? effect of meds on good bacteria

[purplegirl]

I wrote ealier re: ich and fin rot on betta in 1.5 gallon tank. Finished up with the tetracycline and QuickCure(for ich). Feel diseases were gotten due to temp fluctuations from 75(day), to 70(night). During treatment, I added a pump without the carbon filter. On Saturday, changed 25% of water and added carbon filter per med recommendations. Fins started growing back. Thursday afternoon, looked and noticed a BIG chunk of his middle fin was gone and had strings of tail left in big chunk taken out. NO other animals in tank. I thought maybe had gotten caught under filter(had been fine during last 7 days), but anyway, took the pump out. Checked the water, and found ammonia and nitrITE were elevated(either .25 or .5 each(would these levels cause 1 section of his fin to disintigrate??). Prior to meds, fish in tank x 8 weeks and filter established enough that after new water added, ammonia and nitrITE were always at 0, and NitrATE was at 5(never got any higher). I switched out the water entirely, suctioned the bottom(left the plant and rocks in), and gave 100% new water yesterday(Thursday). Checked levels today, ammonia at .25(may not be accurate...have PRIME conditioner and liquid test I have can't separate the protected ammonia for true ammonia reading), and nitrITE reading is also .25. Could the medicine have done something to the bio filter or affected the plant in some way? The green plant did survive, but those leaves under the water(aponegetun plant), look like fall colored leaves vs. green), they have now perked back up, and have new shoots, so, the plant doesn't appear to be dying.
I have to go to work, so, won't change the water now, but, I don't understand why the nitrITES are now present when before meds, the nitrATES seems to have been keeping ammonia and nitrITES at 0. My 5 gallon with a filter and heater was started yesterday afternoon, so, will put him in it this afternoon to see how he does.
Thanks so much! Also, should I add any type of med to assist with fin re-growth? Or better to go au naturale! Thanks!

[BakaMandy]

I wish I could help more but I couldn't really understand anything you wrote. Everything seems to be kinda jibberishy, I'm having a hard time trying to understand it.

Firstly, don't worry TOO much about ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels. They are bad but only if a fish is exposed to a high concentration for a long period of time. A water change every 2-3 days for a 1.5 gallon tank is usually okay. I'd focus on making sure he's getting the proper treatment by following the directions for the medicine... this is important!

If you want something that will assist with fin regrowth, aquarium salt will usually do the job. However you won't be able to put it in the tank if there are life plants because the aquarium salt will kill them.

Another alternative is buying fresh water fish vitamins, but they tend to be expensive (x_x I bought a small bottle for $20! At least I only need to use one drop to soak 12 pellets to feed all my fish...) :) They will also help strengthen their immune system. They are also hard to find. I had to special order mine at an aquarium store.

Have you ever considered that maybe he is biting his tail? They sometimes do that when they're stressed out or bored. You'll be surprised how often tail biting is mistake for fin rot. Can you if possible take a clear picture of him?

[Oldfishlady]

Medication/antibiotic are designed to kill bacteria and it can not tell the difference between good and bad bacteria so they kill all of them. That is why you are seeing the spikes and will need to re-cycle the tank.

This is also the reason we have resistant pathogen/parasites from over use, wrong dosage use, not used long enough, used too long...etc......one of the reason why you don't want to use medication unless you are sure of what you are treating, the same thing can happen with aquarium salt and why we have some resistant parasite like ich to the salt treatment now, over use, long term use and wrong dosage.

[purplegirl]

Sorry for the confusing info. Tried to give a detailed history of what i thought the problem was(temp changes at night), and what i had done already re: type of treatment and water changes. I do think it was fin rot as his top fin was frayed and split at the edges and his back fin was getting translucent.

Things were looking good with re-growth noted, however, something has changed horribly, and found yesterday evening a big center chunk of his bottom fin was hanging with separation at his body line!! I checked on him right before bed, and he was carrying this section against his mouth!!! When i opened the tank lid, he dropped it on the bottom of the tank. On bettatalk.com, this looks like advanced fin rot now, and thus, need to do some major changes.

Based on this type of disease, do you all recommend putting him in a 3/4 gallon separate tank and treating him in there since the other 1.5 gallon has colored gravel, a live and plastic plant? Is this a type of disease that can live on the non-living surfaces in the tank? If it does, do I need to ditch the plant because it is contaminated? Does anyone know any info? As I said, i have the 5 gallon tank with a heater and filter ready to go, but am now afraid to put him in as I don't know if this will contaminate the new tank?

Any advice on this?(the new tank has colored gravel, 2 silk plants and 2 aponogetun bulbs I'm trying to get to sprout.

Thanks so much!