Stubborn Fin Rot - Help!

[BettaAspen]

Okay, thank you so much for your help. I hope you have a nice day! Don't rush to reply to me, it's okay, I appreciate all you've done so far. I will read up and get back to you if need be.

 

[Autumnsky]

I would transfer him to a new container temporarily. Temp match and always if course treated water, and acclimate him to new water, but no old water in the new cup. Then his is in good safe water.

We can deal with the tank issues separately.

If you feed him, let him eat and after then get him in a 100% new clean safe water.

The container can be a quart jar for now. Just extra rinse off any possible reisidue from soap or dishwasher rinse spot free rinse.

 

[BettaAspen]

If I were to transfer him to a new container, how long would I keep him in it? I can try and set a new one up but I'm not sure if I have enough space.

 

[Autumnsky]

Just enough time, to getbyour rmtank cleaned up. Just a plastic container or jar. You can set on top of the refrigerator for a bit more warmth but it is for just this afternoon if you have time to rinse out his tank tonight.

Basically rinse the substrate gently to get of gunk. Put it back and get new clean fresh water.

 

[BettaAspen]

I'm most likely going to vacuum the gravel and do a deep clean tonight. Is it okay if I keep him in the container I got him in? I rescued him from a Petco because I really didn't want to leave him to die (I hate how they put them in those tiny containers). Would it be okay if I leave him in there for just the amount of time I clean the tank?

 

[Autumnsky]

Yes. Of you can put half bucket treated water, then substrate in the bucket and gently swirl it, then just drain the water off scoop the substrate back in. No vacing needed. Then it will be all clean and preserve any possible bb remaining.

 

[BettaAspen]

Okay, great! So I just scoop out some of the gravel, get a bucket of half clean water and half tank water, and then swirl it around until it's clean? Or do I do fully clean water in the bucket? Then drain the water and put the substrate back in?

Again, thanks for the help. You're awesome.

 

[BettaAspen]

Also, do I need to drain out all of the water in my tank, or only 30-50%? I'm not sure how much to change, but I was thinking somewhere between those two percentages.

 

[Autumnsky]

No tank water needed,
All the substrate if you can - if its really dirty you can rinse a second time. The idea is to just rinse off the mucky stuff with out bumping the rocks around too much. Save all the possible bb.

If you get towards the nottom of the bucket and its gross, the add a few pitchers of treated water and pour off the dirty water.

Not scrubbing the substrate. Just rinsing off.

Then also rinse out or wipe out with paper the substrate area of the tank only the bottom. You can leave the sides just rinsed.

Leave the filter alone as in don't clean the filter pads foam. Only fine filter pad, or change floss if you happen to have that. You could remove filter pads/ media basket and rinse out the case. But NOT the pads / media. Get them back in and working soon so they don't get dried out (or could sit in some treated or tank water) till you're done.

 

[Autumnsky]

100% new water. Old water has antibiotics and ammonia.

You want clean 100% good watet and no ammonia.

 

[BettaAspen]

You are a blessing. Thank you! I will take out as much gravel as possible (or all of it, if I can) and swish it around in clean water to get all the muck out. I'll change all of the water tonight and let you know how it goes. It'll probably take me a while which is totally fine, as long as I can get that nasty ammonia out!!

 

[BettaAspen]

Also, sorry for so many questions, but do you think the clean water will help my fish heal on his own? I've also got IAL's in the tank that I put in yesterday which I can switch out today if need be. I'm just wondering if I'm going to have to do more medicine in the future or if he could heal on his own, since I've noticed it is getting worse. Might just be from the ammonia though.

 

[BettaAspen]

Okay, so uhh I have absolutely no idea what is going on. I just cleaned the gravel and replaced almost all the water (around 90%, just because I wanted to preserve some of it) and the ammonia is STILL at the same level. I tested the tap water beforehand and it was at 0ppm. I literally have no idea how this is happening. Could it be my test kit? There's no way it's still at 2ppm after replacing almost all of the water and washing the gravel.

 

[Autumnsky]

If the test kit says your tap water is 0 ammonia -

and the water now in the tank using the same test kit, says 2ppm ammonia, that is very odd.

Anyone else have any ideas? I am stumped.

 

[Autumnsky]

Are you adding anything into the water...

You said Aqueon Water Conditioner

Anything else???

 

[BettaAspen]

Me too. I can try testing it later tonight to see if it's any better, but I'm seriously stumped as well. Ordering the Prime right now in hopes that it'll help a bit, but I have no clue as to why the ammonia is still so high. And yes, it was using the same test kit both times.

 

[Autumnsky]

Out of curiosity, can you take 2 cups of tap water, add Aqueon to the 1 cup but not the other one, and then test them the next day. Or right away too, if you have enough time.

Wondering what is up if the Aqueon is doing something.

 

[BettaAspen]

Sure yeah. So one cup water conditioner one cup without and test both? I'm not putting anything else into the water except the Aqueon conditioner. I'll do it later tonight and post the results here, I'm working on something that I need to get done now but I'll let you know.

 

[Autumnsky]

No hurry. Yes, just to see.

 

[BettaAspen]

Hey, so I got really caught up with something and totally forgot to test the conditioner/regular water cups. I did, however, manage to get myself a bottle of Prime, and will be using that from now on. I can always test the two cups out of curiosity honestly, but I'm thinking the Prime will do me much more good.