Hi Samantha,
Sorry we missed your post, I'm running out the door trying to get to work but I'll get the ball rolling for you. Here is some treatment info from lilnaugrim's Fin-Rot vs. Fin Biting thread to hold you over until the cavalry gets here!
...Now Fin Rot is different, fin rot happens because water quality declines and an infection sets in the fins. This is a bacterial infection that can infect any fish but fish that live in smaller environments that aren't properly cared for are more susceptible to getting this rot. This will not happen overnight and you will notice a steady decrease in finnage. Fin rot is not only black but comes in a variety of coloration, black is the more common one seen on mostly blue fish from simply the coloration. White, orange, red and yellow fish tend to see reddened edges like they are sore and they recede. And then the fin will look dead and no longer healthy.
Fin rot can set in from the result of fin biting but it doesn't have to have fin biting to set in.
Treatment: in most cases you only need to do a few things to help your Betta fight off the infection. First off is to improve your water quality, do frequent water changes through the week to help balance out electrolytes and promote the fish to fight off the infection. A high quality diet will also help out*. Warm, clean water is ideal and if you can get a tannins source that will also help stop the infection.
Many people believe that Aquarium Salt is the key to fighting off the infection; this is indeed false and doesn't do what most people believe it does. What aquarium salt does is balance out electrolytes which is a nice thing but not necessary, and secondly it aggravates the slime coat. This is why when you use AQ salt you often will notice a stringy substance coming off your fish, this is extra slime coat he has produced and is now shedding the old coat he had as the new one comes in. This is effective for helping to get rid of Ich, the old slime coat knocks off the parasite which helps to kill off the parasite.
You will notice that in the two major things that salt does, it does not cure fin rot. What it does do is it can sterilize an open wound. This is helpful when your fish does bite his fins; this creates an open wound on the fin for a day or so until it closes up. Fin Rot is not an open wound, think of it as a nasty scab, you wouldn't pour salt on a scab since it doesn't do anything! Now if you opened that scab, then you can use a saline solution to keep it clean until it heals.
So in most cases of fin rot you can; do frequent water changes, use a tannin source for antibacterial properties and make sure his water is warm (80-84*F).
In very bad cases of fin rot medications will be needed, skip the salt and head right for an antibacterial medication such as Triple Sulfa, Erythromycin, Tetracycline, General Cure or KanaPlex. KanaPlex is the best to get if the fin rot is aggressive, you may use a combination of medications but further diagnosis will be needed to tell that.
The OP can be found here,
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=346377
Hang in there!
Sorry we missed your post, I'm running out the door trying to get to work but I'll get the ball rolling for you. Here is some treatment info from lilnaugrim's Fin-Rot vs. Fin Biting thread to hold you over until the cavalry gets here!
...Now Fin Rot is different, fin rot happens because water quality declines and an infection sets in the fins. This is a bacterial infection that can infect any fish but fish that live in smaller environments that aren't properly cared for are more susceptible to getting this rot. This will not happen overnight and you will notice a steady decrease in finnage. Fin rot is not only black but comes in a variety of coloration, black is the more common one seen on mostly blue fish from simply the coloration. White, orange, red and yellow fish tend to see reddened edges like they are sore and they recede. And then the fin will look dead and no longer healthy.
Fin rot can set in from the result of fin biting but it doesn't have to have fin biting to set in.
Treatment: in most cases you only need to do a few things to help your Betta fight off the infection. First off is to improve your water quality, do frequent water changes through the week to help balance out electrolytes and promote the fish to fight off the infection. A high quality diet will also help out*. Warm, clean water is ideal and if you can get a tannins source that will also help stop the infection.
Many people believe that Aquarium Salt is the key to fighting off the infection; this is indeed false and doesn't do what most people believe it does. What aquarium salt does is balance out electrolytes which is a nice thing but not necessary, and secondly it aggravates the slime coat. This is why when you use AQ salt you often will notice a stringy substance coming off your fish, this is extra slime coat he has produced and is now shedding the old coat he had as the new one comes in. This is effective for helping to get rid of Ich, the old slime coat knocks off the parasite which helps to kill off the parasite.
You will notice that in the two major things that salt does, it does not cure fin rot. What it does do is it can sterilize an open wound. This is helpful when your fish does bite his fins; this creates an open wound on the fin for a day or so until it closes up. Fin Rot is not an open wound, think of it as a nasty scab, you wouldn't pour salt on a scab since it doesn't do anything! Now if you opened that scab, then you can use a saline solution to keep it clean until it heals.
So in most cases of fin rot you can; do frequent water changes, use a tannin source for antibacterial properties and make sure his water is warm (80-84*F).
In very bad cases of fin rot medications will be needed, skip the salt and head right for an antibacterial medication such as Triple Sulfa, Erythromycin, Tetracycline, General Cure or KanaPlex. KanaPlex is the best to get if the fin rot is aggressive, you may use a combination of medications but further diagnosis will be needed to tell that.
The OP can be found here,
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=346377
Hang in there!
