:[ Curly has developed fin rot. but he's more active than ever! what gives?

[chrissylee13]

after treating him with AQ salt last night hoping it would help he's now in worse condition! his fins are falling apart and his little curl that gave him his name is now almost completely gone! :[ but he's swimming more than ever! still no response to food though. :[

[ArcticRain]

Could you post a picture? It sounds more like tail biting to me.

[chrissylee13]

the top picture is from last night. notice the redness on his tail fin. it actually had almost completely gone away by the time i went to bed. and then the other 3 are from just now.

[ArcticRain]

Ok, that looks like fin rot. Could please fill this put and post it here?

Housing
What size is your tank?
What temperature is your tank?
Does your tank have a filter?
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?
Is your tank heated?
What tank mates does your betta fish live with?

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish?
How often do you feed your betta fish?

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change?
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?

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?
How has your betta fish's behavior changed?
When did you start noticing the symptoms?
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill?
How old is your fish (approximately)?

[chrissylee13]

Housing
What size is your tank? separated 10 gal. Curly is currently in a half gal so i can try to treat him and separate him from the tank.
What temperature is your tank? 76ish
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? none

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? attempting to feed treta betta pellets
How often do you feed your betta fish? attempt twice a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? will be doing everyday for curly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 100 % for curly
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? water conditioner and AQ salt

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? yes, and everything was in the correct range

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

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? yes his fins are now falling apart
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? seems more active
When did you start noticing the symptoms? fins were today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? yes, AQ salt
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no idea
How old is your fish (approximately)?little over an inch long but i have no idea

[ArcticRain]

Does he seem to be darting around or rubbing against decorations? Try shining a flashlight on him and look to see if there is a fine gold dusting on him.

[chrissylee13]

i haven't seen him rub on anything. he just swims around, rests on the bottom, then swims some more. he used to dart around. when i first put him into the 10 gal. i think so much space spooked him. but he doesn't seem to anymore. and i'll try to find a flash light! by the way thanks for the quick response!

[ArcticRain]

Your welcome! If You don't see anything with the flashlight then it's probably just fin rot. How much AQ salt are you using per gallon?

[chrissylee13]

well i read to use a tsp per gallon. he's in a half gal so i'm using a half tsp. and i made sure it was all dissolved too. but i put a whole tablespoon in the rest of the tank.

[ArcticRain]

Ok, so I would just leave him in that for 10 days and see what happens. If he is still getting worse after 5 days, up the dose to 2tsp per gallon. If he is still getting worse after 10 days, take him out of the AQ salt and post again as there may be something more serious happening. Once you take him out of the salt you should start seeing some regrowth. Never continue salt treatments for more then 10 days.
Good luck!