Chronic Finrot

I’m at my wits end with this fish.

Tank
10 gallons.
Running since December 2019.
Filtered and heated.
Water temp is 78F.
Tank houses 1 betta.

Maintenance
50% water changes on Mondays with filter taken apart and cleaned, and 25% on Thursdays. I vacuum every water change.
I use Prime.

Parameters
Tank is cycled.
Water is tested with Tetra Easy Strips.

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
pH: 7.2-7.4

Feeding
Fed twice a day with 5 0.5mm NLS Thera A+ pellets in the morning and 3 brine shrimp, 2 bloodworms, 1 mysis, or Super Gold gel food in the evening.
I use NLS and Repashy, and Omega One frozen and freeze-dried foods.

Symptoms
I’ve had this betta since December, and he did not have finrot when I bought him. His caudal fin has lots of tears in the edges, and the back lobe of his analfin has torn off. I’ve been taking pictures every few days, and his fins haven’t seemed to get noticeably worse, but they don’t seem to be getting better either. It’s difficult to tell since he never flares for me. Just starting today, he now is acting skittish. The finrot has been going on for 2 months. First I just did daily 25% water changes for 2 weeks, then I did daily 25% water changes while treating the tank aquarium salt for a week, then I treated the tank with Kanaplex for 2 weeks. The salt treatment seemed to help the most; his fins seemed to heal a bit. The tank currently is not being treated with anything but frequent water changes.

I’m not sure if I should treat with salt again or try a methylene blue dip.

I have no idea what’s going on. His tank is spotless, heated, filtered, I do daily water changes, add Stress Guard once a week, water parameters are good, feed him quality food in small amounts, fast him 1 day a week, give him lots of attention... and this finrot will just not stop! It’s driving me up the wall!
I’m considering taking the 2 hour drive to the vet, but I don’t want to stress him out if I can avoid it.

 

I have the same exact problem. My Betta has had Fin Rot for 2 months and it won't stop. First thing I noticed, is you say you clean your filter weekly. Do you rinse the media in old tank water, tap water, or replace it altogether? Replacing media or rinsing it in water other than old, cycled tank water can kill your cycle. You seem to feed good amounts and do PWCs enough. Another notice I had is you use test strips, this is a little off topic but it would be a good idea to get a liquid test kit, as they are more reliable. I am in the same place as you so I understand how frustrating it can be. If you have aquarium salt, doing baths seems to be slowly helping for me. I started with 1/2 tsp of salt per pint (Conveniently, on PetSmart Betta cups, the line where the cup changes size is exactly a pint). You then fill another cup or container a quarter of the way with your salt mixture, then add tank water until the water is 4x the amount of the saltwater. 1 part saltwater (from the bath mixture) and 3 parts tank water. Add him to the salt bath for 20 minutes, I slowly increased it to 30 because he did well and did not go into shock. After that, add him to the second container, which is the acclimation container, for 5 minutes. Then add him to his tank again. I was told to do this twice a day, I am trying once a day to see if this works. Sorry I didn't do a good job of explaining that, it's not my strong-suit.
I don't think you should bother with Methylene Blue, I already tried it, to no avail. Methylene Blue fights Fungus and Fungal Infections, Fin Rot for the most part is bacterial. If you don't already have it, pick up some Erythromycin if you can. Hopefully you won't need it, but it is so much better to have medicine when you need it. I really hope your Betta gets better. I will try to share as much as I can as I fight this too. I wish you the best of luck.

 

I have the same exact problem. My Betta has had Fin Rot for 2 months and it won't stop. First thing I noticed, is you say you clean your filter weekly. Do you rinse the media in old tank water, tap water, or replace it altogether? Replacing media or rinsing it in water other than old, cycled tank water can kill your cycle. You seem to feed good amounts and do PWCs enough. Another notice I had is you use test strips, this is a little off topic but it would be a good idea to get a liquid test kit, as they are more reliable. I am in the same place as you so I understand how frustrating it can be. If you have aquarium salt, doing baths seems to be slowly helping for me. I started with 1/2 tsp of salt per pint (Conveniently, on PetSmart Betta cups, the line where the cup changes size is exactly a pint). You then fill another cup or container a quarter of the way with your salt mixture, then add tank water until the water is 4x the amount of the saltwater. 1 part saltwater (from the bath mixture) and 3 parts tank water. Add him to the salt bath for 20 minutes, I slowly increased it to 30 because he did well and did not go into shock. After that, add him to the second container, which is the acclimation container, for 5 minutes. Then add him to his tank again. I was told to do this twice a day, I am trying once a day to see if this works. Sorry I didn't do a good job of explaining that, it's not my strong-suit.
I don't think you should bother with Methylene Blue, I already tried it, to no avail. Methylene Blue fights Fungus and Fungal Infections, Fin Rot for the most part is bacterial. If you don't already have it, pick up some Erythromycin if you can. Hopefully you won't need it, but it is so much better to have medicine when you need it. I really hope your Betta gets better. I will try to share as much as I can as I fight this too. I wish you the best of luck.

Thank you for the advice; I think you explained giving a salt bath perfectly! His fins don’t look like they’re rotting per se, they just keep tearing, and what tears there are keep getting deeper. I don’t have anything sharp in the tank; just silk plants and coffee cups.
Are baths more effective than just treating the tank with salt? I think I’ll restart salt treatment since it actually helped before. His fins aren’t discolored or have any white stuff on them, so it’s probably not fungal.

Just bouncing ideas:
Isn’t Kanaplex/kanamycin in the same class of antibiotics as erythromycin? If I remember my microbiology class correctly, I think it would be better to try an antibiotic in a different class. Maybe doxycycline...?
I do know methylene blue can be used to detect injury because it stains open tissue. It might help me see what the extent of the finrot is.

Update: He’s not skittish anymore! Maybe he just got scared by the huge fly that drowned itself in his tank this morning.hilarious
Thankfully, he seems otherwise unaffected by the finrot other than torn fins.

 

Thank you for the advice; I think you explained giving a salt bath perfectly! His fins don’t look like they’re rotting per se, they just keep tearing, and what tears there are keep getting deeper. I don’t have anything sharp in the tank; just silk plants and coffee cups.
Are baths more effective than just treating the tank with salt? I think I’ll restart salt treatment since it actually helped before. His fins aren’t discolored or have any white stuff on them, so it’s probably not fungal.

Just bouncing ideas:
Isn’t Kanaplex/kanamycin in the same class of antibiotics as erythromycin? If I remember my microbiology class correctly, I think it would be better to try an antibiotic in a different class. Maybe doxycycline...?
I do know methylene blue can be used to detect injury because it stains open tissue. It might help me see what the extent of the finrot is.

Update: He’s not skittish anymore! Maybe he just got scared by the huge fly that drowned itself in his tank this morning.hilarious
Thankfully, he seems otherwise unaffected by the finrot other than torn fins.

Okay, hmm. Now I wonder if this is actually Fin Rot. Can you send a picture? If the fins aren't melting and big chunks are disappearing, he might be fin biting.

I'm not sure but I think salt baths would help Fin Rot more. As they are more concentrated. But it is fine to treat the tank with salt (in the recommended amount) as long as there are no inverts.

I'm not sure about the medicines, I don't know much. But you seem to know more about them then me. So, I'd trust yourself.

I hope he gets better! This might actually be fin biting. My cousin has a Betta who almost bit his fins off!

 

Okay, hmm. Now I wonder if this is actually Fin Rot. Can you send a picture? If the fins aren't melting and big chunks are disappearing, he might be fin biting.

I'm not sure but I think salt baths would help Fin Rot more. As they are more concentrated. But it is fine to treat the tank with salt (in the recommended amount) as long as there are no inverts.

I'm not sure about the medicines, I don't know much. But you seem to know more about them then me. So, I'd trust yourself.

I hope he gets better! This might actually be fin biting. My cousin has a Betta who almost bit his fins off!

He might be biting, since he been resting more often since his fins really started growing. He is a rosetail, so his fins are really frilly and big. There is one particular patch of his analfin that was curled, and one day it was completely torn off. Is there anything I can do to make him feel better?

Here are his fins today:





These were his fins last week:






Sorry that the pictures aren’t very good. iPhone cameras are surprisingly bad.

I just had an idea: you know how saltwater pools are used for water therapy because saltwater is more buoyant than freshwater? Maybe that’s why salt treatment helped; it was supporting him!
However, I think using salt on a betta long term would probably destroy his kidneys.

 

Well, I tested my theory by adding salt to his tank yesterday. Today, he’s active, enthusiastic, and his fins aren’t drooping anymore.
Who would’ve thought aquatic therapy could benefit a fish?

Is there something safer I can replace the salt with? I don’t want to hurt him.

 

Okay, It might be biting. Are the fins melting or discolored? Usually fin biting come off in chunks, and it looks a bit like that. I've never heard of salt damaging a Betta's kidneys, I'm interested. Could you tell me more about that? Even if it is Fin Rot it doesn't look that bad. Best of luck.

 

Okay, It might be biting. Are the fins melting or discolored? Usually fin biting come off in chunks, and it looks a bit like that. I've never heard of salt damaging a Betta's kidneys, I'm interested. Could you tell me more about that? Even if it is Fin Rot it doesn't look that bad. Best of luck.

His fins look okay except for the deepening tears. They don’t appear to be getting any shorter, and they’re not discolored.

I know that freshwater fish excrete a lot of fluid because their bodies to absorb a lot of water via osmosis. For saltwater fish, it’s the opposite. The high concentration of salt in seawater causes water to be drawn out of their bodies, so they osmoregulate but excreting little fluid.
Bettas are freshwater fish, adapted to live in freshwater. I’m worried than flipping the switch on his environment would cause him to become dehydrated or something. Since kidneys govern the amount of fluid in the body, they would be directly affected.

I don’t know if salt could damage his kidneys, especially since my tank water is a lot less saline than seawater. If a salt concentration at 1 tsp/gal doesn’t damage their kidneys long term, then I’ve found a solution for bettas with heavy fins.

 

His fins look okay except for the deepening tears. They don’t appear to be getting any shorter, and they’re not discolored.

I know that freshwater fish excrete a lot of fluid because their bodies to absorb a lot of water via osmosis. For saltwater fish, it’s the opposite. The high concentration of salt in seawater causes water to be drawn out of their bodies, so they osmoregulate but excreting little fluid.
Bettas are freshwater fish, adapted to live in freshwater. I’m worried than flipping the switch on his environment would cause him to become dehydrated or something. Since kidneys govern the amount of fluid in the body, they would be directly affected.

I don’t know if salt could damage his kidneys, especially since my tank water is a lot less saline than seawater. If a salt concentration at 1 tsp/gal doesn’t damage their kidneys long term, then I’ve found a solution for bettas with heavy fins.

I don't blame you for being concerned. Salt baths only last around 30 minutes (which is long for a salt bath), so I doubt it could do any damage.

If it is not getting shorter and just tearing, that would be either Fin Biting or Fin Tearing probably. Have you ever seen him bite or do you have anything that could tear them? I hope this helps.

 

I treated the water in his tank, so he’s constantly in the supportive salt water. He would always be exposed to salt if I did this for the rest of his life.

Ive never seen him bite, probably because whenever I walk into the room he’s like an over enthusiastic dog that hasn’t seen his human in years. He stops whatever he was doing and struts across the front glass trying to get my attention.

He could potentially be tearing his fins on the silk plants in his tank, but he absolutely loves those plants, so I’d rather not take away his favorite things.

 

I treated the water in his tank, so he’s constantly in the supportive salt water. He would always be exposed to salt if I did this for the rest of his life.

Ive never seen him bite, probably because whenever I walk into the room he’s like an over enthusiastic dog that hasn’t seen his human in years. He stops whatever he was doing and struts across the front glass trying to get my attention.

He could potentially be tearing his fins on the silk plants in his tank, but he absolutely loves those plants, so I’d rather not take away his favorite things.

Yeah, Bettas are cute little doggos like that.

Silk plants won't cause tearing. So no need to mess with those. Any other hard or sharp things?

 

Yeah, Bettas are cute little doggos like that.

Silk plants won't cause tearing. So no need to mess with those. Any other hard or sharp things?

Possibly the thermometer, since it’s the metal type that hangs on the rim of the tank, but he hardly ever goes near it. I tried getting a glass thermometer today, but they were sold out at the store.

 

Possibly the thermometer, since it’s the metal type that hangs on the rim of the tank, but he hardly ever goes near it. I tried getting a glass thermometer today, but they were sold out at the store.

Sometimes Bettas can tear their fins in weird ways. So this might be problem almost solved and you just watch his fins for a while.

 

Sometimes Bettas can tear their fins in weird ways. So this might be problem almost solved and you just watch his fins for a while.

Yeah, it’s probably best if I watch him for a while. I’ll continue keeping salt in his water for a week and see how his fins do.

Thank you for your help! I really appreciate it.
I hope your betta also gets well!

 

Yeah, it’s probably best if I watch him for a while. I’ll continue keeping salt in his water for a week and see how his fins do.

Thank you for your help! I really appreciate it.
I hope your betta also gets well!

Thanks! I hope your Betta gets better too! The salt can help with fin regrowth. Give the thread updates as you feel fit. Best of luck.

I am probably not going to be on much longer tonight just FYI.