A moment of lamenting ><

[soritan]

I thought, at first, that my Sori's finrot issue was finally over. I hadn't *really* been medicating. I was doing water changes every 3 days and using mela- for healing, and sort of hoping I'd be one of the lucky ones, and he'd recover on his own. He's a really happy fish, he's just tattered at the edges.

I started to see some healing on his anal fin, but now his tail is starting to tatter, so I'm going a little cross eyed with frustration.

So now, I'm going to wheel out the anti-fungal meds. The only one they had at my LPS is called "Liquid Fungus Cure", and contains Neutroflavine and Povidone/Colloid, so I'm not sure how much it has in common with the anti-funals that you all use. I'm thinking of removing him from his 2.5 for this.

See, his 2.5G tank is fairly heavily planted, it's got several little java ferns in it, a sprig of ivy, a peace lilly, and at the moment, a leaf of pothos. The plants are doing fine, and the ivy seems to really love being in there. It's growing new leaves and everything, it's just not putting out roots (how odd Oo).

I do have 3 bowls I picked up at the local second hand store ($1 each), that I normally use for water aging. 2 of them are your standard "flat on two sides, round on one" type of bowls, and I'm fairly sure those two are 1.25G, as the both of them together fill up my 2.5G perfectly.

I'm thinking of using the "1.25" gallon bowls for the medication process. I don't want to kill off any beneficial bacteria in my 2.5G, and I certianly don't want to harm the plants, either. Sori loves the plants, he seems to spend a lot of time blowing bubbles under the pothos leaf.

Anyone hear of "Liquid Fungus Cure"? I already bought it, but googling for it churns up mostly ads, not testimonials. The most informative sites I found, simply repeated what the label said, active ingredients and whatnot.

I don't like the thought of removing Sori to the 1.25G, the last time I did that, he freaked out, clamped up, and 'hid' in the bowl. He calmed down after I added a plant, but 'calm' didn't mean 'less miserable', and that was only for a day in an emergency situation. *sigh*

 

[FishyLoveBug]

Is it made by Jungle? If so I have heard it is very good. Might I suggest a cave or small silk plant for his hospital tank?

 

[soritan]

Unfortunately, I have no idea who made the bowls. They're just standard, glass fishbowls, that the lady who worked there was more than eager to let go of for $1. I can't afford to pay the $19ea that the LPS asks for new bowls, so every time I find a used one at the second hand store (and it's less than $1), I buy it.

I run it through the dish washer once with soap, and once without soap. Then I rinse the whole thing out twice, and fill it with water, so that I have 'stale', room temperature water when I do my water changes.

... they make caves small enough to fit into 1.25G bowls? I'll probably put an old silk plant in there, when I use it. I removed my two silks from my 2.5 when I added the real plants. I think at night, I'll actually cover the whole bowl with a towel, too. You can tell just by looking at him, he feels really exposed, there.

No one's ever used "Liquid Fungus Cure", eh? I'll give it a whirl then, I imagine it won't be too harmful. Now, to figure out how to dose a 1.25G bowl, when the directions only offer 5G incriments.... Some niche store out there really needs to come up with a 1/5th teaspoon for measuring.

 

[Kiarra]

It does sound like he's really sensitive. Covering the bowl with a towel should definitely help. Would it be possible to move him to a room where it's dark, quiet, and peaceful during treatment?

Also, may I ask why you're proposing to use anti-fungals for finrot? No judgement being passed. I'm just really curious.

 

[soritan]

Aside from the package itself saying it can be used for finrot? "Liquid fungus cure" is actually the name of the product.

I bought it at (more or less) the same time I bought Sori, but held off on using it. I was hoping that his condition would improve after he was in a better home. I always hesitate to medicate, with fish. I still kinda want to see if a salt will work. It didn't before, but maybe just *one more time*....

[edit] Ok, I admit I bought it a long time ago, when words were easily swapped in my head. I bought it Feb. 16th, and recieved Sori Feb. 14th.... upon closer inspection, the exact words on the package read "finfungus", not "finrot". Damn, back to square one.

I'm a habitual researcher, and I have studied as much as I possibly could about Bettas... I wish the LPS carried better medication. Aside from that, they only had ich cures and tea tree oil cures.

I tried to make this edit earlier, and my internet crashed out on me. ;

 

[Kiarra]

I always hesitate to medicate, too. I hate pulling out the big guns, because medication itself is a stressor.

Have you tried Blackwater Extract or Indian Almond Leaves? You probably haven't. They're SO hard to find. It took me a very long time to find Blackwater Extract, and I actually know of only one store that carries it in my area. But if you ever do find it, purchase some. It's worth having. I've noticed it turn the tide in the battle against finrot with my own fish, preventing me from pulling out more stressful medicines I really didn't want to use, while Blackwater Extract is all natural.

 

[soritan]

No, I haven't tried black water extract, or Indian Almond Leaves. I read up on it a wee bit, a while back, but most of the comments I read about the two mostly concerned "more vibrant colors", not healing. I'll have to read up on it a little more, when I'm suffering a little less from insomnia.

It works well, I take it?

 

[D Chia]

I use Indian almond (Terminalia catappa) leaf teabags to lower the pH to about 6.5 to 6.8 (making it slightly acidic and less conducive for infective organisms to thrive).

This traditional and all natural medicine, which is known as the "Miracle Leaf", also helps sick fish to rest better because of its stress relieving properties.

Like blackwater extract, the Indian almond leaf can also be used as a spawn aid.

 

[Kiarra]

It's worth a shot, I think, if you can find any for yourself. I use it here, and I've noticed results. Finrot heals faster, fish are calmer, happier, etc.

 

[soritan]

Yes, I suppose it is worth a shot. Prestine water conditions don't seem to be doing the trick. I suppose in the mean time I could reattempt salt?

Now, to find a site that sells it, which accepts paypal. *sigh* I don't have a credit card, and I don't have a local source, so shopping is going to be a bit of a challenge.

 

[Kiarra]

Try ebay and aquabid. I've seen Indian Almond Leaves on both recently. No Blackwater Extract, though.


Just keep using aquarium salt continuously. I use aquarium salt in all my tanks (except for the newts, but they don't count!), at every water change.

 

[soritan]

Yeah, but I was rather hoping to introduce Sori to a new, larger tank in the future, with a couple of African Dwarf Frogs. I don't think the ADFs will appreciate the salt content...

I was actually just now wandering around Aquabid, checking out their indian almond leaf prices, they're a little more expensive there, than the sticky kinda lead me to believe. At least they take paypal, I can't afford to buy very much at the moment.

Aquabid is a dangerous place. O,< There's an auction on there for a small swatch of java moss and twelve ghost shrimp, and my mind went "OOoOoooOo", before I immediately closed the window.

 

[Kiarra]

I've done the same thing. Never wander over to the Betta section of Aquabid! It's evil....

Actually, I have 3 ADFs living in a salted tank. Happily. All three are fat, happy, and active...for frogs.

 

[soritan]

Actually, I'm kind of lucky in that most other Bettas aren't a temptation for me. At the moment, it's really just "Me 'n Sori", and I like that. He gets all my attention. (edit: actually, my cat gets all my attention, Sori gets whatever spill over my cat decides he deserves, I swear there's some weird form of sibling rivalry there). I am hoping to eventually move him up to fairly heavily planted 10g in the future, with maybe 2-3 ADFs, or maybe a tiny herd of minnows and a couple ghost shrimp. I don't want to move him until he's well, and I don't want to move him until the tank is ready for him.

I'd keep him in the 2.5G, but he just looks so bored there, and he's always acting like he's trying to swim out, and I rarely see him actually swim *around* the tank, just in that one corner, as if he can't quite understand why he can't swim any further.

On the other hand, like some other members have said in the past, I kinda think he's happy there. I think it's possible he'd act like that, even in a 10G. I think he does that whenever I look at him. He seems to be really aware of when attention is being paid to him, it doesn't seem to matter if I'm clear on the other side of the room, he'll sit up and go, "Eh? Someone's looking at me?" And race to the corner and 'try and get out'.

 

[Kiarra]

Does he kind of wiggle his butt in your direction? 'Cause for mine, that's the "I'm hungry!!!!!" dance.

I'm getting it right now from Narcissus on the desk next to this one.