Re - occuring Fin rot? (Getting Angry Here)

[Shadowraven]

Originally Posted by dkpate

With the anti-parasitic food, you feed ONLY that, no regular food, for a month. Bettas can go up to a month without ANY food, so only feeding them 3 times a week will be fine.

I got my Jungle stuff at PetSmart.

Make sure you soak the pellets first, they get pretty big, and then break them in half. Maybe that way you can feed them "twice as much", half a pellet each day, which would be 6 times a week, with one day of fasting.

Thanks for the clarification dkpate. I had inferred that it meant something else and I was wrong. I thought what you are advising might be the case, but the long space between feedings (4 days) threw me off. It didn't seem right.

Thanks again.

[dkpate]

No problem! I remember the directions from when I used them.


I don't think the aquarium salt will do much at this point, except stress them out even more. I would wait for the food. Did you ask PetSmart to order some in for you? I have used fosterandsmithaquatics.com, and the stuff usually arrives before the date they say. If you ordered it now though, you wouldn't get it until next week because of the weekend.

[jetajockey]

In fear of getting swallowed by the pile of virtual pages that this thread has become, what exactly are the symptoms you are trying to treat, and a brief breakdown on what all has been going on would be nice.

[Saltypuppy]

Originally Posted by dkpate

No problem! I remember the directions from when I used them.


I don't think the aquarium salt will do much at this point, except stress them out even more. I would wait for the food. Did you ask PetSmart to order some in for you? I have used fosterandsmithaquatics.com, and the stuff usually arrives before the date they say. If you ordered it now though, you wouldn't get it until next week because of the weekend.

No. They said I would have to go online at the store. So I need to go online and order stuff now. No one carries it cause they suck. Actually they have no anti - parasitic food in store.

Foster and Smith is out of stock right now.

So the salt won't help at all? Do you really think its parasites now?

[Saltypuppy]

Originally Posted by jetajockey

In fear of getting swallowed by the pile of virtual pages that this thread has become, what exactly are the symptoms you are trying to treat, and a brief breakdown on what all has been going on would be nice.

I have had ongoing 'rot' since novemeber or so. It started as he just lost a huge chunk of fin. Out of nowhere.... the edges were clean so I assumed I had found a tail biter. He started to heal after I gave him clean water and stress caot + aloe. Eventually it just shredded and got worse again. So I tried the stress coat and water again. It would start to heal and then get bad again. So I started trying melafix. He would get a little better then worse again. I tried this for a couple weeks. Then it was back to clean water since he was getting better. So after doing that for about a month he was the best he had ever been. Then he got a big split and the fins were all re-shredded and we are back to square one. So I decided this is bad. So I used Maracyn II and attempted to rid of the rot. It had stopped rotting and started to re-grow and I put him in the main tank and he was fine for a couple weeks... then he got bad again. Really bad. His fins ripped, split and shredded. Now he has grown somewhat lethargic and pale. So that breaks down the symptoms...

In the meantime it seems that another one of my males in the other tank picked up the 'rot' and he had started with a little rot. But boy it moves fast. Just earlier this week he had at least 3/4 of his fin... now he was 1/3 or so. He has also grown lethargic and somewhat pale.

My other two fish are fine. My female is a bit thin for some reason... and my other male has a tiny bit of fin damage. but it hasn't gotten any worse....

[jetajockey]

What is your tank stocking like again? Normally with a nipped fin and no sign of rot you have a nipping problem, or the fish is snagging on something.

I'm not sure how treating with salt would be a bad thing, it's been the tried and true method for as long as I can remember and is less harsh than meds.

What is leading you to the conclusion that you have parasites? Do you see anything on the fish? Any flashing? Any wasting? Any stringy poo?

[Shadowraven]

Originally Posted by dkpate

I don't think the aquarium salt will do much at this point, except stress them out even more. I would wait for the food.

I agree. It has been going on for a while now anyway. No need to salt the water and stress him out more. Salt can be a curative, but in medicinal amounts it stresses the fish somewhat. For one thing it reduces the oxygen holding abilities of the water. Let it go for now until you get the food.

[jetajockey]

Originally Posted by Shadowraven

I agree. It has been going on for a while now anyway. No need to salt the water and stress him out more. Salt can be a curative, but in medicinal amounts it stresses the fish somewhat. For one thing it reduces the oxygen holding abilities of the water. Let it go for now until you get the food.

That's based on an assumption that salt stresses the fish out to begin with. At low concentrations it doesn't, which is why it's used as a treatment for all kinds of stuff ranging from fin rot to ICH, even on scaleless fish.

The oxygen thing, if even valid, is a moot point since the water is being aerated.

In low concentrations it's unlikely to be harmful or stressing (a salt bath is not required), and has been the industry standard for nips/torn fins/fin rot for a really long time, but Salty definitely do whatever you think is best. I was just giving you an alternative to getting anti-parasite food which I'm not even sure what it's supposed to treat.

[Saltypuppy]

Originally Posted by jetajockey

What is your tank stocking like again? Normally with a nipped fin and no sign of rot you have a nipping problem, or the fish is snagging on something.

I'm not sure how treating with salt would be a bad thing, it's been the tried and true method for as long as I can remember and is less harsh than meds.

What is leading you to the conclusion that you have parasites? Do you see anything on the fish? Any flashing? Any wasting? Any stringy poo?

I only have two bettas in a ten gallon tank and its divided...

Nope nothing like that. I just don't know what else to so.

So salt is good?

[Saltypuppy]

Originally Posted by Shadowraven

I agree. It has been going on for a while now anyway. No need to salt the water and stress him out more. Salt can be a curative, but in medicinal amounts it stresses the fish somewhat. For one thing it reduces the oxygen holding abilities of the water. Let it go for now until you get the food.

So wait on the salt?

[Saltypuppy]

Originally Posted by jetajockey

That's based on an assumption that salt stresses the fish out to begin with. At low concentrations it doesn't, which is why it's used as a treatment for all kinds of stuff ranging from fin rot to ICH, even on scaleless fish.

The oxygen thing, if even valid, is a moot point since the water is being aerated.

In low concentrations it's unlikely to be harmful or stressing (a salt bath is not required), and has been the industry standard for nips/torn fins/fin rot for a really long time, but Salty definitely do whatever you think is best. I was just giving you an alternative to getting anti-parasite food which I'm not even sure what it's supposed to treat.

What would you do? I just don't know what to do anymore...

[jetajockey]

It's really your call, just keep doing research and come to a conclusion.

I hate throwing random meds at a problem in a shotgun approach because sometimes none of it may help.

If the only symptoms you have are fin nips or possible rot, then I would do a salt treatment over any kind of actual meds. Another thing that I've done if I felt leery about salt/meds is methylene blue, which seems to stop any fungus and help in healing as well.

[Saltypuppy]

Originally Posted by jetajockey

It's really your call, just keep doing research and come to a conclusion.

I hate throwing random meds at a problem in a shotgun approach because sometimes none of it may help.

If the only symptoms you have are fin nips or possible rot, then I would do a salt treatment over any kind of actual meds. Another thing that I've done if I felt leery about salt/meds is methylene blue, which seems to stop any fungus and help in healing as well.

Hmmm./ Ya I just don't know what I am dealing with. I have been trying to figure it out since november.

[Saltypuppy]

Salt in a Freshwater Aquarium - Using Salt in a Freshwater Aquarium

This website says salt is effective for treating parasites.

[dkpate]

Do not use salt for more than 10 days with bettas if you go that route. Bettas kidneys can start to shut down after that amount of time.

Since you have been dealing with this since November, and you have tried meds and clean water, the last option is the anti-parasitic meds IMO. They are not going to hurt them.

[Saltypuppy]

Originally Posted by dkpate

Do not use salt for more than 10 days with bettas if you go that route. Bettas kidneys can start to shut down after that amount of time.

Since you have been dealing with this since November, and you have tried meds and clean water, the last option is the anti-parasitic meds IMO. They are not going to hurt them.

I will just have to see. I think I am going to order the meds this weekend. (food)

[Shadowraven]

Originally Posted by dkpate

Do not use salt for more than 10 days with bettas if you go that route. Bettas kidneys can start to shut down after that amount of time.

Since you have been dealing with this since November, and you have tried meds and clean water, the last option is the anti-parasitic meds IMO. They are not going to hurt them.

My point exactly. If I remember rightly, you already tried the salt didn't you?

[Saltypuppy]

Originally Posted by Shadowraven

My point exactly. If I remember rightly, you already tried the salt didn't you?

Actually I have not tried salt yet. I put one fish in a seprate tank with the salt to see how it goes. So far I came back in about 20 mins after adding him to the water and he has regained quite a bit of his color. So we will just have to see how that goes. In the meantime, Foster and Smiths needs to restock on that food! it was supposed to be in on the 6th.

[siva]

Woah...I was out of the loop for a while..I can't believe this is still happening! I'm so sorry You must be crazy frustrated by now!! Saltypuppy I would try salt. I'd slowly work up to 1tsp per gallon and try it for 10 days.

[jetajockey]

Originally Posted by Saltypuppy

Actually I have not tried salt yet. I put one fish in a seprate tank with the salt to see how it goes. So far I came back in about 20 mins after adding him to the water and he has regained quite a bit of his color. So we will just have to see how that goes. In the meantime, Foster and Smiths needs to restock on that food! it was supposed to be in on the 6th.

If you are talking about the Jungle brand stuff, there are several places online that carry it. Petsmart has it in their stores, also, it's with the medications and not with the fish food.

I've got a bottle of it around here somewhere, I tried it a few times but couldn't some fish to eat it.