Can I continually add aquarium salt?

I have a Betta that came from the store with pretty ragged fins. I decided to treat this with aquarium salt and it worked like magic, you could see new fin growth and repair visually and he looked perfect.

A few water changes later so most of the salt was gone his fins started looking ragged again in spots. Someone told me he was fin nipping and it wasn’t fin rot. I added salt again, and again he healed almost completely within a week. However once again after a couple of water changes his fins are getting ragged once more.

Is it ok to continually add salt as he seems to do great when salt is in the tank and gets worse as soon as it’s removed?

 

Some hobbyists will add aquarium salt at every water change. Some only use it on a if needed basis for healing and treatment. It may be best to figure out why he keeps rotting. Maybe he's not on it long enough and whatever small rot or infection you can't see, it spreads again after no more salt. Have you tried a bigger water change to rule out something in the water?

 

Agree. How much water and how often? What size tank?

 

He’s in a 5 gallon tank and I usually do around 25% water change weekly. Someone on a forum who seemed to be pretty knowledgeable was certain it was fin nipping and not fin rot,(this was when I was just looking for ways to treat him).

It makes sense that maybe he wasn’t on it long enough and that when I do water changes he starts to regress. I’ve read conflicting things on whether it’s ok to keep salt in the water long term so I was worried about that

 

I would just change 50% water a few times a week and keep the water really clean. That will be your best bet. Maybe try some Indian Almond leaves. It will tint the water brown but fish love it.

 

I would just change 50% water a few times a week and keep the water really clean. That will be your best bet. Maybe try some Indian Almond leaves. It will tint the water brown but fish love it.

Ok I’ll give that a shot, and I literally just purchased Indian almond leaves today!

is there harm in continually adding salt with each water change? He just seems to do great when salt is in there then starts falling apart once it’s out

 

He’s in a 5 gallon tank and I usually do around 25% water change weekly. Someone on a forum who seemed to be pretty knowledgeable was certain it was fin nipping and not fin rot,(this was when I was just looking for ways to treat him).

It makes sense that maybe he wasn’t on it long enough and that when I do water changes he starts to regress. I’ve read conflicting things on whether it’s ok to keep salt in the water long term so I was worried about that

Unfortunately last time i owned or cared for a betta was many many years ago, so I would for sure listen to others more knowledgeable and yes fin nipping is a thing if they are bored, stressed or hungry. The only reason I would think it's not fin nipping because....if he was a nipper...he would keep nipping....despite if there was salt or not. Unless the salt makes his fins taste bad? That part doesn't really make sense to me from the info that was provided.

Then again salt usually helps reduce stress which if he was fin nipping, that would be the only explanation I can think of why he stop nipping when there is salt as he is less stressed.

 

Ok I’ll give that a shot, and I literally just purchased Indian almond leaves today!

is there harm in continually adding salt with each water change? He just seems to do great when salt is in there then starts falling apart once it’s out

It will build up if you are not careful. I would try multiple water changes first. Does the rot look like big chunks or blackish edges?

 

Random big chunks, he’ll look fine then over night there will be a piece missing which leads me to believe he is nipping

 

I had a nipper too. Its hard to combat. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. If he seems to do better with salt, keep it up, but just keep it light dose.

 

Thanks for the advice!

 

Hand feed him some live or frozen blood worms stuck together so he can get his nipping out of his system

 

Hand feed him some live or frozen blood worms stuck together so he can get his nipping out of his system

Thanks! I’ll give that a shot too!

 

what are you feeding him? make sure it has quality protien, consider new life spectum and bug bites.

 

what are you feeding him? make sure it has quality protien, consider new life spectum and bug bites.

He had pellets, flakes and freeze dried blood worms. I typically just feed him the pellets and blood worms once in a while as a treat. I’ll look into those bug bites thanks!