Need advice asap

[SaraB]

So I did something that I never thought I would.
I saw a free betta on kijiji and seeing the pics I knew I needed to try and help it. He was being kept in a dirty 1.5 gallon vase (I had no idea how dirty til I saw it). It had 2 inches of rocks, a fake plastic plant and a conch shell.
The fish himself has pretty bad fin rot and was pretty lethargic (until I tried to catch him).
I couldn't keep him in the vase so I put him in my female bettas tank and my female betta is with my mollies. She seems stressed but I haven't seen any nipping from either side yet.
So my questions are
1. What would you do if you were in this situation?
2. Should I start treating with melafix right away or wait til he's more settled?
3 Will my female betta be safe with the mollies or should I look for another solution?

 

[King Fisher]

Yikes. Hopefully it isn't diseased.

 

[SaraB]

It's in it's own tank so it can't infect any other fish. He seems to enjoy his new aquarium (not surprising) and is moving a lot more.
Should I treat the fin rot with medication or see if the water clarity helps?

 

[m.j.gomez]

It's in it's own tank so it can't infect any other fish. He seems to enjoy his new aquarium (not surprising) and is moving a lot more.
Should I treat the fin rot with medication or see if the water clarity helps?

Hello, fresh water does wonders. I have personally fixed fin rot by simply doing 30% water changes every 2-3 days(don't like to use meds). You'll see improvement within a week.
I've done this w/many different fish. If no improvement in wk I'll use medicine. Hope this helps!

 

[SaraB]

Thanks, I'll start the water change schedule and see how he is next week.

 

[SaraB]

Does anyone have any ideas on what his fused tail could be about? It's just the end of his tail and it looks like its folded over and stuck like that. It doesn't look like fin melt does (or at least the pictures I've seen)
Any way to fix it?

PS sorry for the bad picture I can try to get a better one tomorrow.

 

[SaraB]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1154048639326535680

See if it works here

 

[King Fisher]

I'd wait it out a bit and see how he recovers. I'd also do 50% daily to every other day water changes.

 

[SaraB]

Day 3 and on the second water change. He has a lot of his strength back already and is happily swimming around.
My female betta in the molly tank however has her stress stripes back. There hasn't been any aggression or nipping from either party. I'm going to try and find more plants (hopefully some Amazon sword) and see if it helps.

 

[m.j.gomez]

Hello again, you may want to get a separate tank ready for male just in case things goe sideways.
Each fish has a different personality. They could be ok 1 min & then fighting the next. Even a breeding net would work to seperate(3$ walmart). Good luck & hope things work out!!!!!!!

 

[SaraB]

Hi I am aware of this, the male is by himself in the females old 8.8 gallon tank and the female got moved to the 55g with the mollies. There is no aggression and they are bigger than her so I think she just feels intimidated.
If any aggression happens I have a 20g I can set up but don't have any room for it so I may bring my mollies to the store at that point and trade for something smaller and less threatening.

 

[m.j.gomez]

Apologies, wasn't aware of experience.

 

[SaraB]

No worries.

 

[SaraB]

So his fin rot is almost all gt. His fin melt isn't getting much better. Do I need to medicate for that or just keep up with the frequent water changes? I tried to feed him blood worms but he had no idea what they were and didn't want to try them....so sticking to pellets it guess.

Also I added a couple of amazon swords to my 55g for extra cover. Do they need any type of fertilizer? If so do I used root tabs or liquid fertilizer?

 

[King Fisher]

I'd dose the tank with Kanaplex and Paragaurd. If that didn't work for some reason I'd then try API Furan 2.

Liquid fertilizer will work great and it's easy. The product "Thrive" works well for me.

 

[SaraB]

Thanks I'll try it

Is Thrive snail safe? I have 2 mystery snails and some baby ramshorns.

 

[SaraB]

Update: He has gotten worse today. He was kind of lethargic so I took a good look at him. The fin that had the rot has now turned into a fungal infection. I'll continue with frequent water changes until I can get a hold of something for it. Any suggestions on what works the best? I don't really want to mix medications either.

 

[King Fisher]

Did you dose Paragaurd? It is a med for bacterial fin rot and fungus. There's no issues with mixing Paragaurd and Kanaplex. The alternative is letting a fish further deteriorate from disease.

Thrive is snail safe. I use it and I have snails.