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treating fin rot for my betta

hey everybody! i have a betta who has fin rot - hes had it for a little while. at first we treated him with some kind of liquid medication stuff, i cant remember what it was called, but anyways my mum was kind of more in charge so after a week she stopped it. to be honest she made a big show of how she knows so much about aquariums and reads practical fishkeeping or whatever, but i think she just has a really short attention span.
anyways, we got a new cheap tank and filled it with water - it has only a couple of artificial plants, no gravel, just nothing that should be able to collect to many germs. we're treating the water with a kind of salt medication, and change the water every/every other day.

we've done it for a week now, so we need to have a break for a little while then start the medication again. we cant see any difference in him yet which i imagine is to be expected but
here are my questions:
will his fins really heal and grow back? i heard they would grow back but i just feel a little skeptical. i mean, im sure itll help, but will i even be able to notice a difference? how will i know if he's better

then the other question is
if he does get better, then what? surely putting him back in his nice old tank will make him catch it again, unless there is a way to treat the water while he's not in it to eradicate the germ for when he gets put back in? will he have to live in the nasty sterile cheapo tank forever and be treated forever?
pleeeeeeeeease i know there are fish nerds out there who can help and i mean fish nerds in the nicest possible sense i want to be a fish nerd but i need the info!
Reply 2
I'm no fish expert, but I did manage to find this ( http://velvetdragon.com/bettas/finrot.html ) which may help, particularly the bit about frequent water changes while treating. It's caused by too much nitrogenous ions in the water. These are water-soluble, and will come out the tank as long as you wash it well.
Original post by Bloodaxe
I'm no fish expert, but I did manage to find this ( http://velvetdragon.com/bettas/finrot.html ) which may help, particularly the bit about frequent water changes while treating. It's caused by too much nitrogenous ions in the water. These are water-soluble, and will come out the tank as long as you wash it well.


oooh thank you i will check it out!
Reply 4
Dr foster n smith have antibiotics you can use for the beta, good luck!!!
I have a betta and he had fin rot when I first got him. Betta are very sensitive to the fin rot medicine and you will see him become lethargic if you use it.
Dont use salt in the fish tank. Betta have the labyrinth organ that is damaged by salt.
Do you use plastic or silk plants? As plastic plants can damage the fins too.
What I dif during my treatment was a water change each day (about 50% as you dont want to get rid of your beneficial bacteria) and I bought some aquarium salt. I added a small amount (going by the instructions) to a bowl of tank water and stirred it til it dissolved. I then used a net and put him in the bowl for 30 seconds before putting him back in the tank and pouring out the salt water.
This gets the fish to remove excess slime coating and bacteria are sensitive to the aquarium salt so it helps kill the fin rot.
It also means that theres no salt in your main tank that could harm your fish or your beneficial bacteria.
You will know he is getting better as the fins will start growing white where it use to be black fin rott. It will go back to its original colour over time.
Do you treat the water with seachem prime + stability?
If not I would suggest getting them as these products are the best for treating the water and getting your tanks nitrate cycle started.

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