Does This Look Like Fin Rot?

[Jaiden]

I've never had a fish with fin rot (that I know of) and someone pointed out that Murphy may have fin rot He's got black on the tips of his fins but no damage. His fins aren't torn or ripped looking.

Does it look like his natural color? Or does it look like it may be fin rot? And will it hurt him if I treat him and he doesn't have fin rot? I'm sorry for the sub-par pics...I really have a hard time taking a pic of him.

And a silouette of his caudal fin...

 

[WILDER]

Black edging can be ammonia burns that are healing.
Have you had ammonia reading lately.,

 

[Jaiden]

I just did an ammonia test and from the color chart (boyfriend usually does this, not me lol) it's near the very minimum...at the very most 0.25ppm.

I did have him in a 1/2 gal container for a few days until I got my hands on this 5 gal. Plus, he was in that tiny little cup at the store...I'm sure the cup holds no more than 1/2 Cup of water...

 

[Jaiden]

Actually, I take that back. It says 1.0 ppm lol I was looking at the wrong one

 

[Jaiden]

Anyone?

I just set this tank up yesterday. It's 5 gal with a filter. I added water from an established tank and I added a piece of filter media from my 10 gal into the filter of the 5 gal. I didn't know what to do, so I have added Melafix to his tank

Other than that...I'm lost and have no idea what to do.

 

[azulfire24]

it wont hurt him if he dosent have anything but dont go by the direstions on the melifix bottle they use too much,, bettas are senstive to melifix so only use 10 drops per gallon

 

[littlest]

water change -

anytime you get an ammonia reading, particularly a reading of 1, it's important to a water change (using dechlorinator with the water). Do it daily if needs be... or twice daily.

The filter media from your other tank should have helped, but maybe it wasn't quite enough. Until it catches up you'll need to rely on water changes to keep your fish happy and healthy.

do you have any nitrite or nitrate (if you have nitrate, what is your tap water nitrate?) - just to get an idea where you are with the cycling

To be honest I can't tell from the pics whether its finrot or colouring. I've had bettas with finrot when I bought them before and clean water and a touch of melafix has done the trick.

 

[Jaiden]

Should I do 100% water change? And I'm sorry for being such a noob, but I don't really understand what you mean about my nitrate and cycling The test thing I did was Ammonia/NH3/NH4. None of my other tanks have a reading...just this one.

 

[Lindsey88]

Do a 50% or so water change.

 

[Netty]

Why not do a 50-70% water change now and then test again after you have done it. You may need to do one or two a day until your reading is below 0.25.

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Jaiden]

I'm going to have to do it in the morning I've been dealing with a sick baby all night and I'm exhausted now...ugh.

Thanks for all the help, guys!!

 

[nikonD70s]

Jaiden, i think your fish is under stressed. Thats how my OHM looked like when i put him into my new tank, he looked just like that no where near a halfmoon. i almost gave up on him, then a friend of mine recommended "stress enzym" and "stress coat" bought it instantly put some in....he was instantly better the next day then added some more the next day and within 5 days he was back to 100%, i thought he would of never looked the same his fins were so ugly looked like they were rotting away but after i bought the item it worked like a charm.

 

[Jaiden]

You know...I was standing there looking at the bottle of stress stuff last night when I went to pick up some Melafix I almost grabbed it, too.

I'm just feeding my sick 10 month some breakfast and when she goes down for a nap, I'm going to do some water changes...I'll let you guys know some readings after. I'm going to do all 3 of my boys tanks.

Just as a side question, how often do you recommend I do water changes? And how much?

I have a 5 gal, 1 gal (both with filters) and a temporary fish bowl that's about a gal (until I get a 2nd 5 gal or a divider rigged up for my current one)

 

[hollyp0p]

You know...I was standing there looking at the bottle of stress stuff last night when I went to pick up some Melafix I almost grabbed it, too.

I'm just feeding my sick 10 month some breakfast and when she goes down for a nap, I'm going to do some water changes...I'll let you guys know some readings after. I'm going to do all 3 of my boys tanks.

Just as a side question, how often do you recommend I do water changes? And how much?

I have a 5 gal, 1 gal (both with filters) and a temporary fish bowl that's about a gal (until I get a 2nd 5 gal or a divider rigged up for my current one)

At the moment with high ammonia reading as stated you need to be doing about 50% daily until the ammonia reaches 0.

Melafix will help any damage heal, it will be fine for this.

Anything with a filter is usually cleaned out, 25% water change every week, anything without a filter needs to be checked more frequently and maybe daily water changes to keep hamrful levels down.

You can also add a little aquarium salt (no more than stated dose) this helps heal fish too, and is a natural stress reducer

 

[Jaiden]

OK, so I did about a 50% water change and it's still about the same...maybe a little less. I tested my tap water and it's fine. 0ppm for the ammonia.

If I added live plants in there, would that help? I have some Java Moss, but that's it. Other than his fin colour, he seems to be perfectly fine. He's swimming around happily and even went to check out the Cherry Shrimp I switched over to his tank.

I'm assuming I should be doing water changes every day until it comes down to 0, though, right? Should I continue the Melafix? Or do the Melafix once the ammonia is down to 0? Or not do it at all? And what if I took some plants out of my 75 gal and added it to this 5 gal?

I'm a bit lost. Help! lol