Fin-rot, Bettas, and chain stores

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FishyMamma

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jan 22, 2015
Messages
396
Location
Cherry Hill, NJ
Good morning all,

I have tried several times to keep Berta's but they all get terrible fin-rot, or never shake what they come infected with.

I house them in heavily planted 15 gal tanks with no other fish. I do twice weekly water changes. The tanks have always been properly cycled and the Nitrates down to around 10ppm.

Yet every time they show signs of fin-rot within weeks and nothing makes it go away.

Is this a result of getting them in the little cups from the stores? Would I likely have better luck getting one from a breeder online?

Thanks for reading this far.
 
My brother and I have experienced similar except within a year they generally die. Planted 10g tanks alone. Weekly water change.

I don't get it, I think it's just bad genes. I don't keep bettas any more for this reason and I refuse to make like 50$ for one from a breeder.
 
If you have a decent LFS in the area, you may have better luck. IMO, chain pet stores get inferior quality fish from the start, and don't take proper care of them while they're waiting to be sold. I don't know much about bettas, but my wife has had one in a small tank (maybe 5g) in her office for a couple years now, with the same fish in it, and had no problems, so it may just be the quality of the fish from chain stores.
 
are you using dechlorinator? or any type of water treatment

whenever i get a new fish i use tetra lifeguard tablets.
"attacks a broad range of external fish diseases -bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic, including ick" (I went it got this so from under my tank so i could tell you what it does lol)
I get the 32 tablet one and i got it on sale for like 12 bucks at petco. but sometimes it can go for as high as 17.

whenever i get bettas or any other fish i treat the tank with these. you put one tablet in for every five gallons of water and then do it for at least five days in a row. all ripped/nipped fins went away or already started healing by the 5th day. i could see visible improvment. some of my fish had ick and this treated the whole tank. and all white spots went away by fifth day. I swear by this stuff and buy multiple packages when it goes on sale.
Good luck. I love bettas and think they are worth having
 
Thanks for the response! Sorry for the delay in seeing your post. I'll pick some up pronto. (Got my Betta last night.)
 
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