Hector's Finrot

[Feather_Sword]

By now Hector has finrot, and I ma sure of it. Currently I am treating him with Melafix and of course I dilute the 1/4 teaspoon of Melafix with 4 1/4 teaspoons of water (I have a 2.5 gallon aquarium, of which I'm guessing the 4 1/4 teaspoons of water is equal to 4 drops of water for a every drop of Melafix since it would be hard to continually add 4 drops of water to maybe about 40 drops of Melafix every day of treatment).

Since adding 4 drops to every drop of Melafix would be hard, wouldn't 4 1/4 teaspoons be the same for 1/4 teaspoon of Melafix?

 

[JustKia]

Super clean water is your first step any traces of ammonia, etc can make fin rot worsen.
Sorry, hun I don't know if your boy is in a filtered tank or not.

My melafix bottle says 1tsp per 10Gal, so that would be 1/4 tsp per 2.5Gal
I'd just take out a little bit of tank water, mix the 1/4 tsp melafix into it and then pour that into the tank.

 

[Feather_Sword]

He is in a filtered tank.

I clean out his aquarium today, so I'll try mixing the Melafix in with the tank water.

Thank you

 

[loraxchick]

the absolute BEST BEST medicine for fin rot is CLEAN WATER. usually if you keep clean water it will mange itself. ive had bad luck with melafix and bettas...id recommend half dose of the stuff if you feel like you must use it. some bettas react badly to it..id hate for you to find that out the hard way.
personally, 30% water change every other day should help clear it up...if it continues to persist, or if the fins degrade VERY quickly, you will need a bacterial med.
some more questions for you which might be of help...
how long have you had him? and what is your water changing schedule like? what is your ammonia level in the tank prior to waterchanges?
best of luck...hope he gets better
cheers

 

[ellena]

Melafix doesn't actually treat finrot, it's just a tonic to speed up healing once it's cured. If you want to use a drug, you'll need myxazin along with the clean water as mentioned to sort it out

 

[loraxchick]

Melafix doesn't actually treat finrot, it's just a tonic to speed up healing once it's cured. If you want to use a drug, you'll need myxazin along with the clean water as mentioned to sort it out

while this is true, it also helps to keep the water less habitable to nasties so less chance of SECONDARY infections. while it doesnt help outrightly with finrot (which 90% of the time is due to bad water quality anyway). thats why i suggested clean water as the first remedy, and if that isnt improving the fin rot after a week or so, or if there is noticeable degradation of fins in that time period, THAN use meds. never a good idea to just chuck medicine in with a fish, especially since you are not certain it is bacterial. if clean water doesnt help, THEN use and antibac. med.
i hope that didnt come off as "snippy", just want to clarify to folks. but i never use melafix anyway with bettas...had a bad time with it once and unfortunately did not end well for mr fish

could the OP put up a photo of his fin damage? that could help a LOT. sometimes finrot is misdiagnosed due to filter injury or tail biting.
cheers

 

[Feather_Sword]

I bought Hector on September 21, 2009 from Petco. I change the water every week on Monday, as that was the day of the week I bought him on. I can give an ammonia reading as I just have not bought an ammonia testing kit.

Now I see why Melafix is bad, as said by some aquarists, so I'll stop using it.

Today, I'll be changing the water as it's Monday, and start changing 30% of the water every other day as advised. With all of your advice, I am sure that he will get better

I cannot take any pictures as the camera is broken. I know his tail has nothing to to do with the filter as everything that could cause damage is adequately covered.

 

[Anna Robinson]

Fishkeepers can use Melafix as a tonic if they wish as it has no side-effects but it is practically and legally a medication, and does treat fin rot. However, as the others have said, fin rot is generally a secondary problem related to water quality, and finding out and solving the primary cause is by far the most important step.