[acadialover]

Hi All, I purchased a gorgeous BEtta from m LPS and see just the beginning of fin rot. I have him in a five gallon with an already established huge java fern with many offspring blooming.
Is it possible to stop the fin rot with just clean water, or do I have to add salt ?
HOw much water and how often would you change it on a five gallon , with filter and of course a heater. Trying to get a cycle going....
Thanks for helpful replies !

 

[roadrunner]

You can try seachem stability http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Stability.html to help you with cycling. I have 5G with dividers (filter, heater) and I change about 50% water once a week (I have black sand and it gets dirty fast, so I vacuum poop with small tube couple of times in between to keep it clean). Salt is good for fin rot (not long term use) but not very good if you're trying to grow plants. Try melafix instead or almond leaf for few days and keep the water clean after that. Feed high protein diet to help the fin regrow.

 

[Aus]

I prefer not to use anything with -fix on the end, as it contains oils that are very toxic to bettas if not very carefully dosed.

If you stick his heater in another barebottomed container you can treat him for salt in that - the ferns won't suffer a few days without a heater. Or take the fern out and stick that in a bucket for a few days.

For the fin rot, from Darkmoon17's sticky thread:

Treatment: Conservative: Treat with Aq.Salt at 1 tsp/gal. Increase water changes to 100% daily. Replace accurate amount of salt following water changes. Add Stress Coat to help repair tissue. If there is little to no improvement within the first 5 days, you can increase the salt dosage gradually to 2tsp/gal but do not continue any salt treatments past 10 days. Medication: If Conservative treatment is ineffective use API Tetracycline, API Fungus Cure, API Triple Sulfa, OR API Erythromycin. Also add Stress Coat to help regrowth. Continue until fins/tail stop receding and start showing some new growth.

Do not raise the temperature beyond 78. Some bacteria which cause finrot LOVE high temps.

 

[acadialover]

Thanks !!!!!!