Hi again guys! I have been cruising the site and the web and talking to people to make sure I am taking care of my fish properly. I have been testing the water and so far the only problem I have found with the water in the tank was that it was too soft. I had been using wholesale drinking water and I solved the problem by adding a little of my tap water(which I know to be VERY hard), I only added about a glass of the hard water and it fixed the soft water problem and didn't change any of my other readings. I change out about 2 gallons(out of my 10 gallon tank) of water every weekend, and in between times I use a turkey baster to clean icky things out of the tank, like fish poo or little bits of floaty particles. This weekend will be my first complete water change(I have only had my fish about a month). I do not use aquarium salt, but I do have a good filter and a heater that keeps the temp right(I know cause I use 2 thermometers: a digital one the outside of the tank, and one of those floaty ones suction cupped to the inside of the tank)
I'm not sure if I am paranoid, just paying more attention to my fish, or what-but I have noticed something odd about his fins. The spines, the thin sort of stiffer bits in the fins, extend beyond the webbing. Ever since I noticed it I have been watching him carefully. The fins aren't discolored, aren't shredding(he had one slit in his fin when I got him but the split hasn't gotten bigger as far as I can tell), and he doesn't act sick. He is eating, swimming around, getting mad at me when I do water changes (I put him in a smaller glass bowl when I change the water and he changes color and makes these mad stripes at me. When I put him back he forgives me.) Any way, I was wondering if it could just be his fins growing? If he was used to a jar before and I put him in a 10 gallon tank, is it possible that his fins are just growing? if it is possible, do the spines grow first and then the webbing? Or does this sound like the beginnings of fin rot? I am going to keep watching him, but I didn't want to do any treatments and stresshim out if he wasn't really sick.
well, most of the fish I buy are a bit torn up at first, and the first thing is their fins do grow out, so it's possible his fins are just growing. The biggest problem with fin rot is the cure is an antibiotic like tetracycline, and that can screw up your tanks cycle, so i would avoid it unless you're sure he needs it. I would just keep an eye on him for now. If he starts acting weird, or his fins start to shrink, then treat him.
I'm guessing this is a betta? Do you have a pic of him? If he's a crowntail or combtail, rays extending beyond the webbing is normal and not fin rot. You can probably leave him in the tank when you change out part of the water - we leave ours in. It's less stressful than bowl relocation. A complete water change probably isn't necessary if you're doing those partial water changes and have fairly good readings on ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
What do you treat your water with? I'd recommend Prime or NovAqua+.
Okay I am going to keep watching him, and I'm going to go buy the fin rot stuff just in case. Thanks, I'll try and put up pictures soon, but I'm a procrastinator...
If the Betta has fin rot, it'll show itself as time goes on. Your description wrt spines and webbing can be best answered if the type of Betta is known (crowntail, vt, etc.).
The first thing to try to cure fin rot (and a real good way to prevent it in the first place) is to keep the water clean and 80F to 82F degrees. If your tank is cycled, the once-a-week plan you have going should be fine. Just make sure to use replacement water that is treated, aged, and brought to tank temp before introducing it to the tank.
If your Betta does show fin rot and clean water doesn't seem to help, there are a few types of meds that seem to work okay. Maracyn 2 (possibly in combination with Marcacyn) and Jungle Labs Fungus Clear are meds that come to mind.
Don't know how you do your water changes, but you shouldn't need to take the fish out of the tank for a two-gallon water change. And, if you've only had the setup for a month, you shouldn't need to do more than a 20% change unless your water parameters are off (meaning ammonia>0, nitrites>0, or nitrates>20). Moving the fish to a new bowl for water changes can also stress the fish, and stress can lead to fin rot (among other disorders).
I treated Nate with clean water in a tank with no gravel or decorations or anything but a heater and filter and him and water treated with nothing but NovAqua+ and VitaChem and I have a picture of him when I started to treat him.
The later pictures show him in the bigger tank with the gravel and and decorations and he has graduated to water with NovAqua+, VitaChem, and now being on a 15 day course of treatment of Mardel's TriSulfa. I know the box says to use it only 10 days but I e-mailed Mardel and got an answer telling me that in severe cases (which this was in my opinion) that it is advised to use it for the full 15 days. He is still getting the medication but has had such a lot of regeneration I thought I would post this to show the progress.
