Betta fin rot. Improved now getting worse again

[Parsely]

Housing:
How many gallons is your tank? 5
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? 80f
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?no
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind?no

Food:
What food brand do you use?aqueon
Do you feed flakes or pellets?pellets
Freeze-dried?occasion blood worms
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? 2 pellets / day

Maintenance:
Before your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Weekly

What percentage of water did you change? 25%

What is the source of your water? Tap

Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water?
What additives do you use other than conditioner? Biological supplement, plant nutrients
What brand of conditioner?nutrafin

Water Parameters:
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you. Important: Test your water before the regular water change; not after one.

Ammonia:<0.25
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
pH:6.5
Hardness (GH):180
Alkalinity (KH):120

Hi, I purchased this betta a couple of weeks ago. It was one my 4yr had his heart set on despite that it appeared he had fin rot at the store. Frayed and very damaged looking.

The first week we had him I wanted to see if he would do better with our aquarium Vs the little cup at the store. After not seeing any improvement I added aquarium salt (2.5 tbsp in our 5 gallon aquarium). It worked incredibly well, saw improvement within days and could see new fin regrowing and filling in all the frayed and damaged spots by a week. I was thrilled to see such quick improvement.

However after 1 week in the salted water I did a 30% water change a few days and now his fins appear to be getting worse again. Frayed pieces etc.. I added 1 tbsp more salt last night to account for the amount I took out during the water change. I have read that he shouldn’t have salted water long term though so I am afraid to continue with the salt but it also appears to me his condition gets better with salt and worse without. What should I do? Also I am fairly new to this so not 100% sure it is fin rot. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!





Symptoms and Treatment:
When did you first notice the symptoms?
When bought from store
How has your Betta’s appearance changed?frayed fins improved but now worsen
How has your Betta’s behavior changed? No
Is your Betta still eating? Yes
Have you started treating your Betta? If so, how? Aquarium salt
Does your Betta have any history of being ill?have only had him a couple of weeks
How long have you owned your Betta? 2-3 weeks
Was he or she ill or suffering some sort of damage when purchased? Yes, very frayed fins.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Many people keep fish with aquarium salt in there freshwater tanks. 1 tablespoon/ 5 gallons (20 litres) of water. So i dont think keeping salt in the water long term is going to hurt anything. Not really sure there are long term benefits to it either though, but if you see benefits there is no harm in keeping aquarium salt in your water.

Looking at your photos it doesnt look like the finrot cleared up fully though, so maybe that is why it came back. I would also take a good look at the aquascape and make sure there is nothing with sharp edges that might catch his fins and tear them.

Im also going to throw in water parameters, because the water parameters you note are unlikely. Fish produce waste, which means ammonia. If you are cycled your ammonia would be converted in nitrate and you would see this in your test. If you arent cycled you would see ammonia and/ or nitrite depending on how far progressed your cycle is and again this would show in your testing. Apart from a trace amount of ammonia (essentially zero) your arent seeing anything. This could be an indication there is something wrong with your testing and you could have a water quality issue you arent aware of.

What test kit are you using? Make double sure you are doing the tests correctly. If you are still seeing zero on your tests you might want to get a second opinion on your testing.

 

[Parsely]

I’m using the API test strips for the nitrates / nitrites and APIs ammonia kit as well. This tank has been running for almost 2 months now and I dose it with nutrafin cycle on water changes so I’m not sure why the reading I get is always 0. Maybe I will try a different brand of testing to confirm.

As long as the salt is not an issue longer term then I will stick him with that as he was doing great with that.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Test strips are notoriously not accurate. If you are getting a new test kit i would look to get a liquid test kit. API Freshwater Master Testkit is a good one to get.

Covers what you need to test for (pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate). Accurate enough for what you are using it for. Relatively easy to use. You get 100s of tests from the kit, so much more cost effective than strips long term.

 

[Parsely]

I will order that today! Thank you