[jazzy434]

I recently treated duchess for fin rot a couple weeks ago. It wasnt that bad and when I took him off it after ten days his tail looks worse. It looks shredded so I started him back on aq salt. Right now he is in one gal qt tank. His water temp is about 78. I've noticed that he dark around ats around making it's hard to see his fins. His gills also move rapidly. Plz help

 

[Mo]

Can you please fill this out

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)?


Fin Rot Information

Symptoms
-Ripped tails, bloodshot, black edged, or has a fuzzy white appearance in the edge
-The Betta will become unusually inactive
-Won't eat
-Looks pale, and looses lots of color

Causes
This profilic disease is caused by stressful water conditions primarily but here are a few main examples of the conditions it is most likely found in

-Poor water quality with unacceptable amounts of ammonia, along with nitrites and nitrates
-Nippy tankmates
-Incompatible tankmates
-Tailbiting
-Plastic plants ripping fins constantly
-Over feeding
-Over crowding
-Sometimes after a disease, while the bettas immune system is low it can strike unexpectedly

Treatment

This disease is most commonly treated with mainly

-daily water changes of around 25-50 so more diseases dont settle in while the Betta is vulnerable
-a high quality fin rot treatment. Use tetracycline or Ampicillin for the best possible results

Prevention
-Keep the water clean
-don't over feed
-choose the right tankmates
-make sure that the bettas fins are always in the best shape
-keep the water heated
-change the water weekly

The Four Most Important Aspects of Betta Care Are:
1) Proper Water Changes
2) Warm Water (78*-82*F)
3) Varied Diet
4) Quarentine New Fish/Plants/Tankmates
If you do these 4 things, you can greatly reduce the chances of your betta getting sick.
Things to keep on hand at all times
•Extra nets and 1 gallon containers
•Aquarium Salt (Aq.Salt)
•Epsom Salt (ES)
•Potassium Permanganate (PP)
•Quarantine tank (QT)
Water Chemistry:
Before you treat your fish for everything under the sun, check the water chemistry. Toxic levels of Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates are extremely harmful and weaken your betta's immune system resulting in illness. Many petstores will test your water for free. Liquid tests are much more accurate than strip tests.
•If your fish look like they are lethargic, gasping for air or are swimming head down do a water change immediately because they probably have nitrate, nitrite, or ammonia poisoning. Do not use chemicals to remove them as they are ineffective. Prime does remove nitrites/nitrates but it is still most effective to do a water change.
•Extreme pH variation can also cause illness. Sand and porous rocks like sandstone or lava rock make water more basic (>7.0) while Indian almond leaves, peat moss and oak leaves make the water more acidic (<7.0).
•Are there chlorinates in the water? Did you forget to add the water conditioner? If so, quickly add your water conditioner!!
•Many issues can be cured by a simple water change so it should be the first thing you try.

Conservative Treatment Versus Medication:
There are two ways to treat a sick fish. One is the conservative route. It involves increased water changes and (usually) salt treatments. The other route is using medication. There are some illnesses that respond better to medication than water changes and salt, however most illnesses can be cured simply with a bit of TLC and salt. In general, you should always attempt conservative treatment methods before using medicines as medicines can be hard on your fish’s internal organs and over using medicine or not completing the treatment cycle can result in the creation of medicine-resistance bugs.

Therapeutic Additives:There are a number of things you can do for your betta to reduce stress and support their immune system. Indian Almond leaves, tannins, black water extracts, and peat moss pellets are all things that you can add to help prevent illness or help recovery. API Stress Coat and Kordon’s Fish Protector are water conditioners/additives that help slime coat production and skin repair. They can be added at any time your fish shows signs of illness.

Tail rot or fin rot
•Symptoms: Betta’s fins and/or tail seem to be getting shorter and shorter or they seem to be falling apart and dissolving, Black or red along the edge of the betta’s fins/tail, Bloody tips, Behavior may not change
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.

Advanced Fin and Tail rot
•Symptoms: Fins and or tail start rotting away, usually starting from the edge, but sometimes it starts at the base of the fin (especially dorsal) and attacks the body directly. Diseases progresses rapidly as the tissues are being eaten away. Once fins have been consumed, rot will proceed onto the body. At this stage the disease is hard to reverse although the betta might continue to live for months if treated properly. If not treated, it will die promptly.
•Treatment: If the rot has advanced onto the body, skip conservative treatment. Do 100% daily water changes. Use a combination of Fungus Eliminator and Tetracycline. Continue until fins/tail stop receding and start showing some new growth. It may take up to 4 weeks to work, so don’t give up.

 

[BETTACHKALOVE]

You also wrote in your pm to me that he darting around. Is it something new that he does. Is he darting constantly? You didn't forget to put water conditioner right? Is temperature was approximately the same when you change the water?

Tetracycline API and Fungus eliminator by Junglemixed together is very good that is actually i would recommend but i would continue to treat with aquarium salt for fin rot.

I don't know why all of a sudden he start to dart ? And why his gills move rapidly.

Don't increase water temperature . If it fin rot it can be bacterial secondary to fungus. And fungus love warm temperature.

 

[Mo]

Fungus do not thrive in warm temperatures.

 

[BETTACHKALOVE]

What do you mean. I did research and i read on this forum and i spoke to the doctor ...The warmer is the water the best florist for fungus to grow. That is why if fish has fangus even people on this forum i read recommending to lower the temperature.

 

[Mo]

From extensive research and experience the information on the diseases and emergencies is slightly wrong. While the fungus has the ability to thrive in elevated temperatures. The possibility of it progressing any further is especially dimmed down when the temperature is about 82. You would also not need to worry about fungal infections in this case as fin rot with a fungus being the secondary infection would leave the fins white and fuzzy. They are described as black so in this case, you should just read over the post a few times and examine what you know about in this case, fin rot. Then identify, and link to two together

 

[jazzy434]

Sorry im on my cell phone and its kinda hard to see the questions and respond
Housing-1 gallon tank, no filter, no heater, no tank mates and no air stones.
Food- 3 to 4 pellets a day of aqueon betta pellets. Twice a week I feed him two bloodworms a day. Once a week fast him.
Maitenance- 100 percent water change everyday since I have been treating him for finrot. I add api stress coat and water conditioner.
Water parameters idk.

I got dutchess from the pet store 2 weeks ago and noticed a small case of fin rot. I began doing a 1 teaspoon of aq salt. I gradually increase the dose to 3 tsp in the ten day period. I gave him a 5 a rest and then I noticed that his fins started to look shredded. I think he bit his tail because he dart around in the water a lot. He also moves his gills rapidly. I started him on another dose of two tsp aq salt two days ago. I read that it could be external parasites but I'm not sure. He eats lot it ivery active

 

[jazzy434]

He has been darting around since i got him but I thought it was normal until I got a new fish. He constantly moves around that I can barely get a look at him

 

[BETTACHKALOVE]

External parasites : darts around like crazy, look like he trying to rub his body on stones or other objects, will develop white patches usually start from one spot and then spreads on other part of the body, will stop eating...

I would think if you have him for 2 weeks he would develop all those symptoms if he would have parasites. But on the other hand you was treating him with aquarium salt which is recommended to treat external parasites. Well with external parasites you would need to increase the temperature up to 85* to speed up the parasites cycle.

By the tail description he does has fin rot.

 

[Mo]

True Fungal Infections
•Symptoms: White cottony like patches on its body or head, Lethargic, Not eating, Clamped Fins, Pale Colors, darting/flicking against decor
•Treatment: Conservative: Lower temperature below 76* F and treat with Aq.Salt at 1 tsp/gal. Increase water changes to 100% daily. Replace accurate amount of salt following water changes. Never continue salt treatments for more than 10 days. Medication: If Conservative treatment is ineffective after 10 days or you see the fungus spread rapidly during the course of conservative treatment, move to medication. Add “Fungus Eliminator” by Jungle, API Erythromycin, API Fungus Cure, API Triple Sulfa, OR Mardel’s Maracyn II. Change water every day and add a new dose of the same medication. Continue until all fungus has disappeared.

Ick
•Symptoms: Betta has white dots (looks like he was sprinkled with salt) all over his body and head, even eyes. Lethargic, No appetite, Clamped Fins, Might dart and scratching against decor
•Treatment: You can treat Ick either conservatively or with medication. Ick is a parasite. Because ick is contagious, it is preferable to treat the whole tank when one fish is found to have it. Ick is temperature sensitive: Leave your betta in the community tank and raise temperature to 85 F. Then you can choose to treat with salt or medication. Conservative: Add 1 tsp/gal Aquarium Salt 3 times, 12 hours apart so that you end up with 3 times the normal concentration. Perform daily 100% water changes to remove fallen parasites before they can reproduce. Replace the water with the right amount of salt. Do not continue this treatment for more than 14 days. If it fails or you do not want to use salt, treat with Jungle’s Parasite Clear, API Super Ick Cure, or Kordon Rid Ich Plus. If your betta lives in a jar/bowl, then it can be difficult to heat the water. There are heaters for smaller containers, but you can also float the quarantine container in a larger heated tank during treatment. Do a full water change every day and add an appropriate amount of medication to the water.
•Alternative Treatment: Personally, I have not found Ick medications very effective. I prefer to use PP to treat all external parasites. In the past, I have used 3 or 4 different ick medications unsuccessfully, and every time I resort to PP which works like a charm. Do lots of research before using PP as it is a more dangerous chemical than most.

good luck!