Finrot again :(

[Axanna]

My boyfriend betta fish has what we beleive to be finrot again he had a couple holes in his top fin so we added a catappa leaf in there to see if it would help but his fin got worse and it was looking all torn up last night. I was wondering how I should treat him? When we first got him he had finrot and we treated him with aquarium salt but I don’t want to do that again because it’s stressful. I was planning on making a catappa leaf extract by boiling the leafs but I don’t know if it will work ? Should I dechloranate the water before I boil the leafs in it or will the chlorine boil out? How much should I use for his 5gal tank?

 

[FoldedCheese]

My boyfriend betta fish has what we beleive to be finrot again he had a couple holes in his top fin so we added a catappa leaf in there to see if it would help but his fin got worse and it was looking all torn up last night. I was wondering how I should treat him? When we first got him he had finrot and we treated him with aquarium salt but I don’t want to do that again because it’s stressful. I was planning on making a catappa leaf extract by boiling the leafs but I don’t know if it will work ? Should I dechloranate the water before I boil the leafs in it or will the chlorine boil out? How much should I use for his 5gal tank?

Imo IALs aren't much of a medication for fin rot since the tannic acid is so so weak. Some believe it has antimicrobial properties but there's no proof to back up that claim. It's still beneficial and reduces stress imo, no harm in adding it. No need to dechlorinate the extract since you should be adding it to WC water that will get treated with a declohrinator. Do put the brewed extract in the fridge though. Dosage depends on how dark you like the water, you can't OD the stuff.

The best thing for fin rot though is clean water so try frequent large WCs. I would also advise that you try to figure out the cause of his fin rot so you can try to prevent it in the future. If you need help figuring out the cause fill out the emergency template.

 

[AlphaFish]

Here's what I did when my betta got fin rot:

I changed about 30% of the water
I added an anti-fungus and anti-bacterial infection medicine called tripaflavin
After 3 days(how long you should let the medicine in the water) I did a 75% water change.

His colors were brighter and his fins started to cure, plus he regained energy and started being more active. Hope it helps!

 

[FoldedCheese]

I would strongly recommend against medications unless it's severe fin rot. Medications can be really hard on the fish and stress them out, often making the problem worse if that course of treatment isn't absolutely necessary.
Prevention is key to not let it get to that point.