Salt In Tank?

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi everyone,

One of my bettas isn't doing all that hot. He was brought home last August and intially was in a 2-gallon, then moved to a 3-gallon, and now resides in a 5-gallon.

His back fins look tattered and I've been doing 15% water changes to help him out. I'm pretty sure that the tail was beaten up by one of the silk plants.

Question is, in addition to the water changes, and the Stress Coat I'm adding, would it be advisable to put aquarium salt in the tank?

Last two changes, about 1/2 teaspoon was added, which is A LOT less than what the box recommends.

Any opinions?

 

[Chard56]

Hi everyone,

One of my bettas isn't doing all that hot. He was brought home last August and intially was in a 2-gallon, then moved to a 3-gallon, and now resides in a 5-gallon.

His back fins look tattered and I've been doing 15% water changes to help him out. I'm pretty sure that the tail was beaten up by one of the silk plants.

Question is, in addition to the water changes, and the Stress Coat I'm adding, would it be advisable to put aquarium salt in the tank?

Last two changes, about 1/2 teaspoon was added, which is A LOT less than what the box recommends.

Any opinions?

I've kept Betta's for over 40 years and until recently have never put salt in their water for medicinal purposes. I understand that it boosts their respritory and immune systems. I have started using it in conjuntion with medication for popeye and finrot. Whether it mattered one way or the other I didn't notice. If you have silk plants I would blame something else. Either he has finrot or he's a tail bitter. Just don't use melafix or the other something-fix as I have had bad results with it as well as has others.

 

[BettaCrazy7]

When my betta had fin rot I tried just about every medication. Then I started to use aquarium salt and to my surprise his fins began to heal.

For 5 gallons use 1 tablespoon.

 

[Honeythorn]

I've never ever had a problem using Melafix with bettas. It's perfectly fine as long as you don't use a full dose. 1/4 -1/2 is quite fine.

Salt is often used as a medicament and can help keep infection away along with very regular small water changes.

When the fish is well, using IAL, either as actual leaves or extract is a good conditoner and it is known to have some form of antibacterial properties as well as giving a slight tannin to the water, much like a blackwater effect. I usually have a leaf in Bronson's tank and change it when it starts to go see through.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

I've never ever had a problem using Melafix with bettas. It's perfectly fine as long as you don't use a full dose. 1/4 -1/2 is quite fine.

Salt is often used as a medicament and can help keep infection away along with very regular small water changes.

When the fish is well, using IAL, either as actual leaves or extract is a good conditoner and it is known to have some form of antibacterial properties as well as giving a slight tannin to the water, much like a blackwater effect. I usually have a leaf in Bronson's tank and change it when it starts to go see through.

So, is it too soon to use an IAL now? Yesterday, I put a small section in (about 2" X 4") and it's floating around right now.

Today I changed another 15% of his water. He's eating and same activity level as normal. That back fin just isn't looking so good. At this point, I haven't put any medication in his tank. I thought water changes are the best form of treatment, correct?

 

[Honeythorn]

IAL can be used pretty much any time. You need to take a really close look as to what is wrong with the fin. If it's just tatty with no blackness or visible rotting then he may have caught it on something or bitten it. In which case the extra water changes and a little salt will be fine, or a little melafix if you feel it's badly damaged.

If it does have the usual blackening and deterioration of fin rot then you need a fin rot med ( not Melafix as this is for healing fins after treatment )

Myxazin is a very good one which I've used in the past to treat fin rot, then a week after I had finished the treatment and it was clear the fin rot was gone, I did a couple of water changes and started a course of Melafix at 1/2 dose until the fins were mostly healed, then simply did extra large water changes until the fins were back to good order.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

IAL can be used pretty much any time. You need to take a really close look as to what is wrong with the fin. If it's just tatty with no blackness or visible rotting then he may have caught it on something or bitten it. In which case the extra water changes and a little salt will be fine, or a little melafix if you feel it's badly damaged.

If it does have the usual blackening and deterioration of fin rot then you need a fin rot med ( not Melafix as this is for healing fins after treatment )

Myxazin is a very good one which I've used in the past to treat fin rot, then a week after I had finished the treatment and it was clear the fin rot was gone, I did a couple of water changes and started a course of Melafix at 1/2 dose until the fins were mostly healed, then simply did extra large water changes until the fins were back to good order.

Okay, thanks. I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for. . .his fins don't seem to be any worse today and I'll google for fin rot pictures. His tank had a 50% water change and salt and stress coat were added again. Hopefully I dont have to buy medicine as it's so expensive!

This is a bit hard as he is the first betta I bought back 8 months ago and he's my little guy. His fins were just SO long when he first was brought home and now his double-fin is about half the original length .

 

[loraxchick]

can you put a pic up? do the membranes between the rays look a bit thin in spots or any pinholes in them?
doubtful its the plants. id be leaning toward finrot myself. and do not confuse fin rot from bad water quality. not always the case. any stress can lower immune system and these beasties take hold.
i would NEVER use melafix again with a betta. and to say "ive never had a problem-i use half/quarter dose" tells you there IS a problem with the medication with bettas. hope you dont find out the hard way. its simply NOT worth risking it when waterchanges and lots of bloodworms will heal finrot 90% of the time. if that doesnt help over the course of a week or so, or if more sections begin to go missing/degrading, actual antibacterial meds are in order.
also, finrot does not always present itself with black margins. only specific bacteria that are causing it do so. there are other bacteria that can affect fins which do not present with black margins.
salt may help lower bacterial concentration in the water giving the betta's immune system the upper hand. id give your filter media a good clean (dont use tap water) and simply try water changes every day for the next week. consider salt dips instead of adding to the tank if you think salt is beneficial. not good for them long-term in moderate concentrations.
hope that is helpful. good luck to you both.
cheers

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Thanks, Loraxchick. Yesterday I bought Tetracycline for him. His fins do have pin holes in them and I couldn't bare the thought of his tail rotting and then reaching the base of his body, so I decided to bring in the big guns even though he may not need that med and I cannot for sure dx him with fin rot. He just isn't looking that great and I feared I may wake up one morning to see him nearly dead!

Today, he's the same. No more loss of tail and later he'll get another dose of the Tetracycline. While treating him, the water isn't suppose to be changed for a few days, which concerns me. Also, the directions said to take out the filter media, which I did. His tank wasn't cycled so no loss there.

I didn't know that he should be eating bloodworms during treatment. Thank you for that information. I did buy a new container of betta food that's fresh and more likely to have full nutritional content. Will switch to bloodworms.

I'll post a photo later today when I get a chance.

 

[loraxchick]

tetracycline is a pretty powerful med. dont be surprised if it knocks him a bit. but glad you decided to treat with antibiotics. seems like this is a case where they truly are needed. just make sure you finish the dose/s in full (dont stop halfway thru).
bloodworms=good for finrot because they are high-protein foods. wonderful stuff for healing fins and making sure they have a good energy source(bosst immune system to help fight off the infection...thats what finrot is after all-simply an infection).lowering tank temp, if you havent alrady, is another good idea. only by a degree C or so. dont go too cool or will drastically slow his metabolism=harder to fight infection.
hope it all works out for you both!
keep us updated.
cheers

 

[GuppyGoddess]

tetracycline is a pretty powerful med. dont be surprised if it knocks him a bit. but glad you decided to treat with antibiotics. seems like this is a case where they truly are needed. just make sure you finish the dose/s in full (dont stop halfway thru).
bloodworms=good for finrot because they are high-protein foods. wonderful stuff for healing fins and making sure they have a good energy source(bosst immune system to help fight off the infection...thats what finrot is after all-simply an infection).lowering tank temp, if you havent alrady, is another good idea. only by a degree C or so. dont go too cool or will drastically slow his metabolism=harder to fight infection.
hope it all works out for you both!
keep us updated.
cheers

Okay, he seemed a bit knocked out the first day, but has been active since. My husband rarely comments on my fish but after talking about my betta's tail, he commented that it looks "a bit ratty." Hopefully the tetracycline isn't too strong and he makes it.

I'll lower his temp. It's at 80 degrees F right now. . .

 

[loraxchick]

try lowering to 76-78..should do him just fine and give him the upper hand
please keep us updated.
cheers

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Well, he had his four doses of tetracycline as directed on the box and the two sets of 25% water changes and his fins do not look any better and in fact, look worse. I had taken out all the filter media since there hadn't been any beneficial bacteria and just changed out all the water and am reacclimated him to the tank. The fin that looks the worst just never responded to previous water changes and that's why I'm hoping all new water will help. Who knows. I put some media from another tank into his filter and possibly that will help, however, I'm not holding out much hope.

He just looks like one of those bettas who needs to be rescued. Sigh. . .

 

[Larkspur]

I've been using salt for a while now just...because. No exact reasoning as of now! But it was originally used because I had guppies. I just stuck with it. Never have had issues with rotting fins and tails and such while using it and figured I'd keep it part of the routine.

 

[loraxchick]

too much tetracycline! you are breeding resistant bacteria. also probably causing his downhill turn (strong med-will knock the fish). id stop any and all use of antibiotics for a while. the fish needs a break. keep changing the water and feed high protein foods (like frozen bloodworm). generally, healthy unstressed fish can fight it off with good water. add one teaspoon of aquarium/kosher salt per 5 gal. only redose what you replace. good gravel clean also with one of the waterchanges. his best defense right now is clean environment and good food. also can try lowering water temp by a degree or two to slow bacterail reproduction.
is their any sign of regrowth in his fins? how long has he been on the meds?
replacing filter media is a great idea as of now if you are able.
cheers.