Melafix? Good or bad?

[ctbetta808]

one of my fish has pretty bad finrot. I was suggested using Melafix to treat it. I've seen a few good and bad reviews online, but I wanted to hear what you guys had to say about it.

[iheartmybettas]

Here is a link to a discussion in another section of the forum started yesterday i believe...

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=70294

I would recommend just using aquarium salt to treat fin rot. 1tsp per gallon premixed in a separate container with daily 100% water changes.

Can you fill out the sticky at the top of this section?

[ctbetta808]

Thanks for the advice. It seems so many people are back and forth about Melafix. There's too many "I heard" answers so I'm going to try it out for my self.


Housing
What size is your tank? 5 Gallon divided
What temperature is your tank? 73
Does your tank have a filter? yes
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? divided two male bettas

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? once a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? every 2 weeks
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? aquasafe

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

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? ct rays look a little shriveled up and black at the tips
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? no change still very active
When did you start noticing the symptoms? 4 days ago
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? did a 100% water change and just tried using melafix
Does your fish have any history of being ill? not that I know of.
How old is your fish (approximately)? 8 Months

[Oldfishlady]

Its sounds like a water quality issue...in a 5gal filtered tank with 2 Bettas (note: for 1 Betta in 5gal filtered 1-50% with vacuum weekly)...it needs twice weekly 50% water changes to maintain water quality....1-50% water only and 1-50% to include substrate vacuuming.....

Right now-I would start with 50% daily for 3 days and then 50% every other day for 3 days...then twice weekly on a regular basis....you may also want to get the temp up a tiny bit to at least 76F

Since this is new-the added water changes should take care of it...if no improvement or the fins start to look worse or behavior changes......I would QT in a small container that can be floated in the heated tank and start aquarium salt 1tsp/gal and tannins from either IAL or dried Oak leaf steeped in the treatment water used for the 100% daily water changes for 10 days

Pre-mix the treatment water in a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water-add aquarium salt 1tsp/gal and tannins...use this for the 100% daily water changes for 10 days

Nutrition is also important-fed high protein diet of small frequent feeding...live or frozen are best....

[ctbetta808]

thanks for the reply. I'm very new to this and any advice is a huge help. I'll get those water changes up, get the temperature up, and everything else. appreciate it!