Eta On Healing Time

HI everyone! I have a beautiful crowntail male betta named Caesar. I've had him just over a month and he makes every day better. However, last week I noticed some black spots on his fins. I did some research and found he had fin rot. So I went to the store and bought him medicine, Jungle Fungus Clear fizz tabs. I've been using this since then but he isn't looking much better. I use cleaning bacteria by tetra to get rid of ammonia so I'm not worried about that. I'm just wondering how long until I can expect Caesar to be better and if there's anything else I need to be doing.

 

You should be doing water changes everyday. Clean water is a must if you're trying to get rid of fin rot

 

You should be doing water changes everyday. Clean water is a must if you're trying to get rid of fin rot

Thanks! Do I need to put more of the fizz tab in the new water too?

 

What size tank is it, is it filtered, and what are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate)? And what do you mean by adding “cleaning bacteria” for ammonia? Adding bottled bacteria doesn’t automatically mean it’s processing the ammonia - that’s why you need to cycle the tank through a series of water changes based on your water parameters so that bacteria can establish itself in the tank (mainly your filter). From there it will convert ammonia in to nitrite, and then finally nitrite into less toxic nitrate.

Clean water is the best cure for fin rot, and by clean water that means a cycled tank. But if it progresses even further, you may need to buy a bacterial medication that is aimed towards fin rot. I haven’t seen much luck with people treating fin with Jungle Fungus tablets.

 

What size tank is it, is it filtered, and what are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate)? And what do you mean by adding “cleaning bacteria” for ammonia? Adding bottled bacteria doesn’t automatically mean it’s processing the ammonia - that’s why you need to cycle the tank through a series of water changes based on your water parameters so that bacteria can establish itself in the tank (mainly your filter). From there it will convert ammonia in to nitrite, and then finally nitrite into less toxic nitrate.

Clean water is the best cure for fin rot, and by clean water that means a cycled tank. But if it progresses even further, you may need to buy a bacterial medication that is aimed towards fin rot. I haven’t seen much luck with people treating fin with Jungle Fungus tablets.

Ah I totally missed that part. Yes you have to cycle you're tank. And you need to test your water. It's not just ammonia you need to watch out for. If you have ammonia it turns into nitrite. And waste turns into nitrate. All three are really bad for fish and could be the cause of the fin rot and why he wouldn't be getting any better. But you can do 50% water changes everyday for a cpuple weeks to both help the Betta and to help with cycling the tank

 

Ah I totally missed that part. Yes you have to cycle you're tank. And you need to test your water. It's not just ammonia you need to watch out for. If you have ammonia it turns into nitrite. And waste turns into nitrate. All three are really bad for fish and could be the cause of the fin rot and why he wouldn't be getting any better. But you can do 50% water changes everyday for a cpuple weeks to both help the Betta and to help with cycling the tank

Sort of correct there. Waste doesn’t turn into nitrate. All waste turns in to ammonia. The bacteria then makes the ammonia in to nitrite, and then a different bacteria makes the nitrite into nitrate. You’re right that all are toxic to fish, but a small amount of nitrates is necessary for a cycled tank. Your parameters should never be 0,0,0. And the amount of water changes needed is based on how OP’s water tests, you don’t need to do water changes every day unless your tests shows that you should. Daily water changes may hurt the cycling process because you need some ammonia to build up so the bacteria is being fed and doesn’t starve.

 

Sort of correct there. Waste doesn’t turn into nitrate. All waste turns in to ammonia. The bacteria then makes the ammonia in to nitrite, and then a different bacteria makes the nitrite into nitrate. You’re right that all are toxic to fish, but a small amount of nitrates is necessary for a cycled tank. Your parameters should never be 0,0,0. And the amount of water changes needed is based on how OP’s water tests, you don’t need to do water changes every day unless your tests shows that you should. Daily water changes may hurt the cycling process because you need some ammonia to build up so the bacteria is being fed and doesn’t starve.

Ah, you're right my bad lack of sleep making me give out wrong information. Yes of course nitrate shouldn't be at zero. But everything else should be. Too much nitrate could be pretty bad though is what I meany. I didn't mean that it should be at zero lol

 

But also, since the fish has fin rot, they should be doing those water changes for a couple days anyway. Of course once he tests the water it'll be different

 

Ah, you're right my bad lack of sleep making me give out wrong information. Yes of course nitrate shouldn't be at zero. But everything else should be. Too much nitrate could be pretty bad though is what I meany. I didn't mean that it should be at zero lol

I understand what you meant I get things all jumbled up sometimes too, especially early in the morning haha. I just wanted to make sure OP knew what you meant too.

 

I understand what you meant I get things all jumbled up sometimes too, especially early in the morning haha. I just wanted to make sure OP knew what you meant too.

Haha well thanks for clearing that up. That was definitely important

 

Sort of correct there. Waste doesn’t turn into nitrate. All waste turns in to ammonia. The bacteria then makes the ammonia in to nitrite, and then a different bacteria makes the nitrite into nitrate. You’re right that all are toxic to fish, but a small amount of nitrates is necessary for a cycled tank. Your parameters should never be 0,0,0. And the amount of water changes needed is based on how OP’s water tests, you don’t need to do water changes every day unless your tests shows that you should. Daily water changes may hurt the cycling process because you need some ammonia to build up so the bacteria is being fed and doesn’t starve.

Thank you so much!

 

Can we see some pictures? For fin rot only do 25% daily water changes unless it's severe