[lilyrazen]

His fins got a little worse today, and he was hiding by the filter.
So I decided to give Vilkas an Epsom salt bath for what I think may be SBD and fin rot. I figure the warm water would help with his torn fins and fin rot.

He started FREAKING out, and didn't stop until I transitioned him back into his tank.

At this point, the grey coloring is getting darker and I'm thinking it may be really bad fin rot.

Any ideas on what to do, if he won't sit through baths and I don't have money for medicine?

 

[TheCheese909]

Have you tried a 7-10 day Aquarium Salt treatment?

 

[ZackyBear]

How much Esposm salt are you using? Did you use anything to treat the water before adding anything extra to it? (or did you use it straight from the tap?)

 

[lilyrazen]

I treated the water with BettaSafe, because it's for smaller amounts of water. I used half a teaspoon for a half gallon.

I don't have any Aquarium salt.

 

[TheCheese909]

Epsome Salt always freaks my Bettas out, and I think it's mainly used for internal problems.

Aquarium Salt I think is a must have and a 1st off go-to. You'll want to do a 1 teaspoon per gallon for 1 week. Change his water daily and use Stress Coat if you can to condition the water. And of course make sure the salt is all dissolved before adding Vilkas.

 

[flowerslegacy]

Hi lily - I'm new to your threads re: Vilkas but I read through a few of them. I'm just confirming Cheese's direction. Some times it's a little difficult to differentiate between fin biting and rot. I have a HM that eats himself silly but he's healthy otherweise. But if the blackened edges are increasing and now he's hiding it sounds like it could be rot. Is it's possible to send new pics? Bettas are solitary fish so sometimes the hiding can be a result of community stress. One day they can be fine and the next day they can be hiding and unhappy in their environment.

If he does have rot then AQ salt is the direction to go. 1 tsp/gal to start, with daily 100% water changes. As Cheese stated, you need to dissolve the salt before adding it to the water. ES won't help you with rot. Epsom is mainly used for internal issues and AQ salt is mainly used for external issues. Technically ES is not "salt". It's magnesium sulphate and it's mostly used to draw out toxins. If he has SBD then he'd be having obvious swimming problems. SBD can be pretty easily cured with a couple days of fasting. ES is used for SBD but without pics it's hard to dicipher the right course of action for you.

 

[Twilight Storm]

His fins got a little worse today, and he was hiding by the filter.
So I decided to give Vilkas an Epsom salt bath for what I think may be SBD and fin rot. I figure the warm water would help with his torn fins and fin rot.

He started FREAKING out, and didn't stop until I transitioned him back into his tank.

At this point, the grey coloring is getting darker and I'm thinking it may be really bad fin rot.

Any ideas on what to do, if he won't sit through baths and I don't have money for medicine?

I have never used grocery store purchased salt on my bettas, I have always used API aquarium salt. It is possible to find 100% salt at the grocery store without iodine and other things like anti caking agents etc. that are safe for your fish. I personally don't know what to look for.

I think I remember someone saying ice cream salt is safe, rock salt may be safe too. I would get other people's opinions on what is safe 100% before buying some and using it on your betta.... but you can find safe salt at the grocery store. Kosher salt MAY be one of them but I don't remember!!!!!! So please please get second opinions on what salts are safe.

Another thing I noticed on your post is that you said you thought the warm water would help..... Make sure you use water as close to the temperature to the water he is in. Going from one temperature to water to another temperature can shock them. The stress can lower their immune system. Remember our body temperature is 98.6 so if it feels warm to us it is most likely too warm for our buddies. If you have an instant read thermometer for cooking you can test the temperature of the water from the tap and get it kinda close to his tank temp.

For swim bladder cut down or stop feeding him for a day or so see if it gets better.

If it is mild fin rot clean, conditioned water will help it a little. Again make sure it is as close to the same temperature as possible. finding salt that is safe, and doing the 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon of water for 10 days will help him heal his fins. I don't know offhand how many water changes for you would be recommended.

** Flowerslegacy and others said the same thing as me in a lot of cases sorry for repeating some of thie same in my post

 

[lilyrazen]

I fasted him for a few days and I am now feeding him very small amounts again and he seems to be fine as far as swimming.

His fins are really torn, but not worse than how I found him a few days ago. I do have some Jungle Start, which can be used in-tank for repairing fins. I added some to the water with the water change today, and he seems to be doing great. He even posed for some pictures. The grey is really only prominent in between his dorsal and caudal fins, where they meet but it doesn't show up in pictures. Otherwise, in his fins there seems to be a streak where his fins are orange toward his body but suddenly change to a tint-ed grey/brown. You can't really see it in the pictures though.

 

[flowerslegacy]

What a beautiful orange guy he is! Wow. Based on your pics he doesn't appear to have rot. They just look a little frazzled from a lot of swimming. I've had/have a couple of guys that look exactly the same. Clean water will keep the rot away. Keep an eye on the darkened edges you mentioned and move him to AQ Salt if you feel it's necessary. 100% water changes daily, with 1 tsp/gal for no more than 10 days. I believe Kosher Salt works fine too, but you'd want to research that to make sure. I've never used anything but the AQ. Glad to hear his SBD has subsided too.

 

[lilyrazen]

I can't do 100% because it's a ten gallon, sadly, but I'll keep it as clean as possible and use AQ baths daily when needed.

 

[deso]

Kosher salt is safe. I've used it. Just read the ingredients label carefully to see that it has absolutely no anti-clumping agents or other additives.

 

[flowerslegacy]

You'll need to move him to a smaller, heated QT tank to do the salt treatments. High levels of salt must be changed 100% daily or it's deadly to your betta. The longer they sit in the salt the higher the concentration. If you choose to keep him in the 10 gal and not perform the salt bath, then you can do 50% changes weekly with a good substrate vaccuum each time. That's assuming your tank is fully cycled and your ammonia and nitritites are 0 and your nitrates are under 40ppm.

 

[Basement Bettas]

Don't like that little fuzz in the missing fin area. Does he have any fuzziness around the base of the dorsal or around the top of his head.. down around the gills maybe?? It will be real short and like plush velvet. It is difficult to see.. have to really ve looking for it. Look all angles and look for a slightly raised area. And constantly look for them..

My concern is a columnaris variation that does not kill instantly but develops these patches.. and it eats up fins like that. Not all columnaris is fuzz hangin off the mouth. A gram negitive antobiotic or tetracyccline treatment will be needed. A lot of the bacteria that eats up fins are gram negative so should help if any of those are present too. Both destroy biological filtration so needs to be in a bare bottom tank and water kept clean. If you put in an established tank the beneficial bacteria will die off and you will get ammonia spikes.. plus you will need another month after treatment to reestablish your cycle again. Bacteria from Dr Tims helps get it going quicker.

 

[TheCheese909]

Basement Bettas, are you talking about that clear part on his dorsal fin inbetween the rip? If so, are you sure that's not just regrowth? I really don't see anything on him that I would consider fuzz.