armadillo

One of my females had holes in her dorsal fin this morning.

Am thinking of isolating her from her cory tankmates, and just medicate for finrot (triple sulfa). Am I being paranoid?

capekate

good morning Armadillo
sorry to hear about Penny.... I dont think you are being paranoid if it were me, I would treat asap since you just found the hole today and maybe Penny will respond to the treatment that much faster.
Good luck!

~ kate

armadillo

Thanks, Kate. I think I'll definitely at least isolate her today. If it's not better by tomorrow, then I'll start treating. I've lost one fish to finrot, I really don't want it to happen again.

COBettaCouple

the females tend to heal easier with their fins. I'd give her any vitachem/fish protector type treatments that you have and be ready with finrot treatment if she shows any signs of more damage.

nmwierman1977

Yes, females heal much easier. I don;' think it's necessary for you to treat with meds right off the bat. Pebbles has gotten those little holes in her fins too and they usually heal within 24-48 hours on their own. I would just give her extra vitamins and fish protector if you have some like Dave said and she should be fine. Medicate if you see that they are getting worse or bigger, but they should close up fine w/o the meds. Natalie

0morrokh

I agree...wait until you see finrot progressing before medicating. It's less stressful if she can heal on her own without chemicals. Let us know how she's doing.

COBettaCouple

how is she doing today?

armadillo

I didn't move her because while getting the hospital tank ready, I used vinegar, and I really wanted a chance to let it evaporate for at least 24h. When I looked in her tank this morning, the holes had become translucent skin. Great news! But I still dont' like how translucent her fins are getting. Am definitely going to watch this space. Am going to change her diet too (more white worms and less red bloodworms. They're too rich I think). Also, am getting some Vitachem shipped from the US soon, so that should help I think.

armadillo

Thanks for your advice, Natalie. Turns out she did heal on her own. So how often do your females get this?

COBettaCouple

great! i hope her fins will all soon be 100%.

nmwierman1977

not very often. She hasn't had them in quite awhile actually. Knock on wood. Natalie

Tazmiche

Laure Honey has little circles too of translucent bits. they come and go! she has 2 at the moment!

Why the vinegar? is it to sterilize? i have been using tonic salt to wash ornaments from all tanks as it sterilizes, so far so good and only 1:99 for 450g!! Seems to have halted Flames finrot too!! He now has vitamins too TG!! He is such a bossy beast!! I'd spend a months salary on him to keep him well!! ( Just told him not to get any ideas!!)

COBettaCouple

Too late.. he's probably read your post by now..

Tazmiche

Ha Ha well he is next to the pc!!

COBettaCouple

lol.. Angel is the closest of the 4 bettas near the computer here.

armadillo

The vinegar is supposed to kill some of the nasties, but am not sure if it's true or not.

I'll look into tonic salt. That definitely sounds like a good deal. So what, do you take the ornaments out and clean them weekly, doing a rotation with ornaments that got cleaned last week so you don't have to wait forever for them to dry before putting ornaments back in?

That's exactly what's happening. She gets quite translucent fins, then gets a hole, then it fills up again.

nmwierman1977

Vinegsr is a very good cleaning sterilizer and is very safe. That's what I used to clean and sterilized my 5 gallon when I Royell died of dropsy. Natalie

Tazmiche

What type of vinegar do you both use? white?

Yes i take the ornaments out ( depending on how grubby they are each week) and fill a bucket with conditioned water and salt. The yak lifts off easily after a 5 to 10 min soak then rinse with conditioned water and back in.This way i don't have to wait for them to dry out as i did before. By the time i have checked filter scraped glass they are ready to pop back in. I must say that i haven't had to clean them as often since doing this which is a bonus!!

Re the holes maybe the girls fins just do that. I remember when i first got her one appeared over night in her dorsal fin, of course i freaked!! It had gone within 2 days!