Betta fin rot medication

[Kevintoronto]

Hello,
My betta has at least moderate fin rot, and I was advised to use a broad spectrum antibiotic to treat it (in another thread at this forum).
Unfortunately, in Canada, we don't have access to these easily. Petsmart.com (US) lists several options that are not available on petsmart.ca for example. We do have, I note, API Super Ick Cure which contains
-Basic green 4 = malachite green which is antifungal
-nitrofurazone which seems to be active against both gram+ and gram- bacteria

Has anyone used this in place of the more general meds for fin rot?
I'm treating with salt now and waiting for a few days (he had a fungus on top of that, which seems to have cleared).
Trick is I won't really know if the salt has worked until I see in a few weeks if his fins start to grow.. whereas with the Ick cure I could apply 2 doses (1 now 1 in 48 hours) and be done with it...
Help? (I'm pretty new at this).
Thanks!

 

[Larougeraven]

Hello,

Sorry to hear about the fin rot, it was because my betta first had fin rot that I got super into taking care of fish.

I also live in Canada, so hopefully I can help you. The first thing I bought, but can't remember for the life of me was in a plastic bottle in the shape of a fish with blue liquid in it.

But the main thing I used was aquarium salt. My tank that he was in was about 1.5 gallons (he did get moved to a 10 gallon down the road). I would change his tank water every day and add the correct amount of aquarium salt with those changes. I then moved him from a 1.5 to a 10 gallon tank within 5 days of the fin rot. With the changing of the water every dau and adding aquarium salt with those changes, his fin started to slowly grow back. From the photos I had. It took about 13 days before I noticed growth. (I took a lot of photos during that time.)

I hope that helps. If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask. Good luck.

 

[Fin35]

Medication is unnecessary and stressful to your fish. Fin rot is from bad water quality, what size is your tank? If it’s under 5 gallons and doesn’t have a heater or a filter, then you need to upgrade, that’s the first step to treating fin rot. After you’ve upgraded do weekly partial water changes and look up dosing with a small amount of aquarium salt. If you add almond leaves this can help turn the water a bit more acidic which has an antibacterial healing effect. Also consider live plants this will keep the water healthy, java fern is super easy and can survive with just light from a room. He should start looking better in a month or so.

 

[Enchantress]

Medication is unnecessary and stressful to your fish.

Not entirely true. If the disease is in its early stages then yes, it might go away on its own with just natural remedies and proper tank maintenace, but once it progresses past a certain point more targeted medication becomes necessary. I think it's more stressful to the fish to be sick for a prolonged period of time than to be treated with proper medication. The only thing that can hurt is if you overdose or misdiagnose the problem and use the wrong medication (or if you dose a healthy fish). Besides, there are some diseases (parasitoses, among others) that are stubborn and contagious and unlikely to go away without medication or water treatment.

 

[Fin35]

I’d go with getting a bigger/ heated and filtered tank and doing aquarium salt first before deciding though. If you medicate but still keep the poor water conditions it will just come back. Almond leaves are also underestimated and can be a antibacterial and can heal the fish if many things, you can buy on amazon. https://bettasource.com/indian-almond-leaves-for-betta-fish/