scooping him into) I just wanted to treat it early so it didn't get worse or anything.
1) Get BETTAfix It is the properly dosed version of Melafix for bettas. ONLY use it for your betta if it is functioning normal, but cosmetically looking bad. Go one drop less than what it recommends. It will be enough. If your betta is doing the "vertical swim" or is on its side, cut the dose in half, add salt, and bring the heat up SLOWLY, not more than 1 degree every hour, max it out at 80 degrees.
2) You can get away with table salt, but I wouldn't do it if your betta is acting terrible. It is wiser just to pick up Morton's KOSHER salt from yoru local grocery store. This is virtually identical to aquarium salt. Really. I use this as well as many others in the hobby, and it works great.
3) clean your bettas water. This is one of the best things you can do for it. Get all the pollutants out of the water, very slowly. If you have the time to nurse it. Take 1/5 to 1/8 of the water out at a time, and return an equal amount of bottled, or treated water. Make sure to return the equivalent amount of salt back to the amount you took out. (if you have 1 gallon of water, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and you remove 10%, you need to add only a couple granules of salt back into the water).
Remember to keep the heat steady, not fierce, just to make the betta comfortable. The bettafix should work for the majority of betta issues, especially what you have pointed out. With your dillution of Melafix, you'll be okay. Just let be what has been done, and do a very small partial water change if your betta can handle it.
Thankyou for your information Trigirs.
At th moment I am doing 100% changes twice a week and 50% changes once a week. And I scrub the tank with hot water, as well as washing the rocks and the plastic plants (that is in one tank). So I am fairly confident that the water is clean.
The fish I am using it on is a very healthy fish, and he doesn't seem to have any serious ailments at all. Only, he has a few tiny tares in the ends of his tailfins (which seem unusually long compared to other bettas).
Melafix and bettafix are two of the most controversial medications. I've heard both good and bad things about it, but more bad than good. Bettafix is just a watered down version of melafix. I would buy aquarium salt. Always use that before you resort to medications because some bettas are more sensitive meds. Since it's just fin rot, the aquarium salt should heal him up nicely with a couple salt baths and adding some salt into his tank.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
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