Fin Rot On My Beta's Tail! Help!

[Nerwign]

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Tank size: 55 gal US
pH: 7.8 ***
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 20ppm
kH: 10
gH: 15
tank temp: 76F

*** I did not know this!! My tap water is 7.0! I am not sure what has changed my pH so drastically! Is this from the Ich medication??

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): Fish appears healthy and happy. Large discolored pale spot at the lower part of the base of his tail. Difficult to photograph but I have included what I can.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 10-20% once a week or once every other week

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Regenerable Toxic Metal Sponge (tm) to reduce hardness of water.

Tank inhabitants: 1 Hong Kong Plecostomas, 6 Leopard Danios, 5-6 White Cloud Minnows (6 but only count 5 today! ), 3 Khuli Loaches (or similar species), 1 Beta (fish in question), 5 Checkered Barbs.

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): the 6 Minnows, 2 of the Checkered Barbs, 2 of the Khuli Loaches

Exposure to chemicals: Treated for Ich 1 mo ago. 40% dosage due to loaches.

Digital photo (include if possible): See below. It was hard for the camera to focus on the fish and not the plants (which don't move so much). I tried to include several to make up for the poor quality.

Age of Tank: Did fishless cycle Nov 1st - Dec 31st (it went slow for me). Added most fish Dec 31st, 2006. Added 4 Khuli Loaches from disreputable LFS and 3 died and tank became infected with Ich. Treated for Ich 1 mo ago at 40% dosage due to loaches.

Filter: Eheim Ecco 2236.

Please any help would be greatly appreciated. I really want to take as good care of these fish as possible! I am so saddened that one is getting sick!

PS this spot was not there yesterday. I watch my fish each day when I feed them!

-Nerwign

 

[Nerwign]

Please help! It's gotten incredibly worse since I posted last night. It has been less than 12 hours and the bottom part of his tail has been eroded away!!

I have separated him out into a jar, since he is a beta I think he should be ok without the filters and such. I do not have a hospital aquarium.

Please see the new pictures and if anyone can help me before I lose him, I would be so grateful.

Also, do I need to treat the rest of my tank or is this a one-fish illness??

-Nerwign

 

[black angel]

The fish has fin rot and you need a med for bacterial fin rot.
You should put him in something bigger such as a 5 gallon tub and add a heater to it, being careful for it not to touch the sides.
Aquarium Salt is good at stopping any other infection from getting in and can be added at a teaspoon per gallon and will help heal the damage.
Its important to keep your fish warm and in really clean water. it can take a while for the infection to stop.
What other fisha re in the big tank and whats your cleaning routine for it?

 

[Nerwign]

Thank you! I will move him to a large container tonight when I get home from work. I listed the other tank occupants in my first post, as well as cleaning. I have been changing 10-20% water once a week or once every other week. Please see above for the occupants though. What medication should I give the beta? Will I need to treat the rest of the tank too? There are so many medications out there and I really hate adding chemicals to my fish so I want to do it right the first time and not have to re-treat because I used a sub-optimal type of medication. Thank you for any help you can provide!

I am in the US if that helps with products. I will go on my lunch break to get what I need for him, if you can tell me what I should look for.

-Nerwign

 

[black angel]

From the pics it looks like it has eaten into the body as well.
All I can think of is maracyn for your country. It doesnt look good im afraid once it starts to eat into the body.

 

[heatmisr]

puchase some maracyn 2 and maracyn. His fin rot is pretty advanced, so you should use both in combination. Normally, you would only use the Maracyn 2.

 

[Nerwign]

I bought some Maracyn-Two at lunch time today. It was sold in capsules that are sized for 5 galons of water. I am going to transfer him to a 5 galon bucket tonight. The available Maracyn was such that I would have to take a dose and half it and hope to get it right. Should I still go back and buy it?

He did not have a spot on him Wednesday night, and thursday night he had the white spot (on his tail and some of his body) and overnight to this morning, his tail was 1/3 gone! Does it normally progress this quickly!? Should I increase his water temp or decrease? What should he be at?

Thank you for your help!!

-Nerwign

 

[WILDER]

Finrot is common on top of whitespot.
I would turn the temp up to 30, and increase aeration in the tank.

 

[Nerwign]

This brings up a super important question!! Now that I have separated the beta from the tank, do I treat the whole tank or just the beta!!

I want to treat the right fish: I don't want to expose fish unnecesarily to chemicals and medication and I don't want to ignore them if they need medication. Please advise if possible!

-Nerwign

 

[WILDER]

Yes treat both tanks the others will have whitespot too.

 

[puddle_inc]

melafix cured my guppies fin after a rosy goldfish accident. also, some aquarium salt may help it heal too.

 

[Nerwign]

My tank was already treated for white spot (ich) about... 2-3 weeks ago. I have not seen any sign of white spot since the treatment. Do you think I should treat a second time? I am worried because it is a very harsh treatment for my loaches and last time they suffered a bit during the treatment even though I only used 40-50% strength. I don't want to stress them like that if I don't have to.

-Nerwign

PS I have heard that salt is bad for loaches so I am not keen on adding any to the aquarium right now. I could do a salt bath for the non-loaches if that would be appropriate... but I don't want to hurt my cute little loaches.

 

[WILDER]

If you have had a fish in the tank with whitespot the others will have it, just turn temp up for now and see how it goes if you don't want to go in with meds.
Increase aeration as well.

 

[Nerwign]

I don't understand what you are saying. All of my fish were treated for whitespot, not just one fish. The whole tank was treated. I cannot turn up the temperature because several of my fish will not survive well. They are cooler-water fish. The Checkered Barbs and Leopard Danios will not do well if I increase the temperature and they have all been treated for Ich already. Are you saying I should treat them a second time?

1) I got ich.
2) I treated ich.
3) The beta got fin-rot.
4) I separated the beta and will treat tonight.

Does the ich medication help with fin-rot?

-Nerwign

 

[WILDER]

The ich med will help with finrot but only if its in its early stages.