Oliver's In Trouble

[Morphkid03]

Well after another long leave of absence (due to college basically devouring every second of my life), I have returned.

Went to my dorm today to grab some stuff and change my tank's water, have been on spring break for the last 5 days and won't be returning to school until Monday. I arrived, made sure the automatic feeder was working, and did a once over on my cory catfish and betta. To my dismay, it appears Oliver, my little blue VT Betta that I've had for 7 months has developed fin rot in the last few days. D:

So far the end of his caudal fin has been "evened" and barely tipped with black instead of it's normal taper- think as if someone took scissors to the end of his tail and cut a straight line, and the ends of his dorsal fins have receded a bit and are tipped in black as well. Thank god it hasn't gotten too out of hand.
He and the 2 corys occupy a 5gal aquarium, with a weekly water change and stats all read normal. Temp is around 78 degrees.

I couldn't do anything at the time due to all my supplies being at home by mistake, but will isolate him from the corys on Saturday night. Is that too late to start treatment? I have no other possible way to do this, my school is not terribly close so commuting there until I go back on Saturday isn't feasible.

So basically... What do you think caused this? How should I treat him? Will he be ok without treatment until Saturday?

 

[azulfire24]

clean clean water is the best treatment do a 50 percent now and a 25 percent every day till u see inprovement he could have been upset at being lonely and ate his tail too, and r u sure the suto feeder didnt muck up the water?? dirty water is the cause of finriot

 

[skittz]

doing a water change every day is not realy a good idea it removes to much of the bacteria that the fish needs....
i suggest u get some betafix or melafix wich is a natural antibacterial and antibiotic remedy wich will help u will be able to leave ur other fish in the tank with this treatment...to treat finrot with the remedy u need to add half a cap full once a day till u start to see improvement but before u add it make sure u have turned off the filter before u pour it in the tank unless u want bubbles everywhere lol let me know how it goes u will need to treat the other fish in with him as finrot is caused by their tails to be attacked by other fish and is it hits the blood vessils in their fins it relieses toxins that can cause ur other fish to get sick

 

[saltynay]

Also get some aquarium tonic salt (not marine) to add with the melafix. It will act as a tonic and keep further infection at bay.

 

[Honeythorn]

doing a water change every day is not realy a good idea it removes to much of the bacteria that the fish needs....

This is incorrect. The majority of the bacterial colony is not in the water. It's in the filter media. Daily water changes will not affect this.

 

[bronzecat]

What are the water stats at present? i.e. temp, ammonia, nitrItes etc

 

[Morphkid03]

What are the water stats at present? i.e. temp, ammonia, nitrItes etc

Thanks for all the responses everyone.
I can't tell you the stats right now, as I am home and the tank is at school. When I tested it at a LFS a week or two ago all readings were in the normal range.

Question: The cory cats show no signs of fin rot. Do they need to be treated? Because they are scaleless I don't know what meds I can or can not use with them. I know aquarium salt is a no no....

OH. And by automatic feeder I don't mean one of those chalky blocks, I mean the little device that spits food you put in out 2x a day.

 

[Morphkid03]

Update time:

Got back to school last night, and the fin rot was a little worse but it wasn't much. Separated him in a heated 1 gallon bowl that I had put aquarium salt in, going to see if that helps him. He's definitely perked up!

 

[Morphkid03]

Update:

Oliver's getting worse and worse. He's lost his appetite, won't flare, and the salted water isn't helping, his fins are getting WORSE, and this is in a bowl being cleaned every day! I took a trashed shirt and cut it and sewed it to make a cover that goes around the bowl to keep him quiet, as he likes to "people watch" and I don't want him to overwork himself while he's sick.
What should I do?

 

[bronzecat]

Hi

fin rot is normally attributed to some kind of bacteria attacking the fish due to outside factors such as stress, bad water, over crowding, so maybe your only option now is to try an antibiotic treatment. I know you are in the USA so i believe you have access to better antibiotics then us. Maybe someone can tell you which one is suitable.

Found this "Use a drug that is effective against gram negative organisms. Chloramphenical, Oxytetracycline, and Tetracycline, are good choices." on this site http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/finrot.htm

 

[Morphkid03]

Well the clean water changes daily with added salt seems to have halted the rot... now I'm treating him with Melafix... He seems to have perked up a bit, hoping this will help him heal up.

 

[electric yellow]

I battled finront with Pinky my VT (who sadly passed away) and he didnt get any better with salt. All though it did help a little bit it was the daily water changes with a light gravel vc and melafix that stopped it. Took a while but be persistent and im sure he will be ok.